FINAL BLOG

I really connected Brown's (2012) chapter 17 to my personal life. The first interesting thing that I would like to point out is the topic of the government's national debt. I cannot believe how high our debt is and how the government has let it spiral out of control. I don’t understand why measures were not put into place sooner to prevent the US from reaching or possibly exceeding the "debt ceiling." The issue we had a few months ago with not being able to agree on the federal budget and then the federal government shutting down affected my family personally. My husband is in the military and went a few weeks without pay. I am fearful of next year when the exact same thing could happen.

I also was interested in the section featuring the short-term trend of war on the workforce. Many soldiers return from war or the service and look for civilian jobs but have a difficult time finding them. Employers are supposed to guarantee the position that the soldier had previously before deployment upon their return. However, several of my husband’s army friends came home to jobs that had replaced them. Also, there are many organization that try to help veterans find jobs, however many returning veterans are not able to work these jobs because of injuries, both physically and mentally. There is a large amount of veterans that are homeless upon returning home, especially those that don’t have families or friends to help support them. I think that more needs to be done to help our veterans, as this is a topic that I am very passionate about. My dream job is to be a military psychologist for soldiers that are returning home from combat.

And finally, since this is the last blog, I just want to say that I have learned a lot of helpful tools and resources as a result of the peer presentations. I think that many of us would have benefited from hearing these presentations several years ago. I still wish I would have heard the pilot speaker in elementary school, because I would love to be able to learn to fly a plane. I have also gained a lot from the class that will help me not only in my professional life, but my personal life as well.

Brown, D. (2012). Trends in the labor market and the factors that shape them. In Career Information, Career Counseling, and Career Development (10th ed.). New York: Pearson Education, Inc.