Navy’s Actions Prevent Colter from Acquiring Jobs

In October 2014, the same month the Navy Gold Star Program started, the Joint Chiefs of Staff released a white paper acknowledging the stereotypes veterans face when job hunting—

“Misleading stereotypes that generalize these challenges and form an inaccurate national narrative about veterans can further stymie veterans’ reintegration by increasing the divide of misunderstanding that currently exists between service members and civilians.”

Two of the stereotypes the Joint Chiefs highlight are:

• Veterans suffer disproportionately from post-traumatic stress.

• Because of combat-induced post-traumatic stress, veterans are a liability and can break at any moment.

The white paper sought to start a conversation about these stereotypes. It went on to say—

“Many of us feel a moral obligation to help prepare our veterans to live a fulfilling life after they’ve hung up the uniform.”

Why, if the Navy was and is aware of these specific stereotypes facing veterans, would they continue posting about Colter against his written wishes? Future employers could easily assume the worst of him, and not hire him, and he would never officially know why. One could only suspect…

In an April 17, 2023 Marine Corps Times article , Retired Marine Major Phil Kendro explains the hardship veterans face when job hunting. The article covers the fallout from San Diego County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher’s claim of PTSD.

Some veterans are outraged at what they see as wielding claims of post-traumatic stress for political purposes, as local ABC affiliate KGTV first reported.

Retired Marine Maj. Phil Kendro, who has led multiple veterans’ organizations in San Diego, told Marine Corps Times on Thursday that he is upset that Fletcher is playing “the veteran card” in a city with a high veteran population, which he cited as 13%.

“That is a stereotype that we have to face every day, that people think by hiring a veteran or working with veterans — that they’re gonna have PTS,” he said. “And so now all of a sudden we get him claiming this, and that hurts all veterans.”

I remember every one of Colter’s job searches. They were stressful. Colter’s online reputation created by the Navy not only validates the stereotypes Major Kendro mentions above, but exacerbates them.

The Navy’s ego put Colter in the position of not only being a veteran searching for a job, but a veteran who experienced a tragedy, publicly, and then invasively— at the hands of the Navy. Were potential employers Googling Colter and assuming his state of mind? The Google results, the sheer quantity of them during his first job search out of the military (2013), gave the impression that Allison’s death was recent. It gave the impression that Colter was actively grieving. Intimate details of his loss available as fodder for strangers.

Strangers who interview Colter for jobs cannot by law ask Colter about his personal life.

He reached out to publications which had published news stories after Allison’s death, to remove his name from keywords, photo descriptions, meta search data, etc… some agreed and others didn’t or didn’t even write back.

Colter’s resume is competitive. Yet, job searches remain tough.

According to a story on military.com, “5 Reasons Why Employers Are Not Hiring Vets,” the third reason is, “negative stereotypes.”

“Some employers see veterans as too rigid or formal. Other stereotypes include problems with anger management or post-traumatic stress.”

Even the State of Louisiana followed the Navy’s lead, and in Louisiana’s 3-page 2010 Resolution of Condolences to the “family,” they do not mention her parents or brother by name. Now, perhaps this was intentional, but why include Colter’s name and rank? They didn’t ask him. They do not mention friends from Louisiana. They mention the names of two fellow Nimitz Sailors.

Louisiana also had a few things wrong in their resolution to include the year the two were married. The State of Louisiana likely copied information from an article available online, becoming part of the snowball effect engulfing Colter’s life and harming his chances for jobs because of the Navy’s negligence.

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