Veterans looking for a job

WednesdaytheVeteransof Foreign Wars hosted a job fair to connent unemployed veterans with possible employers.

One third of all unemployedworkersin the United States are veterans.

ThisJanuary,nearly12percent of veterans coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan were unemployed.

One unemployed veteran from Fulton attended the event with hopes of starting a new career.

Michael Vandeleocht was raised in Fulton.Rightafter highschool,he volunteered for theArmy.

“It was definitely a different experience, opened my eyes to the world in a way I’d never seen it before,” Vandeloecht says.

He was stationed in Iraq working in a combat battalion for twoyears,acting as the eyes and ears on thebattlefield.

When his military duty ended in 2010, Vandeleocht went from knocking on doors in Iraq to knocking onemployers’doors looking for a job.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of unemployed veterans rose above 800,000 inJanuary.

Vandeloecht hoeps to find a job in law enforcement, one day dreaming of working for the FBI.