In spite of the recession in the American job market, the green jobs sector is growing rapidly. Green industries generate more than eight millions job opportunities to American residents. With the right public policy, these job opportunities could grow to be as much a 40 million by the year 2030. According to a recent article that appeared in the New York Times, fifty six thousand newly trained workers and fourteen thousand project managers would be required to realize the one year energy efficiency goals that president Barrack Obama has set. Veterans can take advantage of these job opportunities.

Green jobs are described as the jobs or careers that contribute to making America more environmentally friendly and sustainable. Green jobs for veterans are available in many fields such as alternative energy, energy conservation, green construction, sustainable agriculture, environmental remediation and natural resource management. Green careers lead to job prosperity and security for America's veterans. In addition to this, they strengthen the economy and the health the planet. Green jobs for vets are meaningful especially for veterans who have expressed a leadership and willingness capacity in serving their country.

Veterans can seek employment in well-known fields after receiving three to six months of hands on technician training but green employment opportunities also exist for more specialized, higher trained veterans. The following are some of the green job opportunities available for veterans.

Clean or green tech process management.

The field of life cycle assessment is growing and can offer many green jobs for vets. This field serves the role of providing customers with the missing information regarding the impact that manufactured products and the process used to produce them have on the environment. Green tech process management consultants strip products apart to get information about all the components used to create them, the process used to acquire and accumulate raw materials and how each component is manufactured. They also gather information about how the components are assembled, how the products are distributed and the impact of disposing the products. In this way the consultants provide consumers and companies with a detailed look at the ethical and environmental impact of the products that people buy every day.

Environmental public relations and marketing programs.

Most companies now incorporate some form of environmental marketing programs such as ensuring that their headquarters buildings are LEED certified or placing Energy Star stickers on their products. This is bound to continue and veterans can find jobs as educators or consultants who advise companies on the certifications they should get. They can also act as advisors about creating efficient working conditions for employees who mine raw materials and how to create recyclable products.

Streamlining processes.

When most veterans leave the military, they have exposure to the Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma thought processes. They also know a lot about streamlining processes like information management, supply chain management and network and communication structure. Veterans can therefore provide companies with important consulting services in product development process greening.

Why hire veterans?

Veterans are able to offer the much needed creativity in the workplace because they are generally innovative and adaptive to most situations. Veterans are also able to help improve a company's responsiveness and adaptability potential. For years, military veterans are forced to live with much less than they should have. They are therefore able to take whatever they have and transform it into whatever needs to be accomplished. This mindset is valuable to any company that is seeking to recover and one of the reasons of hiring veterans.