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A New Mission
Veterans Served Country; Now They Help Build It
By Sarah Klose
Justin Laskowski served eight years in the military and is shown with his rifle during his tour of Iraq. Now he is carrying construction equipment in Chicago. |
On the night of the first election in Iraq in 2005, a roadside bomb seriously injured Lt. Jason Scott of Chicago.
After the blast, Scott began 14 months of rehabilitation at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., where he met Bob Nilsson, a retired marine and senior advisor for Turner Construction Co. Nilsson was visiting amputees when he came across Scott in the physical therapy room.
Scott, blind in his right eye and missing his right arm from below the elbow, looked up from his stretching exercises. He told Nilsson his favorite joke about marines and naval officers, and the two became friends.
The meeting led to Scott’s summer apprenticeship at Turner in Chicago, where he was an intern in operations, estimating and other areas.
Later Scott received a Second Chance Scholarship through the Washington, D.C.-based Urban Land Institute to study for a MBA at the University of Florida.
A National Mission
Nilsson is not alone on his mission to help veterans pursue construction careers.
In 2001, retired Major Gen. Matthew Caulfield and Joseph Maloney, the secretary-treasurer of the building and construction trades department of the AFL-CIO, had a brainstorming session with some contractors with the goal of employing military veterans in the building trades. Helmets to Hardhats was born, and Caulfield served as the organization’s executive director in 2006.
The organization set up in Washington, D.C., and secured federal funding. The initial congressional appropriation was $3.5 million, and in 2007 federal funding increased to $5 million. But in 2008, funding was cut 80%, to $990,000.
The organization targets 85 apprentice-level crafts in 13 regional offices across the U.S. Each office adheres to U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Department of Labor guidelines.
Bill Mulcrone, an iron worker for the International Iron Workers for Local 1 in Chicago and Midwest regional director of Helmets to Hardhats, joined the team in August 2007. He says military veterans need a new purpose, and a career in construction can offer them that.
“They served the country, now they can build the country,” says Mulcrone, who oversees operations for Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota. Last year, he matched 300 veterans to hardhat jobs, a number lower than in the past due to the falloff in construction activity.
But now Mulcrone is hoping President Obama’s economic plan for public works projects could jumpstart Helmets to Hardhats’ job placement rate. Once the ball starts rolling, Mulcrone will hire more contractors who can in turn hire more veterans.
In the Midwest, many current applicants are laid off auto industry workers. A number of them have been out of the military for some time.
“When I went through the apprenticeship program to be an iron worker, we had someone who was 50 years old,” Mulcrone says. “We called him Apprentisaurus Rex. He got a kick out of it.”
Mulcrone adds that Helmets to Hardhats generally attracts younger veterans willing to take on the physical demands of trade jobs.
Under Helmets to Hardhats, veterans receive trade school tuition and a small stipend as part of the GI Bill. They are also paid an apprenticeship salary by their local during on-the-job training. A variety of trades are available.
“We try to match their military skills with construction jobs,” Mulcrone says. “If you’re a welder in the Navy on nuclear submarines, when you come out of the military you should be able to be a pipe fitter, ironworker or boiler maker.”
Similarly, a soldier who mobilized thousands of trucks could be adept at scheduling multiple concrete pours because both jobs involve sequencing and timing. A veteran with no exposure to the trades may want to take training in engineering or basic electricity at a community college before applying.
It is possible for disabled veterans to secure work, too. Those with up to 30% disability—meaning they are able to walk and function well—can tackle payroll or CAD drawing jobs under the Wounded Warriors program.
Veterans Rate Highly
Ray McCann, training coordinator for Elevator Constructors Local 2 in Chicago, has hired hundreds of veterans and reservists and has a list of nearly 700 applicants—reservists, veterans and civilians—ready for apprenticeship placement.
“In this economy, probably only about 150 of them will get hired during the two-year period,” he says.
The list is considered fixed for two years, but McCann will soon add 60 successful Helmets to Hardhats candidates. Veterans do not have to wait until the biannual recruitment process to be considered.
“If they are good enough to fight on foreign soil for us, we will allow them to come in on that list whenever they come back,” he says.
To be eligible for the apprenticeship list, a veteran must register with Helmets to Hardhats, supply DD-214 discharge papers and provide a resume with references. The next steps are to pass an aptitude test and have an interview.
There is a $25 fee for the aptitude test. Anyone who makes it into the list but does not get hired during the two year period can re-enroll.
New apprentice Justin Laskowski served eight years in the military, completed a tour of Iraq and exited as a sergeant. He passed his aptitude test, scored a 94% on his interview and was placed number 53 on the list.
“A week later, I received a call and was told my start date for my new career as an elevator constructor of Local 2,” he says.
Laskowski repairs elevators all over Chicago. He says he is thankful to McCann for the opportunity to begin what he calls “a life-changing career.”
In St. Louis, ironworker Joe Hunt Jr., apprentice coordinator for Ironworkers Local 396 Joint Apprentice Program, places veterans in construction jobs.
“We reserve 15% of our spaces for Helmets to Hardhats—about eight of our 50 slots right now,” he says.
Hunt says contractors are pleased with veterans because they are “more mature and have an understanding of what a good day’s work is.” He has brought in 45 Helmets to Hardhats apprentices over the past four years.
One Marine’s Mission
Bob Nilsson was the president of Turner International LLC, a subsidiary of Turner Construction Co., but beneath that labors a soldier, a Vietnam veteran who could relate to veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
The skill earned him the privilege—and he would say it is a privilege—of becoming the only non-amputee allowed to become a peer visitor at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland and Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Nilsson spends up to four days a week encouraging wounded veterans.
“Medicine and therapy have come a long way in helping the amputees,” he says. “But the injured veterans still need an emotional connection – someone who understands, who can relate.”
The retired marine also inspires veterans to dream about new career opportunities and capitalizes on his industry connections to help them do so. Nilsson set up an internship program at Turner for them.
“We now have nine veterans in the program,” he says.
Turner Construction built the new amputee center at Walter Reed, and is now building its traumatic brain wing.
Nilsson is the brains behind the Urban Land Institute’s Second Chance Scholarship, too. Amputees who pursue college degrees are eligible for this scholarship, if they plan to pursue a real estate or construction career. The scholarship “helps with what the VA doesn’t pay for.” It covers items such as living expenses, housing for the handicapped, and study abroad.
For his humanitarian efforts, he was named in 2007 one of 25 newsmakers by Engineering News-Record, sister of Midwest Construction, and the runner-up for the William D. Littleford Award for Community Service by American Business Media. |
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