The United States Marine Corps (USMC) announced the re-launch of its website, www.Marines.com, designed to more dynamically illustrate the history, impact and journey of America’s elite warriors. With more than 150 creative video depictions of real-life Marine training and missions, the site offers an authentic glimpse into what makes a Marine.
New features include more than 500 photos and videos, an ability to personalize content and improved navigational storytelling. The storytelling approach shows Marines in a way previously only known to the few men and women who serve in the Corps. The site reflects how Marines have continued to evolve and grow, like today’s diverse society they protect, to fight a wider array of battles and a greater spectrum of threats. Additionally, this resource is one of the first introductions to Marine Corps career opportunities and works to meet today’s growing social culture and highlight alignment with the generational youth aspirations for public service and education.
The site includes a registration tool that personalizes information and updates, answers questions, connects directly to recruiters and takes users on a journey to determine what it takes to be a Marine.
Personalized account management that provides answers to questions and is aligned with user interests.
A “Career Tool” that allows users to answer questions to gain a better understanding of the many career opportunities available in the Marine Corps.
An enhanced video library that allows users to save a queue of videos to see and better understand the few who wear the Marine Corps uniform as they complete their missions.
The “Becoming a Marine” section that walks users through the intensive 12-week recruit training with videos that allow users to visualize key milestones, such as overcoming the 11 unique challenges of the Confidence Course and earning the Marine Corps Emblem.
Comprehensive social media integration that allows for almost every feature on the new website to be shared through properties such as Facebook and Twitter.
Transitioning from military to civilian life can present challenges for U.S. military veterans. The University of Virginia’s Accelerated Master’s Program (AMP) in Systems Engineering is helping to ease that adjustment. The program provides veterans with an education that furthers technical and problem-solving skills they may have gained during their years of service. Especially when coupled with a security clearance, the analytical prowess a student gains from AMP can lead to a promising career in engineering or information technology.
AMP allows professionals from a variety of technical fields to earn a master’s degree in systems engineering in just 11 months while continuing their careers. For veterans who qualify for Post-9/11 G.I. Bill education benefits, the costs are minimal. One third of the students in this year’s cohort are veterans.
The University of Virginia is holding an information session March 21, 2012 in Rosslyn, 6-7:30 p.m. Click on the flyer to view it in full-size for more information on the event:
Excerpt from press release from the Senate HELP Committee:
Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) released new Department of Defense (DoD) data showing that for-profit colleges received half of all military Tuition Assistance (TA) dollars – $280 million out of $563 million spent last year on the program that gives service men and women the opportunity to take college classes while on active duty. This new information underscores the impact of for-profit colleges’ aggressive recruiting on bases and military-related websites. It also emphasizes the importance of strengthening eligibility requirements for colleges participating in the TA program in order to ensure that servicemembers and their spouses are getting a quality education and taxpayer dollars are not being wasted.
“Military tuition assistance has long served as a key element in the professional development of our nation’s all-volunteer Armed Forces. The Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) believes more must be done to ensure the highest quality outcomes from this investment in our most precious resource, our military men and women,” said VADM Norb Ryan, USN (ret.), President of MOAA.
Six of the top 10 TA recipients are for-profit colleges. Those six alone pull in more than two-thirds of all TA dollars going to the for-profit sector.
A HELP Committee analysis of student outcomes at four of those companies shows that 60 percent of students dropped out of the schools less than a year after enrolling.
The HELP Committee has documented additional problems at several of the companies in the top 10:
Bridgepoint employs 1,700 recruiters but just 1 job placement counselor while numerous students log complaints about the lack of support services.
TUI received a citation from the Department of Education for financial aid mismanagement in 2009 and its accrediting agency is currently reviewing its accreditation status.
A bigger share of military educational benefits goes to for-profit colleges with questionable or unknown outcomes than any other federal education program.
For-profit colleges are rapidly increasing the amount of TA benefits they take in, with one company demonstrating a 199 percent increase in a two-year period.
For-profit colleges are taking in more than 60 percent of the tuition assistance available to military spouses through the Military Spouse Career Advancement Accounts (MyCAA) program.
Four of the top 10 schools receiving MyCAA funds are largely unregulated by the U.S. Department of Education.
Today’s announcement follows last fall’s HELP Committee analysis revealing that the top 10 recipients of Post 9/11-G.I. Bill education benefits include eight for-profit higher education companies, even as students attending colleges operated by these companies have a one year drop-out rate of almost 60 percent. Together, those eight companies collected $626 million last year.
Senator Harkin, Chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, has conducted an investigation into the for-profit college sector over the past year and released a report in December 2010 on the industry’s recruitment of veterans.
The Pat Tillman Foundation is pleased to announce the fourth annual Tillman Military Scholars application process opened Monday, February 13, 2012 at 12:00 a.m. EST. The Tillman Military Scholars program provides educational scholarships for veterans, active servicemembers and their spouses.
For specific details on eligibility and to apply online please visit: http://www.pattillmanfoundation.org/tillman-military-scholars/apply. The application will close on Friday, March 16, 2012 at 11:59:59 p.m. PDT. All applicants will receive notification of selection results via e-mail no later than June 21, 2012. All scholarships will be granted for the 2012/2013 academic year.
In 2008, the Pat Tillman Foundation established the Tillman Military Scholars program to support educational opportunities for servicemembers and their families by filling the financial gaps in the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill. The Tillman Military Scholars program covers direct study-related expenses such as tuition and books, as well as, other basic needs such as housing and childcare.
