You may think of veterans preference as an entitlement but one doesn’t get it just for converting oxygen to carbon dioxide. One has to serve, and with that service comes risk that one might not live long enough to benefit from the privilege. Sure, most of us serve under conditions that are no worse than a mild workout to our cave-man ancestors, but thousands have paid with their bodies, their mental health, or their lives. They have paid the debt and earned the privileges granted to them and the rest of their brothers and sisters. It is earned, but not always paid equally so it is hardly an entitlement.
Maybe even the DoD wants the flexibility to hire the best people for the job? Shocking, right?
It's an unpopular opinion on the right, but Veterans' Preference is just another form of affirmative action, with all the resulting entitlement mindset. As someone trying to join the federal government late in my career, I have been frustrated over and over, applying for positions for which I have excellent qualifications, but I can't get an interview because all the slots were taken by retired military using their Veterans' Preference. I think enough hiring managers got frustrated by having to interview people with no applicable skills when there were civilians with perfect resumes who could not even be considered.
I can see giving a leg up to young Americans who spent their 18-24 serving their country and might not have the same qualifications on paper as their civilian counterparts. But after that, there isn't much of a "penalty" career-wise.
@Christopher,
You may think of veterans preference as an entitlement but one doesn’t get it just for converting oxygen to carbon dioxide. One has to serve, and with that service comes risk that one might not live long enough to benefit from the privilege. Sure, most of us serve under conditions that are no worse than a mild workout to our cave-man ancestors, but thousands have paid with their bodies, their mental health, or their lives. They have paid the debt and earned the privileges granted to them and the rest of their brothers and sisters. It is earned, but not always paid equally so it is hardly an entitlement.
Maybe even the DoD wants the flexibility to hire the best people for the job? Shocking, right?
It's an unpopular opinion on the right, but Veterans' Preference is just another form of affirmative action, with all the resulting entitlement mindset. As someone trying to join the federal government late in my career, I have been frustrated over and over, applying for positions for which I have excellent qualifications, but I can't get an interview because all the slots were taken by retired military using their Veterans' Preference. I think enough hiring managers got frustrated by having to interview people with no applicable skills when there were civilians with perfect resumes who could not even be considered.
I can see giving a leg up to young Americans who spent their 18-24 serving their country and might not have the same qualifications on paper as their civilian counterparts. But after that, there isn't much of a "penalty" career-wise.
Good riddance.