With a continued focus on lowering the unemployment rate among young veterans, a new survey conducted by G.I. Jobs Magazine provides a bit of good news. Researchers polled a number of Fortune 500 companies and found that many of them are in the process of actively seeking out young vets to fill leadership and management roles, USA Today reports.

The poll
To gauge the interest of hiring veterans, researchers talked to more than 575 companies. Many of them said they want to hire servicemembers to fill a number of different positions ranging from project managers to customer service experts. Respondents said that veterans are well-suited to such roles because they are well suited to making split decisions under pressure. While they are certainly much different situations, the skill set is still important.

"They're in situations where they have to make critical decisions with minimal information and a lot of distractions around them," Dan Piontkowski, veterans staffing program manager for Hewlett-Packard, told the publication. "And they have to make the right decision. And they do."

Good positions for big name companies
Perhaps most importantly, the findings reveal that many of the open jobs are paying well, with salaries ranging from $54,000 to $90,000 yearly. The hiring companies include a number of big name corporations including AT&T, Amazon, Capital One and Lowe's. The results indicate the unemployment rate among post-9/11 may be on its way down. 

Part of a larger effort
The results underscore the countrywide effort to find jobs for former soldiers, a cause that has first lady Michelle Obama as one of its most vocal advocates. Last week, she called on governors to implement policies that make it easier for soldiers to transfer skills they learned in the Armed Forces to positions in the civilian world.

"In the coming years, more than 1 million service members will make the transition to civilian life," Obama told them. "Think about that – a million people hanging up their uniforms … figuring out what's next … and doing everything they can to make that change as seamless as possible for their families."

Where to look?
There are many resources available to servicemembers looking to find new employment opportunities including AFBA's Career Center. This online tool helps troops connect with employers who are looking to fill vital open positions. 

Education benefits are among the most important incentives offered by the Armed Forces and a pair of new bills that recently entered Congress could extend them to more members of the military community. The two pieces of legislation were introduced into the House of Representatives and are focused primarily on troops who had to retire due to injury, according to Military Times.

The first of the two bills is officially known as HR 833, but more commonly referred to as Expanding Education Opportunities for Post-9/11 Vets' Families. Introduced by Rep. Jason Chaffetz, the bill would make it easier for troops who retired from active duty for medical reasons to transfer their benefits to an immediate family member. Specifically, it would provide soldiers with 36 months after their separation from service to transfer their benefits.

"The bill simply restores equality and fairness to the process, allowing the service members to determine who gets to use their earned benefit," Chaffetz said in a statement.

The second bill deals primarily with troops who transfer from active duty to the reserves. Most importantly, it helps close a gap that resulted in soldiers who retired or transferred to the reserves due to injury not receiving all the benefits to which they were entitled.

With or without sequestration, the military is planning to downsize in the coming months, and that includes changes to TRICARE. In particular, the areas where TRICARE Prime is available is expected to shrink come October 1, and in an effort to help troops prepare, TRICARE Management Activity recently unveiled a new tool to allow servicemember​s to search their availability based on their ZIP code, according to Military Times.

The tool can be found at PSA Zip Code Look-Up, and is helpful because it allows beneficiaries to see if their area will be impacted by the impending changes to TRICARE. Specifically, the policy is changing so that TRICARE Prime only is available to servicemembers who live within 40 miles of a military base. Other retirees and family members who live outside that range will have to switch to the standard plan. The hope is that the slight change will save as much as $65 billion a year. 

"People who use Standard are very, very pleased with it. Our customer service satisfaction of those using Standard is the highest of all our beneficiaries," Dian Lawhon, TRICARE's director of beneficiary education and support, said recently, according to the publication. 

Limiting the availability of TRICARE Prime is not the only way officials have considered cutting costs. According to Military.com, proposed increases to the annual enrollment fees have been suggested. 

For years, the Department of Defense (DOD) and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) have been working toward coming together to create an all encompassing electronic database of medical records. Such a system would make moving from one department to the other much easier and could significantly improve the level of healthcare servicemember​s receive, but the process has been long and some officials do not think it can be done.

Years in the making
Both departments have been working to transition to electronic records for a decade, but in 2008 Congress officially ordered the two departments to create a joint system so that when soldiers left active duty, it was easier for their medical records to come to the VA with them. The original plan was to have the endeavor completed by 2017 – at an estimated cost of $4 billion – but the process has certainly not been easy. 

Delay after delay
Over the last several years there have been significant challenges in developing the integrated system, and earlier this month then-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and VA Secretary Eric Shinseki announced they were doing away with the original plan of one system, and instead looking toward developing technologies that make each of their individuals records more interoperable. The idea, Panetta said, is to cut costs and finish the project more quickly

"All of these facilities will be interoperable by the end of July 2013, so [it's a] fast time track, but we think we can get it done," he told reporters. 

