Call of Duty: Vets Go Green

Posted on 07. Jun, 2009 by admin in News Coverage

Originally published in The Durango Herald

June 7, 2009

by Joe Hanel

Call of duty: Vets go green
Program gives forestry jobs to returning troops

GOLDEN – “Cut and run” used to be an insult wielded against opponents of the Iraq war. But this summer in Southwest Colorado, eight military veterans will proudly employ the tactic in service to their country. They will be clearing trees in the backcountry, using what Harry Bruell of the Southwest Conservation Corps calls a “cut and run” technique.

“It’s hard work. It’s remote. They go through, they cut, they camp, get up in the morning, keep going,” Bruell said. It’s work at which disciplined, self-motivated veterans such as Ray Curry can excel.

“You’re always going to get wet. You’re always going to get cold. It’s a mental thing. But there’s a sense of camaraderie,” said Curry, a Marine Corps veteran from Annapolis, Md., who will be part of the crew.

Curry is one of the first graduates of Veterans Green Jobs, a training program that ended its first class last week. Three of those graduates are headed to Southwest Colorado to work on forest-health projects. Organizers plan to take the idea national by next year.

The eight-man crew in Southwest Colorado will start in the Rio Grande National Forest. Other crews will work in the San Juan National Forest this fall, possibly in Dolores County, Bruell said.

The crew will work 11 days on and four days off for eight weeks, said crew member Nick Morgan, a former Army Reservist who served in Iraq. “We’re really looking forward to it. It’s my natural habitat,” said Morgan, who already looks the part of a mountain man with his bushy black beard.

Morgan, Curry and 13 others graduated Wednesday from the Home Energy Audit Training class, designed and run by Veterans Green Jobs. The class spent most of its time in the San Luis Valley, getting on-the-job training in upgrading homes to be more energy efficient.

Members of the first graduating class will stay with Veterans Green Jobs to be “missionaries” to other classes around the country, said Brett KenCairn, CEO of the nonprofit. Most future graduates will be placed with private firms in either energy-efficiency or land-conservation work.

Home-energy auditing jobs are hot because of the federal stimulus bill, which has $70 million in funding for upgrades of Colorado houses. Curry calls the Conservation Corps his “dream job” and plans to stay with it. “Living sustainably is a passion of mine,” he said.

The veterans see the work – creating energy independence, cleaning up the environment – as an extension of their military service.

Garett Reppenhagen was a sniper in the 1st Infantry Division. Now he is the regional program director for Veterans Green Jobs. He compared the graduates with the Knights of the Round Table, who swore allegiance to a cause greater than themselves.

“These heroes have stepped forward to claim their contemporary quest,” Reppenhagen said. “They’re entering a time when we need champions. The damage we have already inflicted on our climate is severe.”

KenCairn, the founder, isn’t a veteran. He worked in the Pacific Northwest to find sustainable careers for unemployed loggers, and he came up with the Veterans Green Jobs idea three years ago after hearing a radio report about Iraq veterans who couldn’t find work at home.

The idea took off after a big investment from the Wal-Mart Foundation. By the end of the year, KenCairn hopes to have 60 to 70 graduates.

“By 2010, we’ll be in at least eight states and serving hundreds of veterans,” KenCairn said.

Historically, veterans have had a hard time finding work in the civilian world. The Veterans Administration estimates 154,000 veterans are homeless on any given night.

Gov. Bill Ritter gave the keynote address at the graduation ceremony, which was held at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden. Ritter said the veterans will be helping the country create a new way of producing and consuming energy.

“It is a future that will come over time and will come somewhat gradually, but it’s good to be at the head of it,” Ritter said.

The governor also announced that Veterans Green Jobs will help run a demonstration project in energy-efficiency training, in partnership with the state, NREL and the Department of Energy. “This is the first national training center, and it’s going to be right here in Colorado,” Ritter said.

Richard Knaub, director of education for Veterans Green Jobs, developed the home-energy training class and has sent the curriculum to community colleges around the country. The classes are hands-on and less focused on book learning, much like military training, he said.

The first class was the best group of students he’s had in his teaching career, Knaub said. “They all had open minds. They were willing to ask questions and explore new ideas,” he said.

During home-energy audits in the San Luis Valley, the veterans found nonenergy problems with homes, such as the lack of a ramp at a disabled person’s house and poor sewage in a young couple’s house. Instead of ignoring the problems, they found local charities or government agencies to help.

“These are people who can solve problems on the fly. They are people who can figure things out,” Knaub said. “They don’t say, ‘That’s not in my job description.’ They don’t say, ‘We didn’t learn that.’”