This week in Cincinnati, Ohio, veterans, armed service personnel and local community leaders held a press conference calling for improved jobs in the security industry - a sector in which many veterans and armed service personnel work as security guards after serving their country.

Speakers at the event included Alfonso Hooks, a veteran, Cristy Riehle, a security officer, Tom Choquette, Director of Cincinnati Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice, and Katelyn Hartford of the Cincinnati Area AFL-CIO Labor Council. They each spoke of the need to develop and maintain good jobs in Cincinnati for our returning heroes and our community at large in order to create a lasting economic recovery.

"I am here to thank my fellow employees who have served my country," Cristy Riehle said. "I am also here because I know my fellow officers are treated unfairly, paid low wages and living without benefits."

For many veterans, a job in the security industry is a logical next step in their career, utilizing many of the same skills they developed in the armed services to protect the public at home. However, some private security companies are instead putting our security officers and our communities at risk by offering poverty-wage jobs that lack affordable healthcare and appropriate training.

Today's event in Cincinnati echoes the same calls for better jobs and improved security standards that officers are calling for in other cities across the country.

"There's nothing I care about more than my community and my fellow man," said U.S. Navy veteran and security officer Alfonso Hooks. "I have worked all my life to keep Cincinnati safe and to protect it, be it at home or overseas. Perhaps instead of spending just one day thinking about our veterans, our community should reflect upon the conditions that our veterans must return to every day of the year."