In August 2011, President Obama visited the Washington Navy Yard to discuss his plans to ensure that all of America’s veterans have the support they need and deserve when they leave the military, look for a job, go to school, and enter the civilian workforce. Our service members receive training of the highest quality to ensure they have the skills necessary to protect our country, yet service members who are preparing to leave the military lack access to expansive, personalized training and counseling necessary for success in the civilian sector. That is why, as part of his August address, the President directed the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs to lead a task force to develop a career-ready military and design a “reverse boot camp” for separating service members.
On July 23, 2012, President Obama addressed the VFW in Reno, Nevada and announced the first major re-design of the military’s Transition Assistance Program (TAP) since the program’s inception over 20 years ago. Previously, TAP was a voluntary, one-size fits all program. Many service members complained of that the workshops were “death by PowerPoint” and did not provide the interactive education and training required to be prepared to join civilian life. Under the President’s new transition program, Transition GPS, our military will no longer feel as if they are in a one-size-fits-all program.
