James Toth was living with his parents and working odd jobs for cash that offered little security and no future.
Edwin Cathey was living on the streets, fighting the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder, and unable to hold a steady relationship or job.
The military veterans reluctantly turned to Working Wardrobes for help earlier this year and credit the Costa Mesa-based nonprofit organization’s Vet Net program with helping turn their lives around and find work.
Toth, 28, an armed supervisor with Allied Barton Security Systems, was recently promoted and will relocate next month from Boeing Inc.’s El Segundo operation to Seattle, where he will oversee a facility that manufactures weapons and equipment for the Department of Defense.
“I’m really thankful for Vet Net and Working Wardrobes,” said the reservist who spent four years stationed at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri as a military policeman. “Without them, I would have never landed that job. I wouldn’t have heard of it.”
Law Enforcement
A sergeant reservist told Toth about the Vet Net program in February when he was working side jobs that didn’t make ends meet, including making and loading ammunition for a small company in Rancho Cucamonga. He wanted a career in civilian law enforcement, but competition is fierce. He was among 20,000 applicants in the Southern division of California vying for one of the 150 total slots in the police academy.
The state has seven divisions.
“I figured I had nothing better to do or lose, so I came over here,” Toth said last week in a conference room at Working Wardrobes, where he had taken a customer service class and guard training.
The organization’s small staff and much larger volunteer base helped him fine-tune his resume and fit him in a nice suit and shoes. After graduation from its programs, they brought in several potential employers and set up job interviews on the spot.
“There was nothing more they could do,” said Toth, who has spread the word about the program to other veterans, including his father, a disabled veteran who spent 20 years in the military, including tours in Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
“He spent six years trying to figure out what to do with himself,” Toth said.
His father went through the program for three weeks and is now a field manager for a security company.
Working Wardrobes relies heavily on volunteers and the private sector for funding and other support.
Boeing
Boeing, a defense contractor that subcontracts Allied Barton and other firms to secure sensitive areas that require top security clearance, partners with the organization to prepare veterans to enter the civilian workforce and succeed in their careers.
“Boeing is deeply committed to supporting our nation’s military personnel, veterans and their families through programs like Working Wardrobes Vet Net that promote self-sufficiency, financial stability and success, and make the transition from military to civilian life more seamless,” Carrie Swanson, Boeing’s employee community programs manager, said in an email. “These individuals have given so much, and deserve the same in return.”
Chicago-based Boeing, one of the largest employers in Orange County, has contributed more than $200,000 to the Vet Net program through individual donations and the Employees Community Fund of Boeing California since the program’s inception in 2012.
Orange County is home to more than 127,000 veterans, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Gallegos
Vet Net Case Manager Edward Gallegos knows firsthand the challenges soldiers face on the job front.
The Army veteran lost his high-paying job as a lead technician at a chemical plant two years ago. His daughter Alyssa had been in and out of hospitals for years. He hated the job, but it had covered several of her surgeries, which totaled about $18 million, including kidney and bone marrow transplants.
Alyssa’s ordeal, which included several brushes with death, changed Gallegos’ perspective.
He came to Working Wardrobes in October 2012 and took some coaching classes.
“My ultimate goal was to be a therapist,” said Gallegos, who started working at the nonprofit this year. “You understand how important it is to have resources and have people who care.”
Cathey, the veteran who suffered from PTSD, is among the 500-plus people who will go through the Vet Net program this year.
He said he’s bounced from one blue-collar job to the next for three decades. He’s been a construction worker, painted houses, worked as a mechanic and then went back to construction for a steadier paycheck.
“That transition is very difficult,” Cathey said of returning to civilian life.
He left the Army in 1983 after ascending through the ranks, including a stint heading security for a military judge.
Cathey spent five months in Beirut working security detail during the Iranian hostage crisis.
He said the Army encouraged him to attend drill sergeant school after service, but he declined the offer, a decision he still regrets.
Cathey was diagnosed with PTSD in February after a psychological exam at the Veterans Affairs facility in Long Beach, where he checked in to receive treatment for high blood pressure.
The diagnosis helped explain why he had difficulty adjusting to civilian life, which was littered with several broken relationships and two failed marriages.
Help, Work, Apartment
He entered the Vet Net program in May and received rental assistance and help improving his self-esteem and resume, as well as therapy and security guard training and coaching.
Cathey, 56, now has two jobs and lives in a cozy apartment in Buena Park with his 14-year-old son, Nathan, and his wife. He supervises a team of technicians at Optical Display Engineering in Tustin who repair equipment on F-16s and commercial Boeing aircraft. He also works security for G4 USA at a Bank of America call center in Brea.
“I’m paying my rent. We’re eating,” he said. “Now I’m able to provide for my family and feel like a whole person again.”
