Video: Military vets to be hired as firefighters

Video: Military vets to be hired as firefighters:

veterans who served our country will serve again .. in a firefight the state has to win. nikki ibarra is live in the bosque with the plan to hire military vets as firefighters. nikki? danielle and tom, as we know this area is dry ... the fire danger is high. today's announcement, while good news for a select number of vets, also gives us insight into just how bad the state thinks this fire season will be. 24 years old ... 5 years in the marine corp ... 9 months in afghanistan ... and manuel chavez has no job. MANUEL CHAVEZ- it's like man i served for my country. shot, been blown up and i come back and i can't even find a job just doing the simplest tasks. GOVERNOR MARTINEZ- there is nothing worse than having a veteran on the unemployement line. the state will hire 40 veterans .. and train them to fight a war against wildfires because..... GOVERNOR MARTINEZ-once again we find ourselves in our state facing what we could be, what could be another very active year for wild fires. chavez says this new program is the opportunity he's been looking for. MC- being out and hands on is where, is where it's all at. That's where I like to be. manuel chavez was one of the first to apply and get accepted. he'll get a few weeks of training and then wait for the call to fight fire. MC- it gets us back into serving together. fighting together you know, it keeps us with our brotherhoods which is what we're used to. $17.50