Lawmakers unhappy
Despite Panetta's insistence it was for the best, many members of Congress recently expressed their disappointment that the two departments were unable to come up with a system that fell under the original plan. Among them is California Rep. Jeff Denham, who said that the delay has been inexcusable and could threaten the health of veterans and servicemembers. 

"In the private sector, this would be done by now – it would have to be," he said. "I don't feel the same sense of obligation here. I question the will to get it done."

Service​members' advocates have also made their feelings known. For instance, the National Organization of Veterans' Advocates said that continued delays could make it difficult for vets to receive disability benefits and other vital services. 

An estimated 20 percent of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and the condition is one of the greatest health concerns among the servicemember population. As a result, medical experts have been going to great lengths to understand the condition as much as possible, and recent research suggests that a soldier's pre-war experiences may play a role in whether they develop PTSD later on.

The study
Conducted by scientists from Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health and the New York State Psychiatric Institute, the study looked at the mental health of 260 servicemembers who participated in the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study. To assess the severity of the disorder in each subject, researchers looked at the severity of their combat exposure, their pre-war psychological vulnerabilities and whether they had any involvement in civilian casualties.

Not surprisingly, exposure to stressful situations in combat was a constant in 98 percent of those with PTSD. However, researchers also discovered that only about 31.6 percent of troops in stressful combat developed PTSD. Furthermore, they noticed a distinct correlation between pre-war psychiatric issues and the development of PTSD after combat. 

What the findings mean
The results shed some light on the often-mysterious realm of PTSD, and could help medical experts better understand the condition when they're treating soldiers. The researchers also found that pre-war factors play a role in the long-term persistence of the condition. Perhaps most significantly, this research could help identify soldiers who are particularly at risk for PTSD and keep them out of certain situations, such as instances where civilians may be injured or killed.

The latest stride in the fight
As more than a decade of war comes to a close, researchers have conducted a considerable amount of studies to find ways to reduce the symptoms of PTSD. Some of the most compelling evidence of an effective therapy comes from a recent study conducted by military scientists that suggests an injection known as a stellate ganglion block may be able to numb signals that cause PTSD symptoms, according to Time magazine. Still, while the results are encouraging, experts urge cautious optimism.

"It is clear that new methods of treatment for PTSD are desperately needed," Dr. Cameron Richie wrote in a press release. "Although psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy are effective for many who are willing to go through the treatment regimen, they are not effective for all."

With thousands of soldiers re-entering civilian life after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, many of them may choose to use their GI Bill benefits and head back to the classroom. The influx of servicemembers may create a unique classroom dynamic that many professors have not yet had to deal with, and some colleges and universities are taking steps to ready all members of the campus for these changes. Georgetown University recently offered a program to help its instructors prepare, Stars and Stripes reports.

The initiative
Georgetown hosted its first Vet Ally event, which welcomed about 70 faculty members to talk about their past experiences and also discuss common complaints from veteran students. Organizers also went over basic military terms that could help them better understand the culture. Georgetown administrators say the need for such programs is especially high right now, as the school has already seen a growth in the number of veterans in class to about 500.

"The professors know stuff on how to deal with veterans day to day, help them with basic issues that come up in class," David Shearman, coordinator of the school's veterans office, told the publication. "But they don't always know why students joined the military, what serving overseas really means, what they mean when they talk about a FOB [Forward Operating Base]." 

Georgetown is not alone
While Georgetown is the latest institution to take steps to foster a welcoming environment, it is certainly not the only school to do so. At San Diego State University, for instance, veteran students have many programs that are designed specifically for them. There are classes only for servicemembers as well as a center in the student services building primarily for vets, according to The New York Times. The move is a smart one, especially since San Diego has one of the highest concentrations of servicemembers in the country.

"It's definitely nice to be around a bunch of guys who've been in the same situation, chewed the same dirt, been around the block," Andrew Lovick, who served for four years in the Marines, told the Times "We're the same demographic. It's kind of hard relating to someone who's 18 and their parents are paying for everything."

More education necessary
While veterans have considerable benefits available to help them head to school, many are not aware of what they have. In fact, a recent study from the Department of Veterans Affairs found more than 40 percent of post-9/11 veterans do not know they qualify for education benefits. 

As the economy slowly continues to improve, the unemployment rate for the country as a whole is improving with it. Unfortunately for the veterans who have served in the year following the September 11 attacks, this is not the case. In January, the unemployment rate for post-9/11 vets stood at 11.7 percent, a significant increase from the 9.9 percent in December. It's certainly not easy to transition from military to civilian life, and those who have gone through it have one piece of advice – start planning early.

Lay the groundwork early
Soldiers preparing to separate from service may think they shouldn't start their job search in earnest until they leave the Armed Forces. However, former Army medic Dan Huber says nothing could be further from the truth. According to The Associated Press, he has had trouble finding a job since leaving the military, and he says that waiting too long to plan was one of the biggest mistakes he made, something he made sure to share with his fellow servicemembers.

