STATEMENT BYBRIGADIER
GENERAL KATHRYN G. FROST THE
ADJUTANT GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES ARMY BEFORE
THE HEARING
ON VETERANS’ EMPLOYMENT CREDENTIALING (LICENSURE, CERTIFICATION, ACCREDITATION AND APPRENTICESHIP) FIRST
SESSION, 106TH CONGRESS SEPTEMBER
9,
1999
Mr. Chairman and members of the Subcommittee,
on behalf of the soldiers and civilians of the United States Army, I
appreciate the opportunity to testify before you today.
The Army has robust training, education, and transition
programs for soldiers. I
am pleased to have the opportunity to discuss with you the educational
and transition services that exist to not only enhance the capability
of America’s soldiers on duty around the world, but, which also
improve their ability to meet civilian credentialing requirements and
to transition to civilian life. As you know the Army has a commitment to the American people to provide a trained and ready Army. Our non-negotiable contract with the American people is to be a warfighting Army – persuasive in peace, invincible in war. The Army’s core competency remains fighting and winning our Nation’s wars. The primary mission of the Army is to organize, train, equip, and provide forces for prompt and sustained combat on land. The Army meets this mission by providing realistic, mission--focused individual, unit and leader training. The Army trains to the mission not to government or state regulated occupations, which require licensure, or civilian employer and/or industry credentialing standards. There is neither time nor resources available to expand training beyond its current focus if our Army is to ensure its units, organizations, soldiers and leaders are trained to accomplish their missions. When information is available on skills found in civilian occupations not required in their military equivalents, we can steer soldiers to education programs they can pursue with financial assistance, during off-duty time, to develop those competencies. We
know, however, that Army readiness is inextricably linked to the well
being of its people. We make the most significant investment in the
Nation’s security by properly training, equipping, and supporting
them. This requires that our support structures provide soldiers and
families the resources to be self-reliant both when the force is
deployed and when it is at home station. The Army recognizes that we
must continue to maintain, within our top priorities, Quality of Life
(QOL) for our soldiers, family members, and retirees.
Moreover, we strive to build soldier and family member QOL
support structures comparable to society at large.
Education and Transition services are very much a part of the
Army’s support structure and personnel life cycle. Preparation for life in the Army and for transition to life
after the military provides soldiers and their families a sense of
security and is a QOL enhancer. Army Responsibility
The Army is aware it must provide military
personnel, as early in their military careers as possible, information
about voluntary educational opportunities, vocational/civilian
credentialing requirements, certification testing, and transition
services. Once informed and guided, the responsibility to meet any
civilian certification requirements rests with the individual.
All the while, the Army endorses education and transition
services that focus on providing information to the soldier about
credentialing requirements and possible barriers to credentialing.
We provide soldiers options for meeting those requirements and
reducing the barriers. However,
as much as we prepare our transitioning soldiers for civilian life to
minimize barriers, we are not always able to provide complete
information about skills required in civilian occupations that are not
required in the military equivalent.
There are too many variables.
Moreover, fluctuating labor markets, diverse local and State
licensure and certification requirements, and Union non-acceptance of
military experience create even greater barriers to ensuring the
employment of soldiers. The Army has inherent responsibility to
provide soldiers and veterans to the extent possible with 1)
educational opportunities to pursue diplomas/certificates/degrees of
their choosing and/or to enhance the skills already learned through
military training and experience; 2) counseling services that assist
soldiers to identify vocational/educational goals, options for
attaining those goals, and transition assistance; and, 3) testing
programs that allow soldiers to sit for exams for school admission,
college credit, and/or certification; 4) evaluation and documentation
of military training and experience for future employer assessment of
appropriate job entry level training and accelerated school admission. How the Army meets its responsibility As
The Adjutant General, I am responsible for policy development,
funding, and management of the Army Continuing Education System (ACES)
which provides soldiers, their family members, and Department of the
Army civilians lifelong learning opportunities enabling them to
continue their professional and personal self development.
The ACES is a network of 119 Education Centers and 151 Army
Learning Centers across the world, including Bosnia Herzegovina,
Macedonia, Honduras, and Southwest Asia.
Providing lifelong learning opportunities for soldiers and
other members of the Army family is an important QOL benefit.
Professional and personal self-development through continuing
education is a key enabler for individuals in our society to deal
effectively with today’s rapidly changing workplace.
