veteran files a claim through a VSO. As a certified VSO, MOAA ensures those it helps receive the benefits they’ve earned through service.
Career transition At least 185,000 currently serving military members will leave service each year through 2018. Those vet- erans will need jobs, education, and health care. MOAA’s Transition Cen- ter provides training, education, and hands-on job-search assistance. Live and virtual career fairs con- nect hundreds of the top companies from across the U.S. with highly skilled candidates from a talent pool rich in leadership skills. One candidate, Cmdr. Benjamin
Cook, USN (Ret), made a connection during a recent MOAA virtual career fair that landed him a new job. “I ended up accepting a position as the senior manager for program management for the supercharger division of Eaton Corp.,” says Cook. “When I saw they were going to be in attendance, I did some research and [realized] the company really seemed to align with my values and desires.” Cook talked with the company’s
military recruiter during the virtual career fair, and the two scheduled a time to talk again.
“The position I ultimately was
hired for was not listed during the job fair, but the connection I made certainly was the reason I was consid- ered and hired,” says Cook. Transition Center experts also hold about 150 seminars a year at military installations, reaching about 4,000 servicemembers and military spouses.
MOAA Heritage Society
Throughout its history, MOAA has been fortunate to have an elite group of leaders — individuals and organizations — who continue to demonstrate an uncommon commitment to never stop serving. Many of these leaders go above and beyond to help military families, whether they’re advocating on behalf of uniformed service families or providing financial support for a broad range of MOAA programs and services. To recognize these extraordinary contributors for their giving spirit,
the MOAA Military Family Initiative has created the MOAA Heritage Society, comprising individuals and organizations that commit to mul- tiyear pledges of unrestricted funding in support of MOAA programs. With three levels of giving (silver, gold, and platinum) there’s a way
for every MOAA member to be instrumental in ensuring the founda- tion remains financially secure, year after year, to help military families — officer and enlisted, regardless of rank or service. Learn more at
www.moaa.org/foundation.
Presentations cover three major areas of concern for transitioning members — jobs, education, and health care — and provide guidance to attendees about what resources are available to them as they transition, how their pay and benefits will change, and what the job market looks like.
Military family reintegration Successful reintegration of retiring or separating servicemembers and their families into their local communities depends in large measure on how connected to their local communities those families are before they leave the service. In the aftermath of the two longest wars in America’s history, bridging the cultural gap between a shrinking and increasingly isolated military community that has endured continuous combat deployments for over a decade and a surrounding civil-
ian community that largely has been insulated from that experience is ex- tremely challenging. MOAA military family reintegration programs bring those two communities together in practical, enduring ways. “Not since the Vietnam War have uniformed service families so urgently needed our help,” says Turner. “Re- cent studies indicate as many as 20 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan com- bat veterans are living with significant mental health or substance-use is- sues. If we include untreated family members in that figure, the actual number of those in serious need could be as high as 750,000 service families. MOAA and the MOAA Military Fam- ily Initiative have a moral and ethical imperative to do all that we can to ad- dress this real and growing crisis.” To that end, MOAA’s Warrior-
Family Symposium allows families at all stages of military life to meet and
listed during the job fair, but the connection I made certainly was the reason I was considered and hired. — Cmdr. Benjamin Cook, USN (Ret)
Te position I ultimately was hired for was not FEBRUARY 2015 MILITARY OFFICER 59
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