LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Nate Waits wakes up before 3 a.m. four days a week to get to his job at a Bentonville distribution center for Walmart Stores, where the former Marine is among more than 92,000 veterans the company has hired in the past two years.

As the two-year anniversary approaches of the Veterans Welcome Home Commitment program the company launched on Memorial Day 2013, the retail giant announced it is expanding its original plan to hire 100,000 veterans by 2018 to hire a total of 250,000 recently discharged veterans by 2020.

Chris Sultemeier, executive vice president for logistics at Walmart, said the company has been pleased with the skills the veterans bring to a range of positions including retail, distribution and management. He said about 8,000 of the original hires have already been promoted.

“Veterans work. They’re disciplined; they’re teamwork focused. They have a hard work ethic. They’re typically committed and loyal,” said Sultemeier, who is an Army veteran. “What we are looking for in an associate and what the military teaches them ... It just matches.”

Waits, 25, says he doesn’t mind the early mornings or the structured day. He manages about 45 employees at the distribution center who load and unload trailers.

If the company is successful, the 250,000 veterans would make up close to 20 percent of the retailer’s 1.3 million U.S. workers.

Sultemeier said there are high concentrations of veteran hires near large military bases like Fort Hood in Texas or Fort Bragg in North Carolina. But the company also has helped qualified veterans, who have been honorably discharged since Memorial Day 2013, find work in areas where there are often fewer job options.