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Non Commissioned Officers Association

The Non Commissioned Officers Association of the USA (NCOA) appreciates the opportunity to express its views on a subject that holds enormous promise and potential to truly make a difference in veterans employment.    Of all the initiatives undertaken by the Veterans Employment and Training Service in recent years, and perhaps during their history, the licensure and certification of military training and experience is the most commendable in NCOA's opinion.   With the help of this Subcommittee and Congress, the issue you are discussing today has the potential to help more veterans than any other single thing that this Association could recommend. 

For several years, NCOA has been calling attention to this situation that, in many cases, is an artificial and needless barrier that hinders a transitioning service member from immediate and gainful employment.  A study of military personnel separating in 1997 revealed  37% of those leaving the service had a military occupation with a civilian counterpart occupation that required some type of credential, license or certification.  In that same year, every one of the top 20 military occupations of transitioning service members required a certificate or license in the civilian workforce.    In many cases, the military training the veteran received required approval by a civilian licensure or certification authority.  Yet, once separated from military service, that same civilian licensure or certification authority elects not to recognize the training already completed and the experience gained through military service.   Even more upsetting in NCOA's view is the fact that many of these highly skilled veterans are being required to use their veteran education benefit to retake training and courses already completed in the military, training that, as pointed out, was approved by a civilian approving authority.

In April 1998, the Department of Labor, through VETS, and the Department of Veterans Affairs created an Interagency Task Force on the Certification and Licensing of Transitioning Military Personnel.   The interim report of the task force, issued on December 4, 1998, identified the factors that have an impact on the ability of current and former military personnel to obtain civilian credentials.  NCOA believes it is important to restate those barriers in this testimony:

Ø      DOD perceptions regarding the effect of credentialing on retention

Ø     Service member lack of complete information on civilian credentialing issues:

• Lack of awareness of civilian credentialing barriers, and

• Lack of complete dissemination of information on credentialing resources.

Ø      Impediments faced by military personnel seeking credentialing:

• Geographic dispersion of military personnel/access to education and training,

• Fees for certification/licensure examinations, and

• Problems surrounding the use of the Montgomery GI Bill funds in lieu of tuition assistance while still on active duty.

Ø      Civilian credentialing boards' lack of information on military training and experience:

• Lack of recognition of military training and experience,

• Differing terminology and packaging of information, and

• Lack of clarity regarding the procedures for exchange of transcripts between military and civilian credentialing boards.

Ø      Barriers to obtaining union membership.

Ø     Federal government employment impediments.

Although some of the above barriers will be difficult to overcome, two can be solved almost immediately.

First, let's dispel the DOD notion that providing a license or certification at the time a military training course is completed will somehow adversely affect retention rates.   It's a bogus argument and quite frankly NCOA is at a loss to explain DOD's stance.  The Department has no evidence or data to support the contention.  Although little study has been done in this area, the limited analysis that is available suggests just the opposite.    As pointed out in the Interim Report of the Task Force "there is some evidence that those individuals who utilize education programs provided by the military actually reenlist in order to take advantage of further training and study.  While this is the only known study on retention rates with a narrow focus on one branch - the Navy, the results suggest, at the least, a reconsideration of the traditional view on the relationship of education and retention and reenlistment issues."  

The Task Force made the above statement on the basis of a study by the Center for Naval Analyses that found that college education through the Voluntary Education Program of the Navy has a significant positive impact on retention.  Thirty-one percent (31%) of first-term active-duty enlisted Sailors with no college education reenlist.  Thirty-seven percent (37%) with at least 15 college credits chose to reenlist and 55% of those with 60 credits also reenlist.     While no hard conclusions can be drawn from the April 1998 report entitled, Effectiveness of the Voluntary Education Program, it does lend support to what this Association has intuitively known for many years.    Individuals secure in the knowledge that their military training and experience, and higher education acquired while in the military, will account for something and be credited following military service, will be more inclined to remain - not leave.  NCOA firmly believes the same mindset will exist if we provide licenses, certification, etc. to military training courses.

