Jed Flint is an example of a Veterans Affairs Department success story.

A Hillsdale County, Michigan, native and ’70s-era military veteran, Mr. Flint said his life was in shambles and that he nearly succumbed to alcoholism several years ago but turned things around in 2005 when he got hooked up in Ann Arbor with the agency’s Veterans Retraining Assistance Program. The program enabled him to learn masonry, cabinetry, and other skilled trades at the Penta Career Center in Perrysburg Township.

Now 58, Mr. Flint said he is employed as a construction worker and has owned a North Toledo house for six years. He said he’s been clean and sober the last nine years, since he got connected with the V.A.’s job-training services.