have only found one job that they could send me out for. As far as the employment offices go, every time I go in they tell me they don't have anything for me and they don't know when they will. I specialize in working on jets and all the airlines I have been to say that they will start hiring around the end of the year, or first part of next year. This goes from here to St. Louis, just everywhere.

The CHAIRMAN. Let me ask you this: You are a high school graduate-you graduated from high school in this area?

Mr. FARRIS. No, sir; I took the H.E. test and received a diploma from the District of Columbia.

The CHAIRMAN. While in the service?

Mr. FARRIS. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Describe some of the training you have received in the service and what kind of work you did as an hydraulic mechanic? Mr. FARRIS. I went to school for 4 months working my way up to the highest level of hydraulic mechanic to patrol, shoot and repairing jets. While I was overseas I was in charge of the hydraulic shop and also metal shop for awhile. I had 20 men under me to make sure that they got all the work done, getting the airplanes ready to fly, and just trouble-shooting, maintaining, and repairing.

The CHAIRMAN. How long were you in Vietnam?

Mr. FARRIS. One year.

The CHAIRMAN. During most of that experience in Vietnam were you in charge of 20 men as a sergeant? You had 20 men under your supervision?

Mr. FARRIS. I first took charge as corporal and then I made sergeant and then someone else came in and took over the metal shop. I stayed in charge of the hydraulic shop for awhile until we got someone else in. The CHAIRMAN. So you have had at least 1 full year of experience as man in charge, or reasonably in charge, of a hydraulic maintenance shop maintaining jet aircraft in Vietnam?

Mr. FARRIS. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you like hydraulic work and maintenance?
Mr. FARRIS. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. You felt that you were reasonably adept at it?
Mr. FARRIS. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. And it was your hope on discharge that you could continue in that general kind of hydraulic mechanic maintenance work?

Mr. FARRIS. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Now, while you were in the service-was Vietnam, by the way, your last tour of duty? You were in from March 1967 until January of 1971. Was your year in Vietnam your last year in service?

Mr. FARRIS. Yes, sir; it was.

The CHAIRMAN. What efforts did anyone make on your behalf or what lines of inquiry did you pursue while in Vietnam to see how you might gain employment once your tour of duty was up?

Mr. FARRIS. I was writing to friends and relatives and they were checking around. The only word I got was bad; they said that no one was hiring. In fact, all the airlines were laying off and they didn't know when they would start hiring again.

The CHAIRMAN. As I asked Mr. Lantner earlier, you talked with other guys in your group, I mean other fellows that were working with you on that crew or in your barracks or what have you; what was the general psychological attitude of the guys you were talking with? Were they optimistic about getting jobs or was the word pretty well back in Vietnam that the job market was pretty tight?

Mr. FARRIS. Well, everyone that I talked to had a very dim outlook on getting a job when they got out. The way we got the news, they just felt that they wanted to stay in for awhile longer until things got better, until jobs started opening up and then get out of the service instead of getting out right away and trying to find something that they felt would be hopeless.

The CHAIRMAN. Now, when you came back you returned to Washington, where you came first, and in the quest of jobs I think you already mentioned St. Louis, you sought some kind of job there. Did you mention Saxton, Mo.

Mr. FARRIS. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. And did you also go to Atlanta, Ga.?

Mr. FARRIS. No, sir; I didn't.

The CHAIRMAN. Now, when you went to St. Louis did you seek a job or interview with McDonnell-Douglas?

Mr. FARRIS. McDonnell-Douglas and also various lines.

The CHAIRMAN. Such as TWA and the other airlines?

Mr. FARRIS. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Did you just go there on a hope or had you in any way been led to believe there might be job opportunities there? Mr. FARRIS. I was led to believe that there were.

The CHAIRMAN. You went out and saw a personnel officer or some kind of employment guide, McDonnell, TWA-and what did they tell you?

Mr. FARRIS. They said they weren't hiring and they didn't know when they would start hiring again.

The CHAIRMAN. How did you get to Saxton? It is not very conveniently located. What led you to go to Saxton, Mo.

