Be All That You Can Kinda' Be

Young vets battle job front

Lack of civilian experience, marketability spurs 16% unemployment rate for ages 20-24

Pamela Moran, 25, a former member of an Army crew that worked on a Patriot missile battery, is frustrated that her military job skills aren't of much use in the civilian market. She is working part time and taking courses at a community college.

Crystal Foster joined the Army at 17 thinking she would learn what she needed to land a good job when she got out.

But when she was discharged in 2003, Foster found that her secretarial training from the Army wasn't enough to be all that she could be.

After more than two years of looking for work, Foster realized she needed more schooling - this time in how to market herself. "I came home from interviews crying half the time," said Foster, now 23.

Many young veterans find themselves struggling to find good jobs in an otherwise robust national economy that offers better prospects to nonveterans in the same age group.