Obama Sucking Up To Firefighter Unions/Veterans

From Firehouse.Com: In an effort to cut the unemployment rate among veterans, President Barack Obama is calling for a new conservation program that would put veterans to work rebuilding trails, roads and levees on public lands.
The president also will seek more grant money for programs that allow local communities to hire more police officers and firefighters.
"Let's get more cops on the beat, let's get more rangers in the parks, let's get more firefighters on call, and in the process, we're going to put more veterans back to work," Obama said Friday at a fire station in Arlington, Va., that was one of the first to respond to the attack on the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.  http://www.firehouse.com/news/10623324/obama-touts-firefighting-jobs-for-veterans
I have no problems with the concept, but of course reality is altogether different.
Most paid/career firefighting jobs are civil service jobs and many of those communities give veterans points in the hiring process already.  And because civil service has strict rules, it would be hard to change the hiring process.  And while I don't know the exact figures, I would venture to say that the majority of firefighting hires have already had military experience.  To be a firefighter, you have to physically fit and be able to work in a quasi-military type organization.  They have to follow strict rules and work as a team and if they don't, they can be killed on the job or worse, kill someone else.  These traits are common among military veterans and that is why they are hired.
Further, suppose most of the hires of a fire department are white veterans, then the city will open up it's self to lawsuits by minorities.
Finally, as we have seen, the grant money eventually dries up and the city will have to lay off the firefighters, many of who will be veterans, or they will have to raise taxes to pay for the extra firefighters.
So, Obama is just sucking up to the firefighting unions in an effort to get more union members for their unions.  The same arguments also applies to police officers, even more so.
And to those oppose this program, I am sure they will yell, we want people to die, property to burn down and slower response times, which of course, is a bunch of bull.
And funny, Obama never mentioned anything about volunteer fire departments.  I guess since they are not unionized, Obama doesn't want to deal with them.