A local employer is one of 427 companies nationwide, including 12 in Indiana, that have won a national award honoring companies for their efforts to recruit, employ and retain U.S. military veterans.
Analytical Engineering Inc., a Columbus-based technology, manufacturing and research and development company, has received the Gold HIRE Veterans Medallion Award from the U.S. Department of Labor for meeting federal criteria for hiring and retaining veterans.
Alex Turner, AEI’s human resources manager, traveled to Washington, D.C., on Nov. 5 to accept the award. The HIRE Veterans Medallion Award is the only employment award at the federal level that recognizes employers for hiring and retaining veterans, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s website. It was the second consecutive year that AEI won the award.
“I am very much partial to hiring veterans,” Turner said. “…We look for that detail-oriented person, that team player, anything like that. What we’ve found is that the quality of people in the armed services, they have that teamwork background, they have that detail orientation, that go-get-it-done attitude. That’s what we like to look for.”
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The HIRE Vets Medallion Award was established in 2017 after Congress passed the Honoring Investments in Recruiting and Employing Military Veterans Act of 2017, or HIRE Vets Act, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s website.
There are different awards and criteria for large employers with at least 500 employees, medium employers with 51 to 499 employees and small employers — like AEI — with no more than 50 employees.
The requirements for small companies include veterans making up at least 7% of new hires the previous year and that at least 75% of veterans hired were retained for at least one year and at least 7% of overall employees were veterans, among other criteria.
At AEI, around 42.8% of new hires last year, or 3 out of 7 new employees, were veterans, and 10 out of the company’s 50 employees, or 20%, are veterans, Turner said.
Making the transition
Several of the veterans employed by AEI said they have enjoyed sharing the common bond of military service with their co-workers.
Marty Deaton, 46, a test cell technician at AEI who served in the U.S. Army from 1993 to 2016, said he “struggled a little bit” to adjust to civilian life when he got out of the military and recreate the camaraderie he experienced in the armed forces.
“I don’t know how to explain it. You get so used to doing things a certain way for as long as I was in (the military),” said Deaton, who held the rank of sergeant first class. “And then you get out, and the teamwork is not there. Certain things like that, you miss that type of stuff.”
A Kentucky native, Deaton was deployed overseas several times during his 23-year career in the army, including a two-year stint in South Korea, six years in Germany, as well as tours of Afghanistan and Kuwait.
His last duty station was Camp Atterbury, where he was stationed from 2012 to 2016.
After he got out of the army, Deaton said he bounced between jobs for about a year and a half before approaching local representatives of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, who told him about AEI.
Deaton said he has enjoyed working with fellow veterans who share similar experiences of being in the service.
“Sometimes we’re working together and while you’re working you strike up those conversations of things you can relate to, start talking about the old war stories or something, camaraderie-type stuff. I like that,” Deaton said.
David Turner, 48, a closing technician at AEI who served in the U.S. Army from 1990 to 2013, retiring with the rank of sergeant first class, said he has been “impressed” by the support AEI since he joined the company about a month ago.
After he retired from the army, David Turner said he worked for Veteran’s Affairs but the injuries he sustained while deployed in Iraq made it difficult for him to continue in his role.
David Turner said he was awarded two Purple Hearts after being shot and injured by an improvised explosive device in Iraq, which caused some speech issues.
“When I first retired, I worked for Veteran’s Affairs and because my speech got worse, I couldn’t do that (anymore),” David Turner said. “But I love this hands-on type of work.”
Talking about the injuries he suffered, he said, “I’m still here, and that’s the important part.”
Scott Kanehl, 48, a plumber at AEI who served in the U.S. Marines from 1991 to 1995, said he experienced some challenges applying his skills in the military to a career.
A South Carolina native, Kanehl, who held the rank of corporal, was deployed to Haiti during the Clinton administration.
“It was hard making the transfer from what my skills in the military were versus what the jobs were,” Kanehl said. “It’s been so long ago, so it’s probably a little different for me. When I was in, we learned radio components that were designed for the Vietnam era and by the time I got out, even though I’m older, they were no longer in use.”
When he got out of the military, Kanehl worked in electronic repair but then got into plumbing, which led him to AEI, he said.
Kanehl said a lot of the skills he learned in the military helped him successfully change careers.
“All the intangibles were all there, working hard and figuring out the mission helped me to get into other jobs.” Kanehl said.
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Visit hirevets.gov for more information about the U.S. Department of Labor’s HIRE Veterans Medallion Program.
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