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From soldier to climate change fighter – Solar Ready Vets

Solar Ready Vets Transforms US Military Into Climate Change Fighters, Clean Technica, May 18th, 2016 by Tina Casey 

At least 190,000 veterans are expected to transition out of the US military each year over the next several years, and the federal program Solar Ready Vets is gearing up to match them with solar jobs. The Energy Department has just announced that it is adding five more military bases to the program’s roster of solar training locations. The agency will also pour $10 million into 10 new training projects that will help rev up the solar industry’s ability to absorb new workers.

Solar Jobs And A Smooth Transition

Solar Ready Vets was launched in 2014 as a pilot program to help the rapidly growing US solar industry recruit enough skilled workers to meet the demand. The idea is to establish the training programs on bases and begin the training process before veterans end their military service, so they can enter the civilian workforce as seamlessly as possible.

Each base is paired with a local community college or other solar training provider, leveraging the existing framework of the GI Bill.

The training is available to active duty personnel who are within six months of leaving the service. To sweeten the pot, there is no charge to for the training program.

The program aims at all aspects of the solar industry, including sales and management as well as installation and other technical positions.

Apparently Solar Ready Vets was a success. It has already graduated 250 trainees and, from an initial five bases, this week it doubled in size to include 10 bases. The new ones are:

Camp Pendleton in California – U.S. Marine Corps
Fort Carson in Colorado – U.S. Army
Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia – U.S. Navy
Hill Air Force Base in Utah – U.S. Air Force
Fort Drum in New York – U.S. Army

These are the existing ones:

Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey – U.S. Air Force, Army, and Navy
Eglin Air Force Base in Florida – U.S. Air Force
Marine Corps Base Hawaii – U.S. Marine Corps
Joint Base San Antonio in Texas – U.S. Air Force and Army
Fort Bragg in North Carolina – U.S. Army…….http://cleantechnica.com/2016/05/18/solar-ready-vets-transforms-us-military-climate-change-fighters/

May 20, 2016 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | renewable, USA