"I've told them: 'Hey, man, you guys have really got to start planning months and months in advance," he told the AP. "It's not just planning for interviews. It's planning to make sure you'll be afloat in this time period, which you don't know how long will take.'"

Problem being addressed 
Despite the high numbers, there has been a considerable amount of work done to help lower the unemployment rate among the country's youngest vets. Along with the VOW to Hire Heroes Act, which passed Congress in 2011 and provides training assistance to servicemembers, lawmakers are also working on a new bill in the early days of 2013. According to Military Times, the bill's chief component would be an extension of the Veterans Retraining Assistance Program (VRAP), which provides up to a year's worth of GI Bill benefits to help a soldier learn a new, marketable skill. The proposed bill includes a number of other provisions as well, such as a grant meant to hire veterans as police officers. Government officials also want to craft a single, federal website designed to help veterans find jobs.

Where to look?
One of the biggest challenges facing veterans looking for jobs is that they may not know where the best places are. The AFBA Career Center helps reduce some of those obstacles by connective job seekers with potential employers.  

Properly addressing mental health is one of the biggest concerns of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), but some experts say the organization may be going about it the wrong way. Specifically, instead of spending more money and hiring more staff members, the VA may want to look into how they are utilizing the resources they already have, according to Military Times.

More spending does not equal better results
The new recommendations come from a bipartisan House committee as well as a group of veterans advocates who feel that the VA should focus on strengthening ties within the community and reaching out to already-existing health networks to address the mental well-being of servicemembers. They point to statistics that found despite the fact the budget for mental healthcare has increased by 39 percent since 2007, the number of vets taking their own lives has increased. One of the biggest issues in the current policies is a prolonged waiting period. 

“Less than a year ago, the VA inspector general released a review of veterans’ mental health care access … showing the majority of veterans who seek mental health care through VA wait 50 days,” Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., chairman of the veterans’ committee, said during a recent hearing. “That figure amounts to thousands of veterans in need.”

A significant issue
The mental health problems among soldiers have certainly not gone unnoticed by the VA. In fact, earlier this week the department announced the hiring of more than 1,000 mental health providers. Still, while there is an effort on the part of the VA, it’s clear that experts may need to rethink their policies, especially since an estimated 1.3 million veterans sought mental health treatment during 2012.

What can be done?
Identifying the challenges facing the VA’s mental health treatment is one thing, but developing methods to accurately address the issue is much more difficult. There have been a number of studies conducted in recent years to determine the best treatments to help veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). One of the most recent was focused on determining whether a method known as Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) could help treat the disorder. Published in the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, the research revealed that EFT, a form of counseling that focuses on alternative therapy, had a positive impact on an estimated 80 percent of veterans who participated in the study.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released its latest unemployment findings on Friday, and while the national jobless rate stayed the same, the news wasn’t quite as good for post-9/11 veterans. During January, the unemployment rate for the veterans of the most recent wars rose to 11.7 percent, up considerably from 9.9 percent in December.

The results are somewhat of a step back for the concerted effort being made to help servicemembers find jobs once they leave the Armed Forces. There have been a number of programs launched over the last several months aimed at providing vets with the training to help them land in-demand jobs. For instance, the Veterans Retraining Assistance Program has been lauded as a big step forward, but it is still too young to have any graduates. Additionally, the transition assistance program has been revamped to offer more training for troops.

Despite the best efforts of Congress and the Department of Defense, it’s clear that something else needs to be done to help chip away at the high unemployment figures. Some new bills have been proposed in Congress that might help, including one that would extend in-state GI Bill benefits to soldiers who live out of state.

Veterans looking for assistance with the job hunt can visit AFBA’s Career Center, which helps pair employers and recruiters with qualified servicemembers.

The existing GI Bill makes it easier for veterans to earn a college degree, and another bill making its way through Congress may extend some of the benefits. The legislation, which has support from both parties, would require all public institutions to offer resident tuition rates, even to veterans who do not live in state, according to Military Times.

Known as the The GI Bill Tuition Fairness Act, the new law would go into effect in August 2014, and could open up a number of new educational opportunities to soldiers separating from service. Under the current rules, veterans who attend a public school outside their home state have to pay the difference between tuition and the funds offered by the GI Bill. The new law would help an estimated 40,000 troops save a considerable amount of money.

“The men and women who served this nation did not just defend the citizens of their home states, but the citizens of all 50 states,” the bill’s cosponsor, Rep. Jeff Miller, said in a statement. “The educational benefits they receive from the taxpayers should reflect that.”

Aside from helping veterans save money, the bill also addresses the fact that many soldiers have trouble distinguishing residency in a particular state due to frequent moves.