DOD Skillbridge: Preparing for your military separation. What is it? How does it work? Are military spouses eligible?

[00:00:00] Alison: Before we get started today, I just wanted to mention to you that the Millspouse tribe it's coming. It's chugging. We're building. One of the things that I really wanted to do when I started this podcast, I started this podcast out of, not out of desperation, but just out of frustration of, of. Lack of knowledge of resources and that it's really hard to start over, over and over and over again.

[00:00:27] Alison: And so I've been wanting to start this. It's like a virtual meetup, right? A virtual meetup. Let's be friends. Let's chat with other military spouses and, you know, drama free zone. We're just here to be an ear and someone that understands where you're coming from. that can commiserate in our seasons of times when it's really hard and maybe offer advice if that's what you're looking for, but just a place to connect with other military spouses on a regular basis that will go with you wherever you go.

[00:01:04] Alison: That's the goal, right? Like I, one of the worst things is you have to start all over when you move, you've got to find the new Facebook group. You've got to find the new spouses page. You've got to find all of the things and it gets exhausting. And She's want to sit at home in your pajamas. So let's do it once.

[00:01:22] Alison: Let's do it once. Let's get together virtually on zoom. Let's have a conversation a couple of times a month or whatever. We're going to figure it out as we go along, but we're, we're going, it's cruising. It's happening. So Tuesday, February 27th, 11am mountain time is going to be the first meetup. So if you would like to join, there is a link in the bottom of the show notes.

[00:01:47] Alison: Click on that link and we, I will make sure that you get the details on how to join the zoom. If you're like, man, I would love to do that, but that time doesn't work for me. That day doesn't work for me. Send me a message and let me know and we will figure something out. Okay, here we go.

[00:02:03] Alison: Hello. Hello. And welcome back to the show today. We are going to talk about a military program that you may not, you may have heard about, but you may not have heard about it's called skill bridge and skill bridge is essentially a mentorship program that places military 180 days of service with it's.

[00:02:28] Alison: It's like an internship with a, with a private sector company. And there's a ton of them. Amazon's in there. The D. O. D. Skill Bridge program. It is a D. O. D. Program. Department of Defense program gives service members a chance to gain civilian work experience, right? Because a lot of military members, especially if you come in really junior enlisted, maybe only do four years and you're ready to get out. A lot of times, unfortunately, what you do in the military doesn't have a direct correlation to a job in the civilian world.

[00:03:09] Alison: And so this is a program that was designed to help bridge that gap or just give more options to service members. So the apprenticeships or internships, they are during the last 180 days of. Military service. They want you to go through and do tap, which is the, Oh gosh, I don't know what that, that stands for, but the tap is like when you're Transitioning, transition, that's probably a word in there.

[00:03:43] Alison: Transitioning out, that's like the program that you go through is TAP, and that walks you through, you know, how can you claim VA benefits, and basically how you retire, and making sure that you have all of your I's dotted and your T's crossed and whatnot. And so they recommend that you go through TAP prior to starting a SkillBridge program or reaching out to that.

[00:04:05] Alison: And then, They want you to finish all of your like terminal leave and TDY house, like all of that leave is finished before you would start this 180 day program. So you would do this 180 day program with the civilian industry partner, whoever. And then. And then that's it, you're out, right? So, it's a really cool way because I think, you know, a lot of us have found that especially like coming out of college for me specifically when I was, you know, I wanted to be a marine mammal trainer and that's not an easy job to get in and of course if you're going to get hired they want you to have experience, but in order to get experience Someone's got to hire you.

[00:04:47] Alison: So what's the work around there, right? So the work around is internships, internships, volunteering, things like that. So this is a great way if you're like, man, I think I really want to work for Amazon or I think I really want to do this type of job. This is a great opportunity. For you to kind of test the waters, get some experience.

[00:05:04] Alison: You are not guaranteed a job after the internship is over, but but there is a very high likelihood. I mean, this is good for these businesses as well, right? They're getting. highly trained, very focused individuals. And that's, you know, who they're looking for. So they're getting really high high levels of employees.

[00:05:27] Alison: So because I usually talk to military spouses, let's jump to that really quickly. So this is designed for active duty veterans or active duty transitioning out. It also can be for reserves and National Guard as well. They do offer. They do offer an opportunity for military spouses as well.

