Even though Senator John McCain had voted periodically to not support various funding proposals for U.S. Military veterans, back in 2011, Senator McCain was passionately advocating for legislation to increase funding for U.S. Military veterans.
Through mutual Arizona friends in the PR industry, McCain’s office learned that Tom Wilmer was scheduled to interview veterans who were proudly employed in the civil aviation industry at the Grand Canyon for his podcast.
Wilmer was introduced to two flightseeing industry leaders, veterans themselves--John Becker COO of Papillon Helicopters and Charlie Bassett, VP of Operations for Grand Canyon Airlines.
Becker and Bassett set up interviews with combat veterans who had joined the ranks as employees in their Grand Canyon air tour operations, serving proudly as pilots, ground crew, maintenance and customer service positions.
At the time of the interview back in 2011, unemployment among returning Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans exceeded 17 percent and the Grand Canyon flight-seeing industry served as a trendsetter targeting employment opportunities for military veterans. Regretfully, it was the Republican side of the isle that voted down McCain’s proposal to increase funding for veterans.
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