Skilled Virginia Vet Looks for a Job in Trying Times

A 65-year-old Virginia veteran has been unable to find work since losing his job as a go-kart mechanic at the start of the pandemic.

John Whitehead is a man going through trying times. The skilled veteran has been out of a job since the start of the pandemic, though he has been searching for one far and wide, WAVY reports. He has not received unemployment benefits since the end of last year, though he has tried to reach the Virginia Employment Commission for over eight months.

“I tried for literally eight months. Eight months straight, every day, three, four, five times a day trying to call these people. Could never get ahold of anyone,” Whitehead told WAVY. 

Whitehead lost his job as a go-kart mechanic at the beginning of the pandemic. “During this time, things in my life were falling apart. My mother died, my father died, of course, my wife has left me,” he said to WAVY. 

To make matters worse, he lost his house and has been staying with a relative. According to WAVY, he keeps what belongings he has left in a storage container that he will soon be unable to afford.  

“I’m not used to being like that. I’m used to being able to control what’s going on around me,” the veteran shared with WAVY. 

Whitehead is continuing his job search and has a wide array of skills that should intrigue employers. “I’m a small engine mechanic; I’m very good at that,” Whitehead told WAVY. He served in the Navy as a boiler tech during the tail end of Vietnam, operated cranes in a shipyard for seven years, and has experience operating heavy-duty machinery. “Bulldozers, backhoes, front-end loaders, you name it, I can operate it,” he informed WAVY. 

Anyone who has a job opportunity for the veteran should email WAVY at reportit@wavy.com.

Whitehead’s job search comes at a time when small businesses have a record number of openings. In September, a report came to light from the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) that illustrated 50 percent of firms had jobs openings that needed to be filled in August. While job openings were at a record high in August, Biden’s disastrous economy created only 235,000 jobs in the month, which was below expert predictions.

According to Breitbart’s John Carney, materials released September 22 by the Federal Reserve illustrate downgrades in forecasts of economic growth compared to projections in June. In June, the median expectation of economic growth was seven percent compared to the 5.9 economic growth expectation released on September 22. 

Moreover, forecasts for unemployment have risen. In June, the median expectation for the unemployment rate at year’s end was 4.5 percent compared to a forecast of 4.8 percent, which came to light on September 22.

Editor’s Note: At the time of publication, this article described John Whitehead as a Vietnam veteran. Whitehead served near the end of the Vietnam War. He did not see combat in Vietnam, but he served on vessels in the Atlantic ocean. The article has been updated to clarify this fact.