During Shaun Clark’s time in the U.S. Army, he was deployed as airborne infantry to Afghanistan, Iraq and to Haiti after the earthquake. He’s experienced more in three years than most of us will in a lifetime. At 21, he’s back home and asking: Now what?

That’s the question facing many young veterans, who served in some treacherous war zones and now find themselves living in a civilian world that must seem at once dull, a little confusing and not very welcoming.

The unemployment rate for veterans who have served on active duty at any time since September 2001 — referred to as Gulf War-era II veterans — was 12.1 percent in 2011, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That was significantly higher than the rest of the population.

For male veterans ages 18 to 24, the situation is worse, with an unemployment rate of 29.1 percent in 2011, compared with 17.6 percent of young male nonveterans.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is trying to fix this deplorable problem with a program called Hiring Our Heroes, and they held a job fair at the Venetian on Thursday. (First lady Michelle Obama has a similar initiative.)

Many young veterans joined the service right out of high school and need to catch up on the basics, such as how to write a resume.

Once they know the basics, young veterans confront a problem: how to translate duty, honor and country into bullet points on a resume.

Nathan Smith, who was a Marine Corps infantry officer, is executive director of Hire Heroes, an Atlanta-based nonprofit that offers employment training for veterans and connects them with employers. As he put it, “How do you put ‘Infantry in Afghanistan’ on a resume?”

He said that when he talks to employers, his message is, “Hire for attitude and train for skill.”

This is especially crucial for young men whose primary experience has been combat arms in the Army and Marine Corps. (Navy and Air Force veterans often leave the service with technical skills in demand in the private sector.)

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