Vets having trouble finding jobs

In summer 2003, Brenda Piedra was getting supplies in the streets of Baghdad - "shopping," as she calls it. Alex Dobuzinskis in the Daily News.

But it was nothing like a trip to the mall. As an Army private on a supply mission, Piedra came under fire that August day. A soldier in the Humvee in front of her was killed, and Piedra spent a long 20 minutes dodging bullets, pulling injured soldiers out of the street and firing back.

Before leaving active duty in 2005, Piedra rose to the rank of sergeant, pulled guard-duty shifts and supervised crews of Iraqi construction workers.