Additionally,
I have responsibility for the Army’s transition program. The Army Career and Alumni Program (ACAP) is truly an Army
success story of the 90’s. Since
inception in 1991, ACAP has provided services to 925,000 soldiers and
their family members. The
program is designed to provide a professional and consistent delivery
of transition services at 45 ACAP Centers located worldwide. The
ACAP delivers the mandated preseparation counseling, employment
assistance and distributes the Verification of Military Experience and
Training document. The
ACAP is strongly linked with the Army’s recruiting program.
Our recruiting marketing materials describe ACAP as a vital
service available to assist soldiers reentering the civilian job
market. The connection
between recruiting and ACAP provides a reassurance to our potential
recruits and their families that the Army takes care of their sons and
daughters when they return to civilian life. That knowledge and assistance provided through this program
has made a difference to soldiers.
Not only to those who use this program, but also to those who
continue their service. Moreover,
our ACAP counselors concentrate on translating soldier’s skills such
as basic leadership, organization, and management skills. They teach the job search process with special emphasis on
writing effective and competitive resumes.
The preparation of our transitioners has made it easier for
corporate America to tap into this highly motivated and capable pool
of America’s talent. The
Army, through the ACES program and ACAP services meets its
responsibility by: 1)
providing degree opportunities through Servicemembers Opportunity
Colleges Army Degrees (SOCAD) system.
The SOCAD is a system of voluntary off-duty associate and
baccalaureate degree programs that offers degrees in over 30 different
technical fields of study through an Army-wide network of more than
120 accredited institutions. The system guarantees soldier transfer of credit and
acceptance of non-traditional credits.
Postsecondary programs are offered on Army installations from
the associate through graduate degree including technical courses for
licensure and certification. Currently
the Army is developing occupational degree programs.
This initiative includes developing and adding MOS specific
occupational degrees to the SOCAD system.
The objective is to custom design occupational degree programs
for the technical career management fields in aviation, health
science, electronics, administration/automation, and signal operations
(such as aircraft electrician, medical equipment repairer, radiology
specialist, and telecommunications operator/maintainer).
These programs ultimately will provide a degree option to
soldiers not wishing to pursue purely academic degrees, which maximize
credit for military experience and minimize the amount of college
study. This initiative is
a partnership with not only SOC and the Army Training and Doctrine and
Medical Commands, but the American Council on Education, Office of
Military Evaluations, and colleges and universities within the higher
academic community. The
partnership is critical to ensuring degree program quality and
acceptance. To
date, the Army has developed and established two degree programs that
encompass 15 MOSs in aviation technology at the United States Army
Aviation Logistics School, Fort Eustis, Virginia and, two degree
programs in medical equipment repair and radiology at Fort Sam
Houston, San Antonio, Texas. The soldiers in these degree programs are informed that if
they successfully pass the Federal and/or national
license/certification exams, which have been assessed for college
credit, the assessed credit can be used towards degree completion.
Degree development continues in the medical field and has begun
for the Army career field in information systems.
We are vigorously pursuing additional degree opportunities for
our occupationally-oriented soldiers and are looking for willing
institutional partners to help us make it happen!
The offering of occupation specific degrees assists in helping
to enhance military training, provides soldiers with expanded degree
opportunities, and increases soldier awareness of certification
requirements for specific occupations. 2)
providing counselor services. The ACES counselors assist soldiers
establish professional or educational goals and develop education
plans. They also counsel
soldier’s transitioning to civilian life on using Veterans’
education benefits. Additionally,
ACES assists transitioning soldiers with counseling and information on
alternate and traditional teacher certification and college programs
which offer courses to meet state-specific course and practice
teaching requirements. Through
ACAP job assistance and counseling centers, separating soldiers and
civilians are provided with the skills they need to obtain appropriate
post-Army employment and to maximize full utilization of the benefits
they earned through their Army service. 3)
establishing test centers and testing services Army-wide that
encompass academic, vocational interest, and Army personnel testing.
Through the Army test centers, soldiers have the opportunity to
take Defense Activity Non-Traditional Education Support (DANTES)
sponsored certification exams. The DANTES has agreements with many
professional agencies that are nationally recognized.
These agencies allow their certification examinations to be
administered through the education office.
