This letter is in response to the article, “State job fairs target unemployed veterans” in The Vicksburg Post of April 10, 2012. The article said Entergy Mississippi is targeting veterans for jobs. Potential veteran employees should be aware of the immoral ethics practiced by Entergy in hiring/firing veterans, especially retired veterans.

A few years ago, I was one of several retired veterans who was forced to leave the company. My department of fewer than 50 employees had several retired senior military managers, including senior officers and NCOs, who were forced out of Entergy by young “wannabe” managers. These individuals successfully persuaded Entergy’s company officers that we were unqualified to be leaders.

These wannabe managers (not willing to serve their country) truly displayed anti-military cynicism and accused us retirees, with well over 100 years of management experience, of taking jobs away from them. Not all of us were fired, however we were removed from our positions and placed in menial jobs with no future in hopes that we would quit.

Senior officers of Entergy turned a deaf ear to our concerns and condoned the strategy used by these individuals to weed us out. We had no course of legal action because it appeared that Entergy had the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in their pocket.

I certainly hope Entergy Mississippi has higher moral standards and ethics than their parent company when hiring and retaining our veterans. As a retired Vietnam veteran with more than 26 years of honorable service to my country, I salute all my veteran comrades for a job well done and wish them the best as they go forward in life.

Billy Middleton, Master Sgt.

U.S. Air Force, retired

Vicksburg