APPENDIX G – ADDITIONAL DOD CREDENTIALING EFFORTS

In addition to Section 558 of NDAA FY 2012, which requires DoD to conduct credentialing and licensing Pilots as described in the current report, DoD is contributing to a wide-range of

credentialing and licensing initiatives for Service members along five primary lines of effort:

1. Legislative Mandates 2. White House Joining Forces

3. DoD VA VEI Task Force Credentialing Studies 4. Interagency and Other Collaborations

5. Key Service-Specific Credentialing Initiatives AREAS OF EFFORT

LEGISLATIVE MANDATES:

 Section 551 of NDAA FY 2012, which is codified in section 1143(e) of title 10, U.S.C., allows eligible members of the armed forces to participate in job training and

employment skills training within 180 days of separation from military service. Using this authority the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry of the United States, Canada and Australia established job skills training and placement programs at Joint Base Lewis McCord, Fort Carson and Camp Pendleton. Several additional Army installations are considering establishing similar training programs. Training included accelerated welding and HVAC repair. All training resources and training and placement costs are provided by members of the United

Association at no cost to the government or Service member. As of August 31, 2013, 522 Service members have graduated from this program. The majority of the graduates are enlisted members with combat arms specialties. Every graduate has been offered a high-quality position in the pipefitting and HVAC industries. A Draft DOD Instruction is complete and is now in the formal staffing process.

 Vow to Hire Heroes Act of 2011, section 237, requires DOL, in partnership with DoD, to conduct a demonstration project (similar to DoD’s Section 558 of NDAA FY 2012 Pilot Program) on three to five occupational areas. DOL was required to contract this

demonstration project and the contract was awarded to the National Governors Association. DoD is collaborating closely with DOL.

 Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (“MAP-21”, P.L. 112-141), section 32308 requires DOT to study challenges for Service members and Veterans earning a Commercial Driver’s License. DoD is providing direct support.

WHITE HOUSE JOINING FORCES:

 At the direction of the President in May of 2012, DoD formed the DoD Task Force on Licensing and Credentialing. The purpose of the Task Force is to develop and coordinate Service efforts to:

- Define a list of MOCs which best transfer to high-demand civilian skills and identify Service members with the relevant MOCs.

- Meet with civilian credentialing and licensing associations (as well as state and local licensing bodies) to conduct a gap analysis between military training programs

and credentialing and licensing requirements and where feasible take action to address gaps.

- Make credentialing and licensing options and information available to Service members and facilitate administration of credentialing and licensing exams.

- Determine cost to Service members and the available means to pay for these costs.

 In March, 2012, the President asked DoD to examine the possibility of Service members gaining certifications in Manufacturing industry occupations; DoD is actively working Service member certification in manufacturing which includes initiatives with National Association of Manufactures, American Welding Society, Manufacturing Skills

Standards Council, National Institute for Metalworking Skills, and Society of Manufacturing Engineers.

 The White House also asked DoD to pursue Information Technology certifications for transitioning and mid-career Service members. The IT Pilot population consists of approximately 1,000 Service members in 25 MOCs and began in July 2013.

 The White House convened a series of Interagency working groups in April, 2013 to facilitate removing legal and bureaucratic barriers and to encourage innovation in Service member credentialing. There are four working groups in the areas of: Advanced Medical Operations, Emergency Medical Services, Transportation, and Academic Credit for military training, education and experience. DoD serves as co-lead for all groups.

DOD-VA VETERANS EMPLOYMENT INITIATIVE (VEI) TASK FORCE CREDENTIALING STUDIES/EFFORTS:

 Assessment of Service Credentialing Programs - resulted in identification of best

practices that were shared across Services to provide Service members with equal access to credentials.

 Study of Methods to Promote Assessment of Military Training and Experience by Civilian Credentialing Agencies – increased collaboration with credentialing agencies (state licensure and national certification agencies) to assess equivalency of military training and experience for credentialing purposes.

 Assessment of Gaps between Military Training and Civilian Credentialing Requirements – identified barriers to credentialing and gaps between military training and civilian

 Expanding Service members’ participation in registered apprenticeship programs – promoted inter-agency coordination to expand apprenticeship opportunities for Service members.

