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November 2008 |
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Operation Hometown USA: Sweetwater to host major veterans career event |
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Written by Staff Reports
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Monday, 31 March 2008 |
Sweetwater will host a major national career placement event for military veterans on Friday and Saturday, April 18-19. “Operation Hometown USA” will focus on transitioning men and women from the U.S. military to long-term, high-paying careers in the wind energy industry, where hundreds of jobs are currently available across West Texas.
In addition, the job fair and career placement activities will be open to non-veterans, as well as to non-wind major employers, such as Ludlum Measurements, Inc., Buzzi Unicem, the Texas Department of Corrections, and others across the region. Vet-erans will be given VIP “front of the line” treatment at the events.
“We are very excited to have this opportunity to host a major national initiative,” said Sweetwater Mayor Greg Wortham. “Sweetwater and West Texas will be proud to welcome these veterans and their families as long-term residents of our communities. There are hundreds of high-quality jobs available throughout West Texas, and Operation Hometown USA will be an important part of ongoing efforts to recruit hundreds of new families to our area.”
Operation Hometown USA is a cooperative effort of such groups as the West Texas Wind Energy Consortium, Training Texas, Texas State Technical College West Texas, Sweetwa-ter Enterprise for Economic Development (SEED), Sweet-water Chamber of Commerce, Mitchell County Board of Economic Development, West Central Texas Workforce Board, and Green Collar Vets (www.GreenCollarVets.org).
Green Collar Vets is a Dallas-Fort Worth-based initiative that aids the transition of veterans to long-term, high quality careers in green energy, green construction, and other emerging new careers. Almost 40,000 American men and women are transitioning out of the military each year.
West Texas currently ranks as the world’s sixth largest “nation” for wind energy operations. Wind energy positions in the area include wind turbine technicians, welders, logistics supervisors, truck drivers, wind construction teams, and numerous other skill sets related to long-term maintenance of wind generators, wind towers and wind blades. In addition, hundreds of jobs are immediately available in non-wind manufacturing and service companies in the area.
Operation Hometown USA will involve professional skills seminars for veterans at TSTC on April 18, as well as a job fair in the Student Center at TSTC. On Saturday, April 19, career placement and hospitality acti-vities will take place at Sweet-water High School. The career placement event will consist of employer interviews, job placement testing, and actual job offers, where possible.
More than 20 major employers have already committed to participate in the weekend’s events. Veterans are being recruited by Green Collar Vets and through veterans’ liaison efforts of the West Central Texas Workforce Centers. Ac-tive-duty military and veterans are expected from such bases and posts as Fort Hood, Fort Bliss, Dyess Air Force Base, Dallas-Fort Worth, San Anto-nio, and other locations.
“We are inviting local community groups, area schools, churches, civic clubs, and others to participate in this event as we welcome the veterans and showcase our communities to them,” Wortham said.
Interested churches, schools, and civic clubs are invited to contact Wortham, SEED, or the Sweetwater Chamber of Com-merce to learn more about participation opportunities during the April 18-19 weekend. Major opportunities will be for hospitality booths and volunteers at TSTC on Friday, April 18 and at Sweetwater High School on Saturday, April 19. These groups are invited to host booths that showcase their church or activity for these prospective new residents, as well as provide food (at SHS) for the career placement participants.
Business and industry sponsorships have already been pledged and are invited. These contributions will be used to defray lodging, gasoline, and food costs for the veterans who will travel to Sweetwater for Operation Hometown USA.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 01 April 2008 )
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Every year we would all come together at my grandmother
McFaul-Coplen's home in Roscoe. She is no longer with us, but my family now
celebrates Thankgiving in my home. My parents, brothers, and their families all
bring a dish. I wanted to carry on what my grandmother started, and love and miss
all my family in Sweetwater and Roscoe. - Tracey Flake (Early, Texas)
Last year I had chosen my fall leaf garland with gold candles
however, at the last minute I had to redecorate with my snowman collection due to
the 5-6 inches of snow we accumulated! - Kandy Myers (Sweetwater, TX)
Every year we get together at Mom and Dad's to eat until we
can't breath. Then we proceed to decorate the tree. Everyone has their own ornament.
Once the tree is decorated, we all lay under the tree, turn the overhead light off
and say, "Ooooooooh, Aaaaaaaaah". - Mel King (Tuscola)
I don't know if y'all remember my parents, James and Sarah Rycroft, or not -- but years ago Daddy would secure the National Guard Armory in Sweetwater for Thanksgiving and would invite anyone in Sweetwater that didn't have family to be with to join us for dinner. We would cook all week long. We also delivered Thanksgiving dinner to people that were "home bound".Daddy would set up 3 or 4 televisions for the ball games. Folks would sit around and play domino. It always turned into quite a social event. Daddy couldn't stand the thought that anyone would be left alone on Thanksgiving. Mother and Daddy have been gone for some time now, but I'll bet there are folks that will remember this . - Sherron Foster (Paradise, TX) |
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