To: Leon Penetta, US Secretary of Defense, President Donald Trump, The United States House of Representatives, and The United States Senate
Department of defense develop a Service to Citizen certificate/license program with federally fun...
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and President Obama, develop a program that allows the department of defense to partner with all universities that receive federal funding to ensure that the training and experience our veterans gain are transferred into licenses and degrees before they are honorably discharged. Ensure the policy provides all military personnel with accredited degrees and licenses recognized as such by professional organizations and institutions across the country for the training they receive in the military and the experience they gain in the field—so they can put their valuable skills and training to use immediately upon honorable discharge—and let this policy be retroactive for those that have the skills but not the degree or license.
Why is this important?
Thousands of veterans have, and are, returning home to the United States with the relevant skills to fill job positions in areas of transportation, engineering, mechanics, medicine, education, computer science, and a number of other fields. Unfortunately, their valued skills do not count on the job marked unless these qualified veterans also have certificates, such as licenses and degrees, validating their training. There is a simple solution to this problem: the department of defense could partner with all universities that receive federal funding to ensure that the training and experience our veterans gain in battle are transferred into licenses and degrees before they are honorably discharged. Many of our universities and community colleges already have programs in place that recognize work experience and training outside the traditional classroom as credit towards a degree or license. By forming partnerships with universities and colleges the department of defense could easily provide licenses and degrees to our service men and women that reflect their talents, training, and experience. Funding from the GI Bill could pay for the certificates and licenses before the service member is discharged. In addition, the program could be retroactive to help those that have already been discharged but meet the requirements.