Basic Training to leave the Army?
It seems that there is a idea that is going to be used to help Veterans leave the Military. Just in the same way that one has to go through Basic Training to enter service, there would be a Basic Training for preparation to leave the Military.
Troops leaving the military will go through a five- to seven-day reverse boot camp covering job skills, personal finances and veterans benefits under a new initiative to be announced by President Barack Obama on Monday.
At a speech before the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention in Nevada, Obama will outline the program — dubbed Transition Goals Planning Success, or Transition GPS — as part of a wider effort to help curb veterans unemployment and the difficult integration into civilian life for many troops.
The overhaul is the first significant change in the military’s Transition Assistance Program in more than 20 years. It comes in response to criticism that the current three-day voluntary program is outdated and too superficial.
At face value it seems like it would be something that would work. But we shall see if it works.
Category: Veterans Issues
I thought that was what all teh yellow ribbon shit I had to sit through was for.
Um, so what was that two-day seminar crap I had to sit through back in 1999 before I went on terminal leave that if I didn’t show up for I was gonna get counseled about and not allowed to go on terminal leave?
Apparently we’re going to reinvent the wheel?
Admittedly, that was retirement, not simple separation processing. Never having separated other than via retirement, I admit I don’t remember what, if any process those guys and gals had to go through.
Hopefully it will fall some time before your last week, so you can get some feedback going.
I’m not complaining. I’m probably just having a senior, and very officer, moment.
I thought that’s what ACAP was
Good idea — as long as it is actually relevant and helpful information. Unlike my transition class, which basically consisted of “here’s how you go about getting a federal job” and that’s about it.
3…That’s what I thought, too…and are they trying to squeeze ACAP into this?
http://www.whatthefuckcouldgowrong.com
I mean, it sounds good in theory but pretty much any “awesome” new change they’ve tried over the last few years has eventually turned into a massive clusterfuck.
Here’s a fucking hint, want to make the transition easier? Get rid of that assclown in the WH and start creating JOBS!
Great 5 days of suicide and resiliency power points…
Yay, another forced death by power point class. Yeah, Im sure that all my friends are ever so excited about this. You can get the vast majority of this stuff in ACAP if you pay attention and go to the classes. Where I see the biggest help coming from would be some real work on the part of the folks giving the VA briefing. The VA brief I got a FT Bliss was terribad, no real explanation of much of anything. About all they did was pass out the form to start your VA claim and tell us to be patient as there was a claims backup.
@ 2. I went thru a 2 day seminar in 1981 that ‘prepared’ us for our ‘transition’! The difference was dad had a job lined up for me, there are no jobs now. I’m on a leave of absence and have been sending out my resume, for “sh*ts n giggles”, and only get the cursory “thank you for your interest” return e-mails. (I have a BA +16 from AZ State.)
Until the asshat in the WH is gone, nothing is going to change. Maybe he’ll make a special line at the unemployment office or the food stamp office for our veterans and retirees. I feel so bad for our troops getting out at this time.
Hell they gave us 30 days to arrange all this crap. As I was going to college none of it was useful. The worst part was after my last National Guard deployment they put us up in a hotel in the middle of BFE and gave the same brief that we had in Iraq, in demob station, at home station and THEN the hotel. Twice. It’s a government jobs racket. I had a tricare question and the tricare breifers knew jack shit about tricare.
I’m not ready to throw darts yet. But the military can screw up anything and everything. I agree with 90% of the postings. At least there are doing something… what and how remains to be answered. Good luck. Get the American Legion/VFW/DAV involved as well? Then maybe some of these soldiers will DEMAND that there physicals/injuries are recorded accurately!
If memory serves me correctly we already have this its called the Transition Assistance Program or TAP class, which runs about a week and covers things like job skills, resume writing, how to dress for interviews, and other items that may be helpful for military members entering the civilian work force.
So basically POTUS is pitching a program that already exists.
-Ish
Oh for got to mention that in the AF the class is mandatory not voluntary as above article mentions. Also AF members are required to go to a Transition awareness class which talks about finances and how military pay compare to the civilian market, granted this one is designed to try to get you to re-up but it probably contains much of the same info that would be in the proposed program.
-Ish
At our NG demob, a fat civilian lady started to tell us about how some of us may have seen some disturbing violence in Iraq…
…at which point we loudly chimed in that we had been in Afghanistan. (This was in January 2007, when Iraq was very much in the picture, and Afghanistan was below the public radar.)
So she started again: “So if you HAD been in Iraq, you might have seen some disturbing blah blah blah….”
When I got a recommend for further discussion re: combat stress, she was my second “interviewer.” As soon as I saw her, I lied like a rug so I could go home.
I was back on ADOS orders inside a month, and have been on active duty with the NG ever since. I think my last civilian resume still talks about Windows Server 2000, for crying out loud…
You come home from war and you want nothing more than to go see your loved ones but nope! You get to sit here and watch absolute GARBAGE powerpoints and videos until you want to murder someone, THEN we will send you home… And they want to make it LONGER? Fuck. That.
Can you tell it’s an election year?
Election year sound bites. It sounds the same as TAP, which is what I went through on an AF Base when I retired from the Army (Recruiting Command). Some of the classes were decent, although I wondered why the folks teaching the sessions didn’t have high powered jobs. The key is to make the program worthwhile; i.e. good job hunting classes and resume workshops from subject matter experts.
My exit involved two days of civilians coaching a roomful of zoomies on how to get the maximum VA disability ‘for the tax benefit.’
And if one were to say “Thank you, but no thank you. I already know all that.” ???
Most of the folks in the military are faily intelligent, and by the time they get out, reasonably mature.
My instructors always taught me that the correct way to teach was to sk fiorst “How many of you here already know this?”
In today’s world, I would ask “Is there anyone here who doesn’t already use the intertubes and needs help finding out all this stuff?”
Just sayin’, you can expect this to be another dog & pony numbers game for the brass.
Re my previous: And if I could get my keyboard to cooperate . . . .
Maybe they will make it so your unit cant order you to sign in and leave so you can pull staff duty every other day.
To be fair the VA lady did do an excellant brief at ft Carson, not a single power point and she actually had answers to question.
But seriously it just sounds like a mandatory death by power point week.
Pretty sure they already have this, or at least they did when i seperated in 09. It was called TAPS. It was a week long and sounds exactly like this new thing.
Did the same thing in 1999. Sounds like it was just as much of a waste of time now as then.
That’s the nice thing about recruiting in the area in which you’re going to get out. Networking is the fucking bomb.
Screw that noise. I would got more benefit out of a couple cases of liquor and some frisky college girls than the exit training I had.
There’s not a program in the world that is going to market a servicemember leaving the service for them, nor is it going to GUARANTEE them a job making the same or more than what they currently make in service, nor is it going to force employees to hire them.
It’s just that simple. ACAP, reverse boot camp, call it what you will, but the onus will always be on the individual.
Actually, this is not a bad idea.
I have seen countless boys get out and have that “plan”…
College, sports, MMA, cops, firmen, etc.
Some of them did it, but quite a few wound up in menial labor or worse.