General William E. Ward, commander of U.S. Africa Command, presented two checks totaling more than $10,000 January 16, 2009, to assist in finding jobs for wounded service members. The donations resulted from a January 15 job fair in the Stuttgart military community attended by more than 200 people.

The money will benefit Warrior Transition Units (WTU), which offer assistance to wounded U.S. soldiers and their families during their transition back to active military duty or civilian life. The program includes rehabilitation services, administrative support, educational opportunities, and family support services. For those service members unable to return to active military duty, the program supports them in finding a job.

"When you care enough about something, then you can make a difference," said Ward, upon presenting the check.

Command Sergeant Major William Gardner of the Warrior Transition Battalion expressed appreciation for the contribution. "In the past, wounded warriors of foreign wars were forgotten about and not taken care of," Gardner said. "Now, because of the WTU program, we're doing the right thing taking care of our Soldiers which is a number one priority."

The money, raised through corporate donations during the Association of the U.S. Army (AUSA) job fair in Germany, will be used to fund the needs of the WTU Soldiers, 300 of whom reside in Europe.

The job fair was organized to provide WTU service members who are transitioning to the civilian work sector with the opportunity to meet representatives from 16 major U.S. government contracting companies. Human resources managers from the companies were available to talk with job seekers and advise them on the skills and qualifications needed for particular jobs.

The job fair had 510 job seekers over three days, including 46 from Warrior transition Units. In addition, AUSA set up an e-mail account to receive resumes from job seekers not able to come to Germany. More than thirty resumes were received from the United States and Europe during the job fair. The resumes are being sent to the participating companies. Job seekers include members of all services, retired, and civilian personnel.

Based on feedback from the companies involved, AUSA Stuttgart has scheduled another job fair for January, 2010 and is considering coordinating with other European chapters to conduct other job fairs.