TESTIMONY
OF JAMES B. HUBBARD DIRECTOR OF ECONOMICS THE AMERICAN LEGION BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON BENEFITS COMMITTEE ON VETERANS’ AFFAIRS U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ON VETERANS’ EMPLOYMENT: CREDENTIALING (LICENSURE, CERTIFICATION, ACCREDITATION, AND APPRENTICESHIP)
REQUIREMENTS SEPTEMBER 27,
2000
Once
again, Mr. Chairman, I wish to express the thanks of the 2.8 million
members of The American Legion for your continued interest in the
recognition of military training by civilian licensing and
credentialing authorities. Proper recognition of military vocational
training will be a direct benefit to 80-90 thousand separating service
members annually. These
veterans, with the opportunity for a seamless transition to civilian
life, will continue to be taxpayers, with no significant break in
employment. These
veterans will benefit, their families will benefit, and society will
benefit from the more expeditious use of their considerable skills and
talents. Mr.
Chairman, at the last hearing, The American Legion posed a series of
questions to which this Subcommittee should seek answers.
The questions focus
on the specifics of this issue. It
is The American Legion’s sincere
hope that answers to all these questions can be obtained from the
relevant agencies. 1.
Which Federal agency should be in charge of coordinating the
governmental efforts in this important area?
Where will the database on MOS vs. college credits reside? 2.
Where will be the repository of information for agencies,
organizations, and individuals on credentialing? 3.
How will Federal and State agencies work with credentialing
organizations and agencies and with employers to eliminate this
barrier to the employment of separating service members? 4.
What role will an expanded GI educational benefits program have
in helping service members fill in the gaps in skill requirements? 5.
What effect will a deliberate credentialing effort on the part
of armed forces training schools have on recruiting – on retention?
In our opinion, well-constructed studies are needed.
Who will do them? 6.
Is the current Federal Task Force effective in addressing this
problem? If not, how can
it be made more effective? 7.
What is the role of the educational institutions in
credentialing? 8.
What is the role of apprenticeship programs in credentialing? 9.
What incentives can be made available to the business community
to train veterans by filling in skills gaps? 10.
How can Federal agencies that issue credentials, such as the
Federal Communications Commission or the Federal Aviation
Administration, come to recognize military training? 11.
What is the role of the Disabled Veterans Outreach Program
Specialists and Local Veterans Employment Representatives, now working
in the public labor exchange in the credentialing effort? 12.
Is this problem more a function of military training or the
ability of credentialing bodies to understand and correctly evaluate
military training as it relates to the credential sought? 13.
Would a national conference, attended by interested parties
from the military, VA, Congressional, state and private sectors, be a
useful step in improving the dialogue? Mr.
Chairman, at this point it seems appropriate to comment on some of the
questions and any progress or lack thereof on the subject contained in
the question. Questions
1-3 relate to which Federal agency will become the “lead center”
in the effort to obtain recognition for military training.
Both the Veterans Employment and Training Service (VETS) at the
Department of Labor and the Education Service at the Department of
Veterans Affairs have taken separate leadership roles in this
endeavor. VETS has
convened a Federal task force to examine the issue from a Federal
perspective. The task
force continues to meet with two interim reports having been issued.
The Education Service has stepped forward with positive
suggestions on how to craft legislation to allow GI educational
benefits to pay for the examinations necessary for a separating
service member to obtain a required credential. These are positive steps.
However, without some legislative mandate, no repository for a
database has been designated, though VETS has done some work in this
area. Question
4 will have been answered when the current legislative initiative
authorizing payment of costs for credentialing examinations passes and
is signed by the President. The
American Legion would like to congratulate your leadership, Mr.
Chairman, and that of the majority and minority staff for the work
done on this important step. Question
5 relates to steps the armed services must take to gauge the effect of
the recognition of credentialing on recruitment and retention.
To our knowledge, only the Navy has done anything in this area.
The Navy study showed that educational and credentialing
opportunities, when offered to qualified service members, resulted in
a higher reenlistment rate. More
needs to be done in this area. The
American Legion believes that offering credentialing opportunities by
recruiters and by reenlistment counselors will result in fewer
shortages in critical skills now faced by the armed forces.
