Unemployment rates for veterans, both men and women, who have recently served in Iraq and Afghanistan is still relatively high. But companies like Wal-Mart, Uber and Starbucks are putting great effort into their recruiting and hiring of vets.  

Former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is no stranger to the military’s training programs. Having served as Secretary of Defense from 2006 to 2011, he’s now on the Starbucks board.

“There’s transition training that the troops have to go through,” Gates says. “More and more employers are actually going on to bases to meet with military people who are facing transition out of the military.”

There are many steps the military is taking to help give young people a smooth transition over to the civilian workforce, Gates says, and many employers are being a lot more aggressive in providing guidance for vets as well.

“I know that the ideas at Starbucks came from a couple of people in the management chain who had been in the military,” he says. “I think it’s actually been self-generated often in these companies by young veterans who have been hired, and then are telling their own management, ‘You guys need to get more involved.'”