business backgrounder | employment & workplace
national attention and urgent need
“I’m embodying the success
story I had hoped for,”
The first cadre of trainees received their certification during a December ceremony
at Saint Martin’s University attended by U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and other
dignitaries.
Murray sponsored
— Sgt. Adam Citterbart, a Green Beret
sniper who was part of the inaugural
t h e 2 0 1 1 Ve t e r a n s
Software & Systems Academy
Opportunity to Work
(VOW) to Hire Heroes
Act. This allows active-duty personnel to train for post-military jobs
while still in uniform, a key provision that allowed creation of the
Software & Systems Academy.
“The transition from the battlefield to the workplace is rarely
smooth,” Murray said. “The training program at JBLM is setting the
standard for military bases around the nation.”
With combat operations ending in Afghanistan, up to 800 service
members will transition out of the military each day over the next
two to three years, according to a 2013 estimate from the Department
of Defense. In Washington state alone, 8,000 troops are expected to
Roy Heynderickx, president of Saint Martin’s University, and Sean
move into civilian life each year.
Kelley, senior staffing director at Microsoft.
The Software & Systems Academy won’t find jobs for all those
veterans, of course, but Kelley said the lessons learned through the first cohort at JBLM will help them scale the academy, bringing it to
military bases around the nation. He also hopes to build partnerships with the many other technology companies that struggle to find
enough skilled high-tech workers.
battle-tested
Sgt. Adam Citterbart, a Green Beret sniper, knows how to operate under pressure.
Last year, in the most intense firefight of his career, he had to tactically position Afghan National Army soldiers while also maintaining
communications with nine aircraft and truck-based communications systems that were supporting his unit. While under attack, he had to fix
a truck antenna that had been blasted in half, while still maintaining cover fire.
Describing that battle, Microsoft Executive Vice President and General Counsel Brad Smith said Citterbart is “a leader with technical and
problem-solving skills — the type of profile sought by
employers in the technology field.”
And while Citterbart is a battle-tested soldier, he is
also a young father who anxiously wondered how he
would support his family after he left the service. The
Software & Systems Academy, which he calls “the special
forces of the IT world,” changed his life, he told the
crowd at Saint Martin’s University.
He briefly choked up with emotion as he described his
relief at knowing he would have a post-military job and a
way to support his fiancée and their four daughters, the
youngest still a baby.
“I’m embodying the success story I had hoped for,”
Citterbart said.
The transition from the battlefield to the
workplace is rarely smooth. The training
program at JBLM is setting the standard
for military bases around the nation.”
– U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.
38 association of washington business
Col. H. Charles Hodges, Jr. congratulates Sgt. Adam Citterbart.