Question 6 addresses the effectiveness of the Federal task
force. On June 14, the
task force issued a status report, which chronicled the progress by
several agencies in hiring veterans into jobs needing credentials.
Of particular note are efforts by the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) and the Military Sealift Command (MSC).
Both agencies have taken several positive steps to recognize
military training conducted by the armed forces as meeting some of the
major requirements for careers. The FAA also offered some suggestions to the services on how
to improve that training so as to better prepare separating service
members for the required examinations.
MSC was able to place former service members in dozens of jobs
paying $30,000 or more by sending a direct letter to separating naval
personnel. These steps
are to be commended. The
American Legion is unaware of any planned future meetings scheduled
for the task force.
With respect to questions 7 and 8, the licensing and
credentialing conference held on June 21-22, 2000, addressed only the
educational role. A
speaker from the American Council on Education pointed out their role
in examining course work offered by military schools and translating
it into college credits. There
is much more information to be discovered here.
The role of the Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training and the
role of labor unions in certifying military experience was barely
touched at the conference. More
work is needed here also.
Question 9 assumes that the business community needs some
begging, cajoling, or some kind of incentive to hire former service
members. This may be a
false assumption. As the
economy continues to expand, companies are finding is harder and
harder to find qualified workers.
Many of them have discovered the armed services as an excellent
source of skilled people. Industry
is becoming aware of all of the attributes that veterans bring to the
American work force. A
number of articles in trade and national newsmagazines have focused on
this trend. Consequently,
more and more separating service members are finding good civilian
careers faster than before. Question
10 has been answered in the comments associated with Question 6. Question
11 relates to the role of Disabled Veterans Outreach Program
Specialists (DVOP) and Local Veterans Employment Representatives (LVER)
in the credentialing. The
American Legion views their role as extremely important.
Many of these employment professionals are doing Transitional
Assistance Program (TAP) training on military bases for service
members leaving the armed services.
Their knowledge of the credentialing process is critical to a
seamless transition for military people.
As more and more coherence comes to pass with this subject,
access to web sites by DVOPs and LVERs will be a necessity in
answering questions on specific credentialing requirements.
DVOPs and LVERs will become a critical link in the ability of
these 80-90,000 veterans to transition into the American work force. Questions
12 and 13 relate to an apparent lack of communications between
civilian authorities and the military training establishment.
The national conference held on June 21-22 of this year began
to address this problem. The
conference pointed out that solutions are indeed possible.
More communication between the military schools and the
civilian credentialing authorities must improve.
This can be accomplished with future conferences, which focus
more on the mechanics of the process in each case.
The American Legion encourages all parties involved to work for
better and more communications. Nobody
loses in this case. Credentialing
authorities gain members. Industry
gains qualified and certified employees, while veterans gain civilian
careers. The last
subject to be addressed by The American Legion is the broad subject of
national conferences. Mr. Chairman, The American Legion felt the conference, held
in June, was very successful. The
only problem with the conference was the funding mechanism.
In order for it to be held, funding was necessary.
For one reason or another, the Federal government declined to
fund the conference. It
fell to the Coalition for Professional Certification to come up with
the money. Their budget
took a huge and unnecessary hit. This is wrong. The
Federal government should fund that conference and all future
conferences. Service
members are employees of the Federal government.
Their time away from home and family serves all of American
society by protecting the rights and freedoms enjoyed by all of us.
The American Legion believes it is the proper role of the
Federal government to ease the transition of veterans reentering
civilian society. To the
extent that these conferences help that effort, the Federal government
should provide the funding. Mr.
Chairman, you have performed an invaluable service by holding these
hearings and focusing your personal interest in its importance.
Now the challenge will be to continue to address this problem
until it is solved. Next
January, a new administration will assume office and a new Congress
will convene. The
American Legion will continue its efforts to persuade the new Congress
and the new administration that this subject is an important
veterans’ employment issue. With your help, it can and will be done. Thank you Mr. Chairman for this opportunity. Back to Witness List |