In most cases the soldier/examinee is responsible for the
examination fee. The fee,
for some soldiers, is a deterrent to taking the certification exam. 4)
documenting, through the automated Army American Council on Education
Registry Transcript Service (AARTS), American Council on Education
credit recommendations for completion of service school courses,
military occupational specialties (MOS), and passing scores on
college-level tests. The
soldiers may have the transcript sent directly to an academic
institution, vocational/technical school, employer or professional
certification agency for assessment.
Since this program’s inception in 1987 more than a million
transcripts have been provided. Colleges
and universities readily accept these transcripts because their job
making decisions on awarding credit for military training and job
experience (nontraditional learning) is made easier.
This is a win-win for soldiers, veterans, institutions, and the
Army! Currently the Navy
and Marine Corps are implementing the same sort of system because it
has proven to be so successful! Joint Agency Partnering and Commission Report Recommendations The
Army Continuing Education System (ACES) represents Army on the
Department of Labor Veterans Employment and Training Service (DOL-VETS)
InterAgency Task Force (TF) on Certification and Licensing of
Transitioning Military Personnel. Our role is to increase outside
agencies’ awareness of Army mission and our education and training
programs and services. Army
supports the TF goal to eliminate barriers to credentialing and
licensing wherever possible. The
DOD and the Services’ representatives recommended, and the TF
endorsed, expansion of the DANTES Certification Testing Program.
Army strongly agrees with the Congressional Commission on
Servicemembers and Veterans Transition Assistance’s recommendation
to increase Defense funding to pay for certification examinations
provided the resources are appropriated by Congress.
The result would enhance Servicemembers’ ability to document
their occupational skills in a manner acceptable to civilian
employers. Additionally,
ACES is participating with other Services and DOL representatives in a
joint forum on apprenticeship program issues.
This group is exploring the feasibility of operating a DOD-wide
military apprenticeship program. The
Army Apprenticeship Program (AAP) operated from 1975 until phased out
in October 1997. The
program was originally established through ACES and Army’s Training
and Doctrine Command in a July 1975 agreement between the Secretaries
of the Army and the Department of Labor (DOL).
Upon program completion, soldiers received an Apprenticeship
Completion Certificate from DOL, Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training
(BAT). The Army discontinued the program because 1) DOL-BAT
documentation required was too labor intensive for soldiers,
supervisors, education centers, and service schools; 2) program was
“documented time-on-task based” not
competency-based—employers/unions wanted proof of job skills; 3) the
program had questionable acceptance by civilian employers; and, 4)
because no guarantee could be given to soldiers that they would be
assigned to jobs which would enable them to complete their
apprenticeship programs. The
US Army Recruiting Command stopped officially advertising AAP in 1987
because of the impact of legal considerations.
The Army has not replaced the AAP.
However, in addition to participating in the joint Service/DOL-BAT
forum to discuss these issues, ACES envisions refocusing efforts in
this area to help soldiers identify/develop any additional
competencies required in related civilian occupations and certify
their job skills by using nationally recognized certification
examinations and licensure programs to validate skills.
Our expanded new Servicemembers Opportunity College (SOC)
occupational degree programs, along with nationally accredited
technical education programs, can provide academic support. The
Army fully supports the recommendations of the Congressional
Commission on Servicemembers and Veterans Transition Assistance on
improvements to the Verification of Military Experience and Training (VMET)
document. Since
origination of the VMET system in 1992, the Army has distributed
almost one million documents. Recommendations
for redesign include distributing VMET electronically to the soldier
upon demand and modifying to reflect activities relevant to
certification, licensure, and apprenticeship.
The Army is participating in a DOD working group to redesign
the VMET document. This
effort will improve the flow of information, increase cost
effectiveness and expedite delivery of VMET. Closing In
closing, I thank you for this opportunity to come before this
committee to inform you about the education and transition programs
that are built into our QOL support structure.
The Army is committed to providing quality services to build a
stronger force and to support our departing soldiers, civilians, and
their family members. We
look forward to working closely with Department of Labor, Department
of Veterans’ Affairs and industry to provide our soldiers more
opportunity should they seek to continue their contribution to this
Nation in the civilian sector. When
America invests in soldiers, we invest not only in Army readiness but
also in the future of a stronger, more productive Nation.
Thank you for your continued interest in programs for these
great Americans. Back to Witness List |