Mr. FARRIS. Some of my relatives are from Saxton and they said they had opened up a new airline down there. I figured I would go down and give it a try.

The CHAIRMAN. What was the name of that airline? It went broke, didn't it?

Mr. FARRIS. One of them did and they opened up another one. The CHAIRMAN. It wasn't Feeder Airline in Saxton, was it? You felt they might need a hydraulic mechanic down there, is that right? Mr. FARRIS. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Anyway, nothing came of that?

Mr. FARRIS. No, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Have you traveled anywhere else in the country, in person, in the quest of a job?

Mr. FARRIS. When I first got out, I got out in California and tried around L.A. and then came back to Washington.

The CHAIRMAN. L.A.-struck out there completely, too?

Mr. FARRIS. That's right.

The CHAIRMAN. The aerospace industry was phasing down and just no new jobs. They were laying off as a matter of fact, isn't that correct?

Mr. FARRIS. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. All right.

Now, in this 6-month period or so you have kept in weekly contact with the employment service-or how often are you in touch with them?

Mr. FARRIS. Every week.

The CHAIRMAN. You go in person?

Mr. FARRIS. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. And I guess you say "Here I am again. Have you got any potential job interviews?"

Mr. FARRIS. Well, sir; I go in and go through the books that they have out and there hasn't been anything close to my field.

The CHAIRMAN. Of course those books that they have out are, as Mr. Lantner said, are books that were available for the Federal Employment Service. Those booklets relate to job opportunities in the Washington Metropolitan area. They won't have a job in Seattle or St. Louis or a book on Atlanta, I guess.

Mr. FARRIS. No, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. And with your experience naturally you looked for something in that book that relates to hydraulic mechanics or something that relates to the expertise that you have gained?

Mr. FARRIS. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. And they are just blank?

Mr. FARRIS. That is correct.

The CHAIRMAN. So there is no place for you to go to even have an interview for a job?

Mr. FARRIS. That is correct.

The CHAIRMAN. I think you said earlier that you had one job referral in this whole 6-month period? Is that correct?

Mr. FARRIS. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Could you describe what that was?

Mr. FARRIS. Well, I was sent over to a computer programing comthat handles clients. I never found out who the job was with— but they were looking for helicopter mechanics.

pany

The CHAIRMAN. This was an employment company?

Mr. FARRIS. No, sir; well, it was a computer company that handles clients. If one of their clients need some people they will try to find them for them-instead of letting the company do their own work. They won't tell who the company is or exactly what it pays. They just want to know your qualifications and they say they are looking for helicopter mechanics and they say I wasn't close to it so they couldn't

use me.

The CHAIRMAN. In the whole 6 months that is the closest thing to a nibble or the only nibble, I guess, that you had in the 6 months? Mr. FARRIS. Yes, Senator.

The CHAIRMAN. Now, this general area of the country is not identified as an aerospace center per se in terms of either the building of aircraft or the construction. And, of course, it contracts out. How do you view your future in this area insofar as your specialty is concerned?

Mr. FARRIS. Sir; in any area or at any major airport they are going to have to have repairmen, such as myself, to maintain, keep airplanes

up, so they will be able to make their money. And without the repair-· men they are going to go down the drain.

The CHAIRMAN. Have you on your own, in addition to going through the books, gone in and every week there is a bunch of blanks, do you pound the pavement as Mr. Lantner did on your own and go out to National or Dulles or Friendship and contact either airlines or the major service companies?

Mr. FARRIS. Yes, sir; I do.

The CHAIRMAN. And no results?
Mr. FARRIS. No, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Now, am I correct, the unemployment compensation in this area is for 37 weeks?

Mr. FARRIS. Well, sir; I am only getting 34.

The CHAIRMAN. You get up to 34 weeks?

Mr. FARRIS. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. You can go up to 37 I am told at the outside. How many weeks have you been on unemployment compensation?

Mr. FARRIS. About 19.

The CHAIRMAN. Have you thought what happens 15 or so weeks from now when you've run out on unemployment? Have you looked that far down the line as to what you think you might do?