Over the past three years, the Pat Tillman Foundation has awarded over $2.2 million in scholarship funds to 171 Tillman Military Scholars pursuing education at every level from freshmen undergraduates to PhD candidates. Overall, Tillman Military Scholars represent 59 different universities across 32 states.
The scholarship funds awarded are just a portion of the Tillman Military Scholar experience which also focuses on guiding an engaged community and providing essential resources that empower Scholars to serve and lead in their local communities and ease the transition from military to civilian life.
There’s a lot of information out there about which schools to go to — whether you’re using your G.I. Bill benefits or just looking for more information on colleges in general. Check out this tool provided by the Institute of Education Sciences:
Want to nominate your employer? You still have time:
Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR), a Defense Department agency, is calling on Guard and Reserve members to nominate their supportive employers for the 2012 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award before the January 16 deadline. The Freedom Award is the Defense Department’s highest recognition for civilian employers supporting Guard and Reserve members. All employers – large, small and public – are eligible to receive the honor. Guard and Reserve members, or a family member acting on their behalf, may nominate their employers at www.FreedomAward.mil.
“Even as our nation scales down our combat missions abroad, Guard and Reserve members and their employers remain a critical component in our national security equation,” said James Rebholz, ESGR National Chair. “Just as our country has heavily relied on the more than one million men and women of the Guard and Reserve, these service members have counted on their employers for support and encouragement. I encourage all Guardsmen and Reservists to nominate their supportive employers today, so our Nation may acknowledge their extraordinary efforts.”
This year, ESGR’s Freedom Award website provides additional guidance to make it easier and faster for Guardsmen and Reservists to submit information about their supportive employers. Suggestions include ways for a service member to best tell the story of their employer’s support. Service members who have previously nominated their employers for the Freedom Award are encouraged to do so again. The Department of Defense recognizes nominees, semi-finalists and finalists each year, and all employers who have not received the award in the past ten years are eligible. One Freedom Award recipient was recognized as a semi-finalist or finalist for three years prior to being honored as a recipient last year.
The 2012 recipients will be announced in early summer and honored in Washington, D.C. during a special ceremony in the fall. Past recipients have met with the President of the United States and Secretary of Defense.
Enlisted military soldiers earned the top spot as the nation’s most stressful job, while medical records technicians ranked as the least stressful, according to the 2012 CareerCast.com Job Stress Report, an annual survey of 200 different professions that measures work environment, job competitiveness and risk.
The five most stressful jobs all involve peril and significant hazards. They include firefighters, who take on dangerous and complex fires, often coming in contact with poisonous gases or other hazardous materials; airline pilots, who face potential terrorist attacks and midair collisions; military generals, who are responsible for the lives of many others and often work in hazardous, stressful environments; and police officers, who enforce laws and are tasked with catching criminals.
Hero2Hire launched December 16, 2011, and was developed to address the NDAA 2011 call to provide employment assistance to members of the National Guard and Reserve under the Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program.
H2H.jobs is designed to help our citizen warriors find jobs with military-friendly companies who value employees with specific training and skills. H2H.jobs provides free, direct access to qualified candidates who already have background checks and security clearances, while reducing your recruiting and hiring costs.
The goal of H2H.jobs is to simplify the job search while reducing the number of unemployed Reserve Component service members. H2H.jobs also allows military-friendly companies to access the talented men and women who serve in the military, post job openings, search for candidates and invite them to apply, and participate in hiring events – all free of charge.
President Obama announced the launch of the Veterans Job Bank, powered by the National Resource Directory (www.NRD.gov).
The Veterans Job Bank provides a central source for Veterans to locate job opportunities without having to visit multiple sites. The Veterans Job Bank is unique in that it provides users with the ability to define their search criteria by keyword, Military Occupational Code (MOC) and location. Based on information provided, the search engine sends a query using a Google custom search which pulls a selection of global job opportunities that have been posted or specifically tagged for Veterans on job boards, such as Simply Hired and corporate websites.
In support of this initiative, the Veterans Job Bank Widget was created which allows access to the Veterans Job Bank directly from other websites. An easy to implement feature that any individual or organization can use, the Veterans Job Bank Widget allows Veterans to quickly and easily conduct a targeted job search without ever leaving the website they are visiting.
OPEN HOUSE Celebrating the launch of the Intel Veteran Employment Training (VET) Initiative
Join Intel and the Fairfax County Department of Neighborhood and Community Services and honored guests:
The Honorable, James Moran, U.S. House of Representatives
Rodney Lewis, White House Fellow, Office of the First Lady
Intel VET is the result of an innovative community and industry collaboration to serve Washington, DC area veterans. As vital members of our community, we invite you to join us on November 9 for the launch of this important new program.
Date: November 9, 2011
Time: Event will begin at 1:30 p.m.
Location:
Gum Springs Community Center
8100 Fordson Road
Alexandria, VA 22306
In support of the White House “Joining Forces” initiative, Intel and Intel Computer Clubhouse at Gum Springs are partnering to offer employment training services to local veterans and their spouses (partners). This new program is designed to provide veterans and spouses with training such as resume writing, skills translation, interviewing, and job search techniques as they transition from a military career to employment in the private sector.
Enlisted military soldiers earned the top spot as the nation’s most stressful job, while medical records technicians ranked as the least stressful, according to the 