 Working with State legislatures to remove barriers to licensure – resulted in numerous states adopting legislation to grant greater recognition of military training and experience for state licensure and academic credit.

DOD COLLABORATION WITH SEVERAL INTERAGENCY AND VETERAN SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS:

 The American Legion convened three credentialing roundtables with the federal interagency community as well as industry representatives to discuss elimination of barriers for Service member and Veteran credentialing.

 Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) – Investigating the potential to serve as an accrediting institution for the award of Associate Degrees for Medical Education and Training Campus (METC) enlisted medical training graduates.

 National Governors Association – Veterans Licensing and Certification Demonstration Project with six states in support of Department of Labor initiative.

 Department of Energy – Better Buildings Workforce Development initiative which will create guidelines for “Better Buildings Workforce” credentials and will have a military occupational crosswalk component.

 American Society for Engineering Education in support of the National Science Foundation’s initiative to help transitioning Veterans pursue transition pathways to careers as engineering technologists and engineers.

 Society of American Military Engineers – Warrior Transition Task Force focused on eliminating barriers between military training/education and earning applicable civilian certifications.

 American Council on Education developing process for competency based evaluation of military training and experience for academic credit.

 VA’s Veteran Hospital Administration Intermediate Care Technician program to hire former military medics directing into the VA hospital system.

 Digital Tutor – Collaborating with DARPA and VA with Digital Tutor in an innovative 18 week IT training course for Veterans. None of the participants had prior IT

experience.

 The United Services Military Apprenticeship Program (USMAP) is a formal military training program that provides active duty Coast Guard, Marine Corps, and Navy Service members the opportunity to improve their job skills and to complete their civilian

apprenticeship requirements while they are on active duty. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) provides the nationally recognized "Certificate of Completion" upon program completion.

KEY CREDENTIALING INITIATIVES INITIATED BY MILITARY SERVICES INCLUDING:

 Army and Navy COOL programs: (1) disseminate information on credentials that map to Army and Navy military occupations, (2) provide detailed information on credentialing requirements, (3) provide results of gap analyses comparing military training to civilian requirements, (4) identify resources available to fill gaps.

 Navy COOL has proven to be a very successful program paying for voluntary credentials related to enlisted Sailors’ ratings under authority of USD Memorandum, “Payment of Credentialing Expenses for Military Members,” July 16, 2009.

 Air Force CERT disseminates information on credentials related to enlisted Air Force specialties; Air Force currently establishing a contract to expand their credentialing program to a COOL format similar Navy and Army this FY.

 Marine Corps also plans to establish a site in FY14 when funding is available.

MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS

 45 states passed laws or implemented executive orders to waive driving skills test for CDL requirements; legislation pending in four additional states.

- More than 1,800 Service members and Veterans received CDLs using the military skills waiver provision

 22 states passed legislation supporting Service member and Veteran licensing.

 DoD assisted VA in hiring 45 former military medics into VA’s Veterans Health Administration Intermediate Care Technician program.

 U.S. Navy has paid for over 86,000 credentialing exams since FY 2008.

 More than 350 manufacturing certifications were earned by Service members.

 Army has more than 650 food service personnel participating in Pilot apprenticeship programs.

 More than 60,900 Sailors, 13,900 Marines and 1,100 Coast Guardsmen are enrolled apprenticeship programs through the DOL’s United Services Military Apprenticeship Program.

 More than 2,000 service members registered to participate in the IT transition pilot being offered in collaboration with IT industry.

 To support this initiative the IT industry donated more than $1.0 M in training and certification vouches in 18 different IT certifications.

 IT Training Course Scholarships-1,606:

- Cisco - 500. These courses are being delivered by Global Knowledge.

- NetApps - 500. Courses being delivered by NetApps.

- GoGo Learning - 500. All courses are on-line by GoGo.

- Microsoft - 50.

 IT Certification Exam Vouchers -1,906

- NetApps -500 - CompTIA -350 - Microsoft -500 - Teradata -50 - SANS - 6

 Collaborated with VA on the development of an 18-week IT training program for Veterans using DARPA education technologies.

- First two classes consisting of 39 total graduates have completed - Average starting salary is $76K; one of them will receive $144K

- Of all 100 Veterans selected for this training, only 11% were employed full time prior to entering the training program — a few appear to have been homeless