Thousands of trained service members leave the military every year with exactly the skills employers say they can't find, and too many have no clear path to a job. A Louisiana group called The Boot, run by former military to help transitioning service members and their families, just won a $6.5 million, three-year U.S. Department of Labor grant to change that. The program will move veterans, service members and military family members into construction, manufacturing, defense and aviation maintenance jobs across Louisiana, coastal Mississippi and the Texas Gulf Coast. It pays for the things that sideline good people before they start: tuition, travel, lodging and certification fees. It also gives veterans credit for the skills they earned in uniform instead of making them start over. The goal is a job for every participant within six months. This is the kind of help our veterans have earned. Enrollment details are coming in the next few weeks. houmatimes.com/news/the-boot…