The second barrier that could be almost immediately overcome is the federal government.   The American taxpayer is asked to spend millions of dollars in recruiting efforts to enlist the best; they are again asked to spend multi-millions of dollars to provide military members the best, most advanced training available; and, they are asked to spend billions of dollars in pay and benefits as these federal employees provide for the national security and simultaneously gain invaluable experience.   Yet, for all of that money, the federal government in many cases ignores that investment when it comes to federal civil service employment.    It simply doesn't make sense - money wise or otherwise. Examples of the federal government as a barrier are seen also in the following laws that defy common sense.

Federal Departments and Agencies are authorized to set maximum ages for “original appointment” to law enforcement officer and firefighter positions, and in the case of the Secretary of Transportation, the authority extends to air traffic controller positions.  The Office of Personnel Management is the agent designated to concur with agency determinations fixing age limits for making original appointments.

While this exception to age discrimination for applicants without prior training and experience seems justified, it seems unjustified in the case of veterans and military retirees.  Qualified veteran and military retiree applicants have already acquired extensive training and experience.  Oftentimes, the training acquired in the Armed Forces has been approved by the agency or department that subsequently denies employment because of age (i.e., air traffic controller courses approved by the Federal Aviation Administration). In the case of veterans and military retirees, it would seem that the “original appointment” occurred by virtue of their federal service in the Armed Forces of the United States.

Mr. Chairman, we could move now to remove this barrier by repealing 5 USC 3307 or by amending that law to authorize a “computed age” for veterans and military retirees that credits prior military training and experience (current age of applicant minus years of military experience equals computed age).  For example: A 45 year old applicant with 17 years experience as a military air traffic controller would have a computed age of 28. 

Another needless federal barrier relates to the appointment of military retirees to civilian positions in the Department of Defense.  A retired member of the armed forces may be appointed to a position in the civil service in the Department of Defense only after 180 days immediately following retirement, unless authorized by the Secretary of Defense and approved by the Office of Personnel Management.  5 USC 3326 creates an artificial barrier and impedes a smooth transition to civilian life following career military service.   That law should be repealed.

The point Mr. Chairman in the above two examples is that the federal government should be a model and leader for the entire issue under discussion.  Whether it's repealing or amending the above two laws or overcoming licensure and certification barriers in the federal government, it seems to NCOA that these things are fixable almost immediately.  

Conclusion

NCOA salutes the Department of Labor (VETS) and the Department of Veterans Affairs for taking the lead in an area that this Association believes has enormous potential to place transitioning service members not just into jobs but into high paying careers.   The Association is grateful for the work of the Task Force thus far and looks forward to continued progress as they proceed.    Although progress has been made, NCOA is convinced that the Department of Defense is going to have to become more engaged on these questions and in finding the solutions.  In NCOA's opinion, the leaders of the Task Force should have been DOL, DVA and DOD - not just DOL and DVA. 

Earlier this year, NCOA asked this Subcommittee make the issue of licensure and certification of military training a high priority on your oversight agenda. The Association is very pleased you have done so and thanks you for highlighting the issue at this hearing.  

As stated at the beginning of our testimony, NCOA believes solving this issue would be the greatest single thing this Subcommittee could do to advance the cause of veteran employment.   The Association is so firm in that belief Mr. Chairman that we will take it one step further.  If this Subcommittee had to elect one employment issue on which to focus, this would be it and the statistics support our belief.  Solving this problem, by removing the existing barriers, has the potential to allow 37% of the 200,000 people who leave the military each year to transition easily into high paying occupations and careers.  NCOA knows of no other veteran's employment initiative that could even come close to matching that potential.

NCOA senses a certain positive momentum and closes with one final request.  The Association asks that this Subcommittee keep this issue moving forward.

Thank you.

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