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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION U.S. COAST GUARD STATEMENT OF REAR ADMIRAL FRED L. AMES ON VETERANS’ EMPLOYMENT: CREDENTIALING REQUIREMENTS BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON BENEFITS COMMITTEE ON VETERANS’ AFFAIRS U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SEPTEMBER 9, 1999
Good morning, Mr. Chairman and distinguished Subcommittee members. It is a pleasure to appear before you to discuss the initiative of providing credentialing opportunities for our military work force. Careful documentation of acquired skills and experience is critical to the successful execution of many of our human resources processes, including training, assignments, and promotions. Establishment of formalized, standardized procedures that will allow for the ready translation of military skills and experience to civilian credentials can benefit the service, the individual member, and ultimately the public. The Coast Guard applauds the Subcommittee’s work to improve the transferability of our servicemembers’ skills and experience into programs recognized and accepted by civilian credentialing agencies. Your efforts will help insure that the men and women of the Armed Forces will have documented, marketable, and certified skill sets when they transition from military service. Your initiatives not only benefit the transitioning servicemembers, but also will provide the Coast Guard with another recruitment and retention tool. Advertising and supporting a series of programs that have direct linkages to private sector occupations and trades can be a powerful motivator to both join and remain in the service. Like the other Armed Services, the Coast Guard is an active participant in several programs in which military servicemembers may receive recognition for the training, education, and experience they gain while on active duty. These include the Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Educational Support (DANTES), the American Council on Education (ACE) credit recommendation program, our own tuition assistance program, and a developing educational assessment program administered by the Coast Guard Institute. This last program documents a Coast Guard member’s education, training, and service experience using ACE guidelines, college transcripts, the College-Level Examination Program (CLEP), and formal training and experience. The resulting transcript can then be used for continuing education and training, or could be used as a credential for employment. A recognized need within the Coast Guard is for a program similar to the Navy’s National Apprenticeship Program. The Coast Guard anticipates and welcomes participation in follow-on activities with other agencies to provide us with the necessary partnership opportunities to strengthen the support we can provide to our servicemembers. The Coast Guard, like the other Armed Services, is experiencing readiness concerns and challenges. We need to recruit the numbers of people to meet our mission requirements. Our efforts this year have been encouraging, but we continue to vie for personnel in an increasingly tight labor market and in a recruiting environment that is extremely competitive. Formal avenues for credentialing our servicemembers will help us to level the playing field when recruiting personnel for the Coast Guard. The type of initiative this subcommittee is supporting addresses a leading reason many young people seek out the military services. Education, training, and the opportunity to develop an occupational specialty consistently rank at or near the top as reasons for enlistment. Strengthening the link between professions requiring civilian credentials and related military occupations can promote our recruitment and retention efforts. In conclusion, Mr. Chairman and distinguished members of the Subcommittee, your efforts to improve the opportunities that help servicemembers receive recognition for training and experience they receive while on active duty will help the Coast Guard recruit and retain the top-quality personnel necessary to meet our commitments. Additionally, these programs increase the marketability of our servicemembers in the private sector. Thank you for the opportunity to discuss this important issue. I will be happy to answer any questions you may have. Back to Witness List |