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During a speech at the Washington Navy Yard on August 5, President Obama announced new initiatives to lower veteran unemployment and ensure that service members leave the military career-ready through hiring tax credits, private sector commitments, and reforms that improve the training, and educating of service members for life after the military. Seth Waugh, Member of the Group Executive Committee and CEO Deutsche Bank Americas, was on hand, representing the Bank and the Veterans on Wall Street (VOWS) initiative, and its commitment to providing career and business opportunities for former military personnel. He also had a private audience with the President after the event to discuss veteran’s initiatives and other global issues.

The President challenged the private sector to hire 100,000 veterans or their spouses by the end of 2013. "That begins with connecting Americans looking for work, including veterans with employers looking to hire," Obama said. "Today we're telling our veterans, you fought for us, now we're fighting for you."

”The men and women who are returning from service have made so many sacrifices for our country. They are a labor pool of extremely well-trained, team-oriented, disciplined and passionate individuals who are, unfortunately, underserved. We are grateful for the opportunity to potentially hire many of these proven leaders and proud of our efforts to unite the industry around this initiative through VOWS,” remarked Waugh.

Pending approval from Congress, as part of a new Returning Heroes Tax Credit, firms who hire returning veterans can expect to receive USD 2,400 for every short-term unemployed hire and USD 4,800 for every long-term unemployed hire. The President has also increased the existing Wounded Warriors Tax Credit which provides firms with up to USD 4,800 in tax relief for every veteran hired with a service-connected disability and as much as USD 9,600 for every long-term unemployed veteran with a service-connected disability.

Also announced  was the creation of a “reverse boot camp” as an extended transition period at the back end of service to ensure career readiness of veterans. A special Department of Defense taskforce will develop training programs and provide education credentials that are necessary for veterans to transition to the civilian workforce.

Directly in line with the President’s reverse boot camp proposal, Deutsche Bank, in partnership with other Wall Street firms, has been steadfast in its pursuit to recruit and retain  United States service members. Leading the industry in the creation of the VOWS initiative in 2010, Deutsche Bank has held several networking events, workshops and roundtables for veterans to facilitate their transition from the battlefield to the private sector. Most recently, on June 23, VOWS drew over 1500 attendees to a job fair and conference held on the USS intrepid in New York City.

For more information on the new initiatives proposed by The White House, click here.

For more information on VOWS, click here.