[00:05:55] Alison: So cause that's a question that was Googled a lot, which is where are these episodes are coming from? Like, what are you guys asking questions about? That's what we're looking at. So is skill bridge open to military spouses? Yes. Well, the answer is the answer is almost always. It depends. Yes, there are.

[00:06:11] Alison: So how you would look for that. And I will make sure that I link to the Skill Bri Skill Bridge website in the show notes so that you can just get to it straight from there. But in the, on the Skill Bridge website, they have a resources section and they have a Skill Bridge locations page. And on that locations page, it's essentially a map of the United States.

[00:06:33] Alison: And they have a section where you can put in keywords. And so you put in the keyword spouse and then all of the businesses that offer positions for spouses come up or listed or they, they are listed there. So when I did that, it was 39 pages of results that returned. So there's a lot of these companies that are also offering this opportunity for military spouses.

[00:07:00] Alison: As far as when, You, there's no, okay. So for military members, it's 180 days. Their last 180 days of active duty service prior to leaving military spouses. It's, it doesn't specifically say, so I think the, the best thing that you could do is go on to the skill bridge, pay it, place search the use the keyword spouse, find the positions that are available.

[00:07:27] Alison: If you find one that interests you on next to all of the jobs. It lists a point of contact and just email that point of contact. Hey, I'm a military spouse. I'm interested in this position. Can you tell me more about it? Boom. There you go, because it doesn't say specifically. So for those military members and I'm talking to you military spouses as well because your military members might not hear about this.

[00:07:48] Alison: I asked Michael. I'm like, did you know about the skill bridge program? And he's like, what now again, 22 years. And there's a lot of stuff that we just don't. There's so many resources and we just don't know about them. So I want you to know about it too, so that you can also pass along to your significant others or your chain of command.

[00:08:07] Alison: So what this is, what, how it works is that you are still under your command. So this last 180 days of service, you're still receiving all of your pay and benefits as an active duty person. The the, the big caveat to this is it has to be approved by your command, but I feel like. And maybe this is just me being naive and hoping for the best, but I feel like you're getting out, right?

[00:08:35] Alison: You're getting out. Like unless your command has like a very specific off tempo or something that they really need. I don't know. I just can't see how if you're getting out anyways, why they wouldn't allow you to participate in this program. It just, you know, you're, you're getting out. It's not like. I don't know.

[00:08:56] Alison: Like what, what is there to gain by saying, no, you can't go do this. I'm not, I'm not really sure. I don't know, but I also don't know the ins and outs and politics of all of the different units. And I'm sure that there's, you know, we all know that there's a lot of, a lot of stuff going on in there. But so you do have to have approval from your command, but while you were in the internship, you are still active duty.

[00:09:16] Alison: You are still getting paid. You are still getting all of your benefits. And then when your internship ends that 180 days, that's when you're officially white DD 214, you're out. Thanks. Good luck. So yes, so long and short DoD, Scowbridge a great program for active duty as you're transitioning out again, last 180 days of service.

[00:09:40] Alison: Matching you up internship wise with a civilian contractor, not civilian contractor, a civilian counterpart, civilian businesses, right? So to be able to, you know, get yourself lined up for something else. And maybe it could be a good opportunity to, you know, tap your toe into something different.

[00:09:57] Alison: Maybe you want to try out a different career path. I've always wanted to do blah. I don't know, you know, just, it's just, I just want you to know that the program is there. And that there are also a lot of opportunities for military spouses to take advantage of this as well So if you're a military spouse and you're like man, I I don't know i'd like to whatever just just look at it It's there.

[00:10:18] Alison: It's free. These internships you are not paid. So, Again for the military member you're still on active duty those 180 days So you will be getting paid by the military for that if you're a military spouse You're not going to get paid for it. But again if you can do 180 day internship for somebody And then be offered, potentially be offered full time employment or whatever after that, that, that might be worth that, that investment of your time.

[00:10:44] Alison: So, you know, it's just something that you have to look in. I just wanted you to know that that program is there. Again, I will link to the Skill Bridge website in the show notes so that you can go and look at their frequently asked questions. Learn a little bit more about the program and different resources that are there.

[00:11:04] Alison: All right, until next time.