For more than eight years, Lt. Raymond Cate served as a United States Marines officer. During that time, he was trained to use guns and fight battles. But now he faces his most difficult hardship as he prepares to leave the military and search for a job in an unstable economy, where unemployment sits at 30 percent for veterans his age.

“I’m thinking positive about these things,” Cate, 25, said. “What’s the worst thing that can happen?”

For military veterans like Cate, the International Franchise Association (IFA) is doing its part through the Operation Enduring Opportunity initiative. The association, in conjunction with companies around Texas and the U.S. have pledged to hire 75,000 veterans and 5,000 wounded warriors by 2014.

As part of the program, veterans are hired in a wide range of positions, from entry-level to management in 300 business categories. Beth Solomon, the IFA’s Vice President of Strategic Initiatives and Industry Relations, said many positions are created with the goal of having veterans work up to become franchise owners one day.

While work in franchising seems like an odd choice for former military members, Solomon says there is “a natural synergy between military training and being successful in franchising.”

“Success in franchising comes from following systems and procedures. It depends on operational excellence and team leadership,” Solomon said. “Those skills are very much in the training of service members.”

In 1991, Don Dwyer Sr., the founder and CEO of the national franchising company the Dwyer Group in Waco, wanted to help troops who were returning from the Desert Storm mission in the Persian Gulf and took his idea to the IFA.

“We need to help troops long before they take their uniform off,” Solomon said.

The IFA pledged its support and with Dwyer created the VetFran program, which offers financial incentives, training and mentoring to veterans interested in opening franchises.

Today, there are 450 companies taking part in the VetFran program, including Texas-based 7 Eleven, Wing Stop and Sports Clips.

However, the IFA soon realized that franchise ownership under VetFran was financially unobtainable for many veterans and so it decided to extend the program to include the hiring of veterans, wounded warriors, and their spouses at franchises throughout the United States.

“We realized that a lot of folks coming back may not be ready to be owners right away, but we want to offer them a career path,” Solomon said. “What they need more than anything is a job and someway to transition into the civilian economy.”

As a result, in November 2011, Solomon and the IFA extended the VetFran program to include Operation Enduring Opportunity, which gives veterans and their spouses the opportunity to be hired as team members in franchising.

Mary Kennedy Thompson, the president of Mr. Rooter Corporation in Waco, TX, which takes part in Operation Enduring Opportunity, believes that veterans are a great resource and addition to franchises.

“Franchising is good for veterans and veterans are good for franchising,” Thompson said. “Veterans have had training in systems and leadership and discipline. They enjoy serving.”

The Dwyer Group, which owns Mr. Rooter, has committed to hiring 300 veterans.

As a former Marine, Thompson used the skills she learned in the military and translated them into a successful career in franchising.

“It gave me a system,” she said. “I didn’t know anything about business when I came out into the world of business and franchising and it was a franchising company that allowed me to become very successful because it gave me a system to follow.”

Through Operation Enduring Opportunity, Thompson continues to support military members in franchising through her role as vice chairwoman of the VetFran Committee.

While veterans have always been successful in franchising, Solomon believes this is the best-trained force in American history.

“The extent of this training and the value of this training that the United States has contributed, makes these candidates very qualified and highly trained,” Solomon said.

With prodigious work ethics and leadership skills, plus vast levels of training, it is difficult to fathom why veterans would have trouble finding jobs, yet veterans face some of the highest unemployment rates in the country.

While the current unemployment rate for the average American is 8.5 percent, veterans as a whole face unemployment rates close to 12 percent. Younger veterans, between the ages of 20 and 24 years old, see unemployment rates as high as 30 percent.

Cate says there’s a huge “disconnect between the civilian sector and military members,” which leads to the lack of jobs for veterans.

And Solomon agrees, stating that one problem veterans face is difficulty writing resumes, while civilians don’t understand the language or employment history on a military resume.

“Military people have no idea how to write resumes,” Cate said. “My resume is trash. I’ve had five or six people offer to look over it, but I’m a lost cause it seems.”

The IFA offers mentoring programs, which veterans can utilize to get help writing resumes and beginning the job process.

Veterans also have a difficult time adjusting to civilian life, wearing a suit, and even beginning the process of sifting through online job forums.

Before Cate went to the IFA “it was a new thing for Ray to wear a suit,” Solomon said.

Like many veterans, Cate’s military service will end with very little warning, and little training or adjustment to civilian life.

“It’s going to come down to them telling me a month ahead of time you’re leaving next month,” Cate said. “Your paycheck is going to stop next month, good luck.”

Cate, a husband and father of three has prepared for that day more than most military members. He has obtained his bachelor’s degree and began the process of looking for internships in public relations.

Until then, he is working as a strategic initiatives and industry relations intern with the IFA, sharing his story and reaching out to the franchise community to gain their support, while waiting for his term with the military to end.

Cate hopes military members don’t sell themselves short when they begin looking for a job in the civilians sector.

“They have skills that are extremely valuable and they underestimate that,” he said.