Three years ago, I got an email from an Iraq veteran from Arlington, Virginia named Joe Tryon. His wife, Melissa, also a disabled combat veteran, was undergoing treatment at Walter Reed. Joe and Melissa are 1 of the more than 115,000 dual-military couples today. Together, they faced countless bureaucratic hurdles and endless red tape as they fought to get Melissa the care she had earned.

Today, Joe is facing a new fight: finding a job. For the last 14 months, this West Point graduate and Army Ranger has been unemployed. With his wife 100% disabled and unable to work, they are scraping by solely on savings and disability income.

In addition to graduating from one of the top schools anywhere, Joe also holds an MBA in health care administration. He was an officer in the Army for 6 years until he was injured and medically separated from the military. In Iraq, he was platoon leader and later an executive officer in an Anti-Tank company with the 101st Airborne Division. And now he’s hoping to get a job doing veterans advocacy work.

Despite his superior qualifications and a good attitude, Joe is still jobless; and he’s just one of the hundreds of thousands of unemployed Iraq and Afghanistan veterans relying on savings and unemployment checks nationwide. Last month, unemployment among Iraq and Afghanistan-era vets was an astounding 14.7%.

Joe said, “In the military, I was on a good career path, and was developing invaluable leadership skills that I thought would translate to a productive and rewarding professional career. Although I strongly believe any combat leadership outweighs any boardroom experience, again and again I have found this not to be true. I know that me and my veteran peers have far more to offer than what can be expressed on two-dimensional paper and I hope civilian employers can soon recognize that too.”

This week as Joe continued his job search, he spoke for veterans nationwide by standing on the Senate lawn to discuss the broader issue of veteran unemployment with some members of Congress who have been paying attention. Senators Murray, Begich and Klobuchar introduced bi-partisan legislation (a rare feat these days) to address the veteran unemployment crisis. For Joe and his fellow veterans, who are coming home from combat to one of the worst economy’s since the Great Depression, this news could finally mean some relief.

Some folks in the corporate sector are stepping up too. We’ve partnered with Microsoft on a historic jobs initiative that could impact thousands of new veterans and their families. And in the coming months, we hope to see even more support from corporate America on this issue.

At IAVA, we’re also doing our part to take on that unemployment number, one job at a time. To quote the old Marine Corps advertisement, we’re looking for a few good men (and women).

Finding jobs for vets may not be as headline-stealing as financial reform or nominees to the high court. But it’s an issue that impacts every sector of our country—from the economy to national security. And we can all do our part. If you’re a business owner, consider hiring a veteran. And as the cover of Fortune Magazine recently highlighted, they make great employees. Believe me, I know from personal experience.

Every American, employer or not, can educate themselves on to the value of serving in the military and what type of skills veterans bring to the table. And, you can tell your representative in Congress that you want them to take action on this issue and help pass a jobs relief bill for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans now.

So, if you’re looking to hire some folks who are exceptionally disciplined, tough, dynamic, smart and ready, give me a call. I’ve got about a few thousand leaders like Joe Tryon who are ready to go.

WASHINGTON — When Joe Tryon left the Army in early 2009 he assumed his six years as an officer and command experience in Iraq would make him an attractive employee. More than a year later, he still hasn’t found a job.

“I thought my combat leadership would outweigh boardroom experience,” the 32-year-old said. “But apparently it does not.”

At least part of the reason for that, say veterans groups, is a lingering stigma among some employers who worry what else combat troops carry with them: post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injuries, or similar mental health problems. Tryon said he heard that concern in several job interviews.

Earlier this week a group of lawmakers led by Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., pushed once again to undo that stereotype, proposing legislation to help veterans better showcase their skills to potential employers through job training programs, expanded GI Bill benefits and career counseling advice. But she admitted that improving the marketing of veterans is only half the fight.

“I’ve had veterans tell me they leave their military status off their resume, for fear of the stigma of the invisible wounds of war,” she said at a press conference Tuesday. “How can these heroes … who know how to lead be struggling so much to find work after they come home?”

The newest unemployment data shows that Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are still bearing the brunt of the latest economic downturn, finding fewer jobs than their civilian counterparts.

Among all recently separated veterans the unemployment rate now stands at 14.7 percent, well above the national unemployment rate of 9.7. Among veterans under 24 the situation is even worse; Labor officials estimate that more than one in five could not find work last year.

“Part of the issue is there’s a real disconnect between the military and the rest of America,” said Mark Walker, deputy director of the American Legion’s economic division.

“People outside the military don’t know about PTSD or TBI. It’s all new to them. So they worry, ‘Am I going to see some sort of outburst? What might he do?’”

Jason Hansman, who served eight years in the Army Reserves including a year-long tour in Iraq, said when he started looking for a job in 2008 he had a political science degree and what he thought was an impressive resume. But it took him five months to get an interview, and that was for an overnight security officer job.

“At that point, I had to take whatever I could get,” he said.

Seven months and hundreds more resumes later, Hansman now works with the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America as an online community manager, in part helping other veterans to find job training resources. He said many of them repeat the same complaint to him; Employers simply don’t view young veterans as desirable employees.

Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, said that’s incomprehensible. At Tuesday’s press conference he recalled that during his time as mayor of Anchorage “one of the best places to look for employees was the military.”

Medics make for model emergency services workers, he said. Civil affairs experts bring readily applicable skills to public works departments. Security and crowd control expertise make for a natural transition to police departments.

Murray’s bill would help ease some of the difficulty in that transition, allowing new GI benefits to cover the cost of apprenticeships and other technical training programs. Pilot programs outlined in the measure would also look for ways to let veterans skip some licensing and qualification requirements, if their military skills already covered such work.

Numerous veterans groups, including the American Legion and IAVA, are backing the legislation not only as a solution to job training gaps but also as a potential message to employers that these younger veterans are an enticing talent pool.

“Let’s face it: These people have been weeded out already,” Walker said. “To join the military you need to graduate high school, you need to be in good physical condition, you can’t have a criminal record.

“This is a qualified and committed group of people looking for jobs. Hopefully this bill can send a clearer message out that these veterans need to be on the front lines when they get back from war too.”