National Guard joins Helmets to Hardhats

Photo By Master Sgt. Jim Greenhill | Lt. Gen. Jack Stultz, chief of the U.S. Army Reserve; Maj. Gen. Raymond Carpenter, acting director of the Army National Guard, and Darrell Roberts, executive director of Helmets to Hardhats, a nonprofit program that connects service members with careers in the building and construction trades, sign an employee partnership initiative agreement at the Pentagon on July 2.  

ARLINGTON, VA, UNITED STATES

07.07.2009

Story by Staff Sgt. Jim Greenhill 

National Guard Bureau

ARLINGTON, Va. — The Army National Guard has joined the U.S. Army Reserve's partnership with a nonprofit program that pairs service members with construction careers.

Maj. Gen. Raymond Carpenter, acting director of the Army National Guard, signed an employer partnership initiative agreement with Lt. Gen. Jack Stultz, the chief of the U.S. Army Reserve, and Darrell Roberts, executive director of Helmets to Hardhats, at a July 2 ceremony here at the Pentagon.

"The men and women of the Army National Guard and the U.S. Army Reserve are highly motivated, seasoned professionals and some of the highest caliber potential employees for private industry," Carpenter said. "This program is good for our Soldiers, local communities and the nation."

Soldiers have a great work ethic, leadership potential, confidence and values, Stultz said. Partnering with employers only makes sense, because "we need plumbers. We need electricians. We need brick masons. We need carpenters. We need truck drivers. ... We need all those kind of skills in our civilian sector, but we also need them in the military."

The Guard and the Reserve are a force of about 570,000 Soldiers, which is "a pretty significant workforce for you out there in America," Stultz said. "Those 570,000 live out there in your communities — they don't live on an installation. They don't live in Fort Bragg or Fort Hood ... they live in 'Fort Hometown America.'"

Helmets to Hardhats is a free, nonprofit program that connects National Guard, Reserve, retired and transitioning active-duty servicemembers with construction training and careers.

"Eighty percent of our Soldiers in the Army National Guard are what we call 'traditional' [Guardmembers who] either are going to school or they have a job or they are looking for a job," Carpenter said. "It is absolutely critical to our organization to be able to sustain our responsibility in partner with the Army to have employers out there who absolutely support our organization."

Through the partnership, both National Guardmembers and Reservists will gain opportunities for construction industry employment or federally-approved apprenticeship training programs.

"This is really the first opportunity we've had to partner with the Army National Guard," Stultz said. "Today, we're taking that next leap forward."

Helmets to Hardhats brings trade associations, employers, labor unions and the armed forces together to support Soldiers and their families.

"We are in our sixth year of mobilization of the Army National Guard and Army Reserve, and we are sustaining that mobilization with volunteers who continue to come to join our ranks," Carpenter said. "We would not be able to do that without the family support and the employer support."

• Date Taken: 07.07.2009
• Date Posted: 07.07.2009 14:48
• Story ID: 36084
• Location: ARLINGTON, VA, US