By Rick Rogers
For The North County Times

Mark Baird flunks the subtlety test when talking about military job fairs, especially those attended by defense companies with contacts with the Defense Department, which is just about all of them.

"They are a sham. They are a complete waste of time," said Baird, a pastor, who with his wife, Tori, started the free Internet job site HirePatriots.com six years ago at this Fallbrook home.

"The vast majority of these companies only show up to demonstrate to the Defense Department that they are making good faith efforts to hire veterans. They'll take your name and resume, but they throw them away. I really feel sorry for the veterans and their families who go to these job fairs with high hopes when there are really so few jobs," said Baird, 60.

Jobs, jobs, jobs are the first three words military advocates utter when prioritizing what veterans, reservists, National Guardsmen and their families need most to stabilize their lives. But there's a disconnection between what's needed and a plan to make that happen.

Baird said about 1,700 Marines a month separate from the military at Camp Pendleton and that Southern California jobs for them "just aren't there." Statewide an estimated 30,000 veterans return to California each year after their service obligation.

Job demands by veterans in North County are predictably voracious. Of the roughly 500 one-day jobs posted weekly on HirePatriots.com., Baird said most are filled within five minutes of their posting.

And these aren't dream situations either. Last week's jobs included digging holes for fruit trees, selling Dippin' Dots and weeding vineyards. Most are part-time, dirty-hands jobs paying $10 to $15 an hour. Yet every one had multiple applicants.

"That just goes to show you how much demand there is for jobs out there," Baird said.

San Diego County companies are exacerbating these job woes, Baird said, by refusing to support veteran enterprises.

For example, Baird said he's tried to get a janitorial company off the ground comprised of Marines or former Marines.

"Know what companies told me? They said, 'I can pay an illegal alien $5 less than a Marine. Thanks for coming in.' "

But there are people extending their hands instead of sitting on their wallets.

Former Marine major David Dickey, president of the San Marcos defense firm Alpha Ten Technologies, Inc., and others started the Veterans Retraining Initiative about a year ago. Through it, hundreds of veterans have learned job skills or are chasing new careers.

"What I would like to do is to have a lot more interaction between the bases and the communities," Dickey said. "Where can we get some internships, training or re-training?"

"Mentoring is a huge thing. People need to find a mentor for different areas of their life. There is not a robust employment transition program in the military."

Baird said that the San Diego Workforce Partnership, operating out of the North County Coastal Career Center on the corner of Oceanside Boulevard and Avenida Del Oro, is also having success by holding de facto mini-fair job fairs.

"Essentially what is happening there is almost one-on-one job fairs, where a limited number of veterans meet representatives from a small number of local companies that are looking to hire," Baird said. "This seems to be working and is something I am looking into. We have to be creative to find veterans, especially combat veterans, jobs."

To post on HirePatriots.com, call Baird at (760) 730-3734 or logon to: HirePatriots@yahoo.com. Contact Dickey at (760) 744-5703 or email at: veterans@afcea-sd.org.