Mr. FARRIS. Well, I have looked down the line and I haven't quite decided what to do after that.

The CHAIRMAN. Going back again to when you were in Vietnam and you said the general feeling among guys you talked with, people writing from the States to their family or their friends, jobs were tight. The aerospace and airline industry was in a period of recession or decline. Did anyone in the Army indicate to you either optimism or pessimism? I am talking about somebody above you in rank as to job opportunities once you were discharged?

Mr. FARRIS. Yes, sir; they were trying to convince me that I should stay in and they kept pointing out that jobs were really tight, that I wouldn't be able to get a job and all this, trying to get me to stay in. The CHAIRMAN. Looking back on it now, hindsight is a curious phenomenon. Do you wish you had stayed in?

Mr. FARRIS. No, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Has it been suggested to you in the 6-month period, with only this one very slight nibble that didn't lead to anything, that perhaps you ought to consider being retrained for some other line of work that might be opening up?

Mr. FARRIS. I thought about it, but I figure I'll wait a little while longer before I really think too much about it.

The CHAIRMAN. You think, based on your own experience, that you are a pretty good hydraulic mechanic?

Mr. FARRIS. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. And you like that kind of work?

Mr. FARRIS. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. And you would like to continue it if and when a job ever becomes available in that area?

Mr. FARRIS. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. What are these airlines doing? I know the passenger fares are down on airlines, a lot of vacant seats on them, but what happens when a hydraulic mechanic dies or retires because of age,

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et cetera, here in the Washington area? Are they not filling those jobs? Are they reducing in force by way of retirement and death and not hiring at all? Do you know?

Mr. FARRIS. They say before they start hiring they will rehire everyone that they laid off.

The CHAIRMAN. And they have all laid off?

Mr. FARRIS. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Several hydraulic mechanics.

So when a job does become available out at National or Dulles somebody else who previously was laid off will get first crack at it ahead of you?

Mr. FARRIS. Yes, sir.

Senator BUCKLEY. I'm sorry, Mr. Farris, that I wasn't here for the earlier part of your testimony. One question I would like to ask, is part of the problem that the military is training more hydraulic mechanics than needed?

Mr. FARRIS. Sir, the situation overseas was that we didn't have enough hydraulic mechanics for the aircraft that we had, but as far as civilian goes, there are too many.

Senator BUCKLEY. Right, so is the reason for there being too many in the civilian field that so many people, like yourself, are being let out of the military with training?

Mr. FARRIS. Yes, sir; I believe it is.

Senator BUCKLEY. Would you feel that this is a problem which the military forces ought to recognize and perhaps provide training opportunities in a lot of fields that might have

Mr. FARRIS. Yes, sir.

Senator BUCKLEY. Thank you very much.

The CHAIRMAN. One final question to both Mr. Lantner and Mr. Farris. Would it be a fair conclusion from the testimony of both of you, such military experience as you have had, Mr. Lantner in communications and supervising several men under you in personnel, et cetera, and Mr. Farris in hydraulic mechanics and a crew of 20 working under your supervision that such proficiencies as you develop in the service in those two particular pursuits have availed you nothing thus far insofar as gaining a job in the employment sector back in the United States?

Mr. FARRIS. Yes, sir; that is correct on my side.

Mr. LANTNER. Senator, if I could add one small thing-when he mentioned people writing to us from the States, my wife is a highly trained computer linguist and has a masters in

The CHAIRMAN. What is that?

Mr. LANTNER. She had 2 years of interesting experience after earning her degrees, working with a stenographer's machine, putting a paper tape into a computer and getting a printout. It takes 4 hours to transcribe an hour tape, I believe.

The CHAIRMAN. She would take a statement in English on a machine and pump it into a computer and it would come out in Italian?

Mr. LANTNER. In English. A stenographer tape is not really English. It is a language of its own and it is treating English as a foreign language. She had 2 years of intensive research.

The CHAIRMAN. She feeds the raw tape back into a typewriter and