Jason Combs walked into the Perry County JobSight workforce center in April battle-scarred, depressed, and out of work. He walked out with a positive outlook and the tools he needed to launch his own business.

Jason, an Army sergeant from Knott County, had been wounded in a July 2004 roadside bomb attack on his tank in Baghdad, Iraq. He was the only survivor of the attack.

After recuperating in Germany, he received an honorable discharge. Jason, 32, had just returned to America when he visited the JobSight, operated by the L.K.L.P. Community Action Council at Jeff, just south of Hazard on KY 15. The physical and emotional scars he brought home left him uncertain of how to resume a normal life and find a career after nearly seven years in the military, he said.

“Once I returned home, I sort of hoped I could get a job in the mines or something,” Jason says. “But I came to the JobSight, and a lot more doors were opened for me that I wasn’t expecting.”

Jason says the person responsible for opening many of those doors is Chris Ward, a Local Veterans Employment Representative (LVER) with the Kentucky Office for Employment and Training (OET), a key partner in the JobSight network. Chris, also an Army veteran, recalls that Jason only intended to apply for Unemployment Insurance (UI) when he first visited the JobSight.

“At the time, he was totally unaware of any other benefits besides UI that he was entitled to as an honorably discharged veteran,” Chris says.

Jason says Chris “opened up a big book” to him, informing him of numerous benefits and services offered by Veterans Affairs and the other agencies that are partners in the JobSight workforce center—benefits and services that could help him with his transition into life outside the military.

Chris worked with state and national Veterans Affairs representatives to help Jason apply for disability benefits due to his combat-related injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder. Chris also contacted the non-profit Volunteers of America organization and was able to help obtain funding that allowed Jason to move into rental housing of his own and even paid his first month’s rent and electric bill.

Looking at career options, Chris helped Jason discover that he was eligible for assistance from the Kentucky Office of Vocational Rehabilitation and the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Dislocated Worker Program that would have helped him enroll in vocational classes and train to become a heating and air-conditioning technician.

Although Jason was grateful for that opportunity, the training option quickly became his “Plan B” when a family member offered to provide the financial backing that would enable him to buy a liquid waste disposal truck and launch his own septic tank pumping service. It was a chance to revive a career plan he had years ago.

“I explained this idea to Chris, and he immediately said that there were people out there who could help me,” Jason says. “I got the truck with my uncle’s help, but Chris helped me get everything else set up because you can’t just have a truck and start going out and pumping raw sewage.”

Through Chris, Jason contacted the Small Business Administration, which helped him create a business model, draft a working business plan, and secure the appropriate permits and partial start-up funding necessary to turn his idea into reality. That connection led in turn to Jason’s getting further assistance with his business plan from Larry Parke, an associate professor in business management at the Hindman Campus of Hazard Community and Technical College.

“It’s one of the best business plans I’ve ever seen,” Chris says, adding he currently is helping Jason look for grants to help cover additional business expenses.

The inter-agency cooperation that helped Jason re-enter the workforce personifies the “one-stop” concept that powers JobSight, according to Jack Duff. Duff manages the Perry County JobSight, one of four one-stop workforce centers in the JobSight network administered by the Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program, Inc. (EKCEP).

“Jason came in here looking for only one service and we were able to direct him to a full complement of services and programs that helped him, without him even having to leave the building,” Duff says. “Agencies working together to help a person start a new career and life is what JobSight is all about.”

Based in Hazard, EKCEP is a federally funded non-profit agency that administers the JobSight network in 23 eastern Kentucky counties. At JobSight one-stop workforce centers, job seekers and employers can access over a dozen state and federal employment and training programs and employer services in a single location.

Once he started his “All-Purpose Septic Service” with JobSight assistance, Jason wasted no time building a growing base of clients in Perry, Knott, and Letcher counties, he says. He has since purchased a second pumping truck and is eyeing a third, and says his plans include continued expanding and adding portable toilet rentals and cleaning to his business.

The cycle of success is paying off for Jason and JobSight. Chris says he plans to refer another of his customers—a veteran from Texas who recently relocated to eastern Kentucky—to Jason for employment while he completes WIA-funded vocational training.

“Jason has made a 180-degree turnaround, and it was fun watching the smile return to his face,” Chris says. “But he’s the one who has overcome all of these obstacles; all we had to do at JobSight was help provide him with the necessary means and access to partner programs to help him do that.”

Jason says his JobSight experience has had an even deeper impact on his life than just his business success.

“I learned that veterans do have a future in America,” Jason says. “Once I got on my feet again and got all of this started, I got my pride back up and things are looking good.”

For additional information on the array of services available to veterans, job seekers, and employers at JobSight, contact Jack Duff at 606-436-3161.