Defense bill would help vets turn skills into jobs
A young program designed to help members of the military transfer their skills from service into the workforce could get a boost from the National Defense Authorization Act, which Congress is working to pass before the end of the year.
A pilot program allows service members to earn credentials for in-demand jobs in fields in which they may already have specialized skills from their time in the military, such as health care support and aircraft mechanics. Credentials for service members currently in the pilot programs are issued either by the military or an outside party.
The current NDAA bill would put quality measures into place in an effort to prevent fraudulent or useless credentials from entering the market, chiefly by requiring credentialing institutions to comply with Title IV of the Higher Education Act.
“For many in the private sector this could be a very lucrative business if it’s done right,” said Steve Gonzalez, assistant director at the American Legion.
Part of the expansion was originally proposed in a bill called the Troop Talent Act introduced earlier this year by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), and backed strongly by veterans groups such as the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars. The bill earned 99 cosponsors in the House and 18 in the Senate.
The bill would also require the military to make more information about credentialing programs available to service members.
“These provisions will help ensure servicemembers are provided with the guidance and information they need to translate their military skills into a civilian career, as well as give them peace of mind,” Kaine spokeswoman Amy Dudley said.
Earlier versions of the NDAA bill in both the House and the Senate would have gone a step further, expanding the pilot programs further by adding information technology to the list of credentials offered. This provision was stripped from the compromise bill announced by negotiators Monday evening.
The pilot credentialing program has private-sector companies such as Cisco weighing in on what skills they need, helping to ensure that the credentials are workable on the job market. That’s similar to other white-hot workforce development programs such as P-TECH in New York City, which has a partnership with IBM.
In the future, everything from cyber security to maintaining drones could be the kind of in-demand jobs in America that veterans would be suited for, Gonzalez said.
The Department of Defense has good reason to focus on transitioning service members to the workforce: The unemployment rate for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans currently hovers around 10 percent, significantly higher than the workforce overall. The Department of Defense paid $1.7 billion in unemployment benefits in 2012, almost 10 times as much as it did in 2001. Everything from a lack of information about credentials to an inability to complete civilian credential programs are barriers that currently prevent service members from obtaining credentials, according to a recent DoD report.
The effort has also garnered interest from the Obama Administration, which launched a similar pilot program through the Health and Human Services Department last spring. The programs are very small, serving a combined 2,400 service members so far at an average cost of $248 each.
Moving the program forward rests on Congress passing the NDAA, which sets levels for the defense department’s budget as well as many policies. This year, stalled negotiations and the government shutdown have led to questions over whether Congress will manage to pass the NDAA, which it has done every year for 50 years.
Having the workforce language in NDAA will help solidify the programs as a part of the Department of Defense, said Ryan Gallucci of Veterans of Foreign Wars. And it will allow advocates to start scaling the pilot programs soon and expanding them to other workforce skills.
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