Job fair hopes to hire military spouses

FORT HOOD, Texas (KXAN) - When you sign up to be a member of the military, there will be plenty of places you call home.

Darin Cline piloted a helicopter in the US Navy for 10 years and lived in different cities during that time -- and each move forced him to uproot his family.

Now an employee of Capital One, Cline knows how difficult all the moving can be on those who live a military life by marriage.

“Unemployment rates are about double for military spouses as it is for their civilian counterparts,” said Cline.

Finding and holding jobs amid so much moving around can be difficult, but a new program by the United States Chamber of Commerce will aim to hire half a million people from military backgrounds by the end of 2014.

The program called Hiring Our Heroes kicked off around the country on Tuesday, including at Fort Hood where more than 80 employers set up booths for a military spouses’ job fair.

“One million veterans are planning on separating from service in the next year,” said Laura Dempsey with the U.S. Chamber. “If their spouses are unemployed, they are going to be on hard times.”

The nationwide effort will hold job fairs at six different sites over a two-day span including the U.S.S. Intrepid in New York.

Salinia White is a military wife who took time to search for health care jobs on Wednesday. She said between being a wife, mother, and handling military duty, holding a job can be a juggling act.

“It is very hard and demanding. But we have to weigh it out and balance the best we can," White said.

Capital One is a partner in the Hiring Our Heroes program and Cline believes employing military families will be a trend as troops return.

“There is a growing sense that we have a civic responsibility to help serviceman and spouses.”