Recent veteran among thousands seeking work

CEDAR RAPIDS - Matt Macke makes sure to keep his cellphone charged and within reach as he waits.

He's ready for the call when he is feeding his horses, and when he and his wife are feeding their four children.

He is hoping for a job offer to arrive. Soon.

In late May, Iowa National Guard Sgt. Matthew Macke returned to Cedar Rapids after a roadside bomb exploded in Afghanistan on April 27, fracturing his right foot and left leg.

“I'm able to run on them,” Macke said Friday as he waited for calls on jobs he'd applied for. “Not very often, but I am doing all right.”

Macke is one of 178,000 recent veterans looking for work, according to the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. With January unemployment numbers declining nationally, the percentage of jobless service members from these wars also is down - 9.1 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, when it was 15.2 percent a year earlier. The national unemployment rate for all populations last month was 8.3 percent.

Vicki Terronez is a Veterans Affairs certifying official at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids. Even with the encouraging news, she said, the transition is still not an easy one.

“Sometimes employers may not value the military experience these men and women have, and actually, they are highly trained in their fields,” Terronez said.

Macke, 27, has served in the military since October 2003, months after he graduated from Midland Community High School. His first war injury came in 2006, when he encountered a roadside bomb while serving in Iraq.

Macke entered the service during a booming economy and is now re-entering a workforce plagued by higher unemployment. He did security work for an Eastern Iowa company before his most recent deployment to Afghanistan, but he doesn't expect that position will be available again.

Macke will be considered on active duty until June, so he has a few months before he is truly on his own financially. His wife, Erin, is working toward completing her college degree by December.

Now that his legs have healed, Macke is hoping for an open position with Eastern Iowa police departments or sheriff's offices.

“What I find really awkward ... is that the market is flooded with vets right now,” said Macke. “Maybe two or three guys applying for the same position.”