At Fort Eustis, Sen. Kaine sees private sector potential
Sen. Tim Kaine stepped inside a training simulator at Fort Eustis on Thursday and deftly piloted a small Army craft through the water.
This kind of realistic training — complete with three-dimensional images and weather that gets nasty at the touch of a button — can allow experienced Army mariners to make a lucrative transition to the private sector when they choose to leave military service.
It is exactly the type of training that interests Kaine. As a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, he says service members should have an easier time getting private-sector certification for skills learned while serving their country.
Army leaders who met with Kaine Thursday say they're doing their part to make that happen.
Eustis is home to the headquarters of Training and Doctrine Command, sometimes called the Army's university. TRADOC schools around the country teach soldiers a variety of skills. A major subordinate command of TRADOC is nearby at Fort Lee in Prince George County: the Combined Arms Support Command.
It includes quartermaster, ordnance and transportation schools, where soldiers can train as cooks, welders and truck drivers.
Brig. Gen. Al Shoffner of TRADOC told Kaine that the Army has dramatically stepped up the pace in awarding private-sector credentials to soldiers in their chosen trades.
In 2013, the Army awarded about 8,000 credentials. This year, it will be more than 20,000.
"Looking to the future, we want to expand this as much as we can," he said.
That was good news for Kaine, whose legislation on this issue hasn't gone quite as smoothly as that simulated trip up the river.
The first bill he introduced as a freshman senator was the Troop Talent Act of 2013, which aligned skills acquired in the military with civilian credentials that are needed for post-service employment. Key components of that bill were included in the 2014 National Defense Authorization Act.
He's returned to the issue with mixed success. In May, he introduced legislation to allow military tuition assistance to cover licensing costs, test fees and other expenses associated with getting private sector credentials.
"We tried to get it all included in the National Defense Authorization Act (of 2015) and not all of it got in," he said.
It can cost an average of nearly $300 for active-duty troops to obtain these certifications, and Kaine thinks the tuition assistance program should cover the cost, just as it defrays expenses for degree programs.
Kaine, who has also visited Fort Lee, said it makes a lot of sense for soldiers to get certifications from the American Welding Society or the Culinary Institute of America while serving their country.
"Maybe you don't leave the military for 20 years, but when you do, you've got a credential that's understood by the workforce," he said. "They don't understand what the MOS (military occupational specialty) is, but they understand what the credential is."
The transition to the private sector can be worth it.
Don Topping is director of the Maritime and Intermodal Training Department, U.S. Army Transportation School. He talked the senator through several simulation exercises and explained the value of the training. A soldier/mariner with the right level of experience can make a good living by moving to the commercial maritime industry.
"Six figures easily — out the door," he said.
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