Several readers with military experience sympathized with Grim’s issues finding work. Many of the support jobs in the Army translate to civilian life – medics can become EMTs, Army truck drivers can become civilian truck drivers, electronics technicians can do the same outside of the Army, etc. Combat jobs have a considerably different skill set and do not translate well to civilian life. More than a few readers commented on the limited number of jobs available for an Eleven Bravo.
Several readers did comment that there are considerable educational benefits for post-9/11 veterans, which is quite true, and I mention a number of them. I probably won’t go into that too much more in this story, but it will pop up much later, in the sequels.