'Marine for Life' offers hometown help

[thedrifter]

'Marine for Life' offers hometown help
Submitted by: MCB Hawaii
Story Identification Number: 2003718164657
Story by Cpl. Jason E. Miller



MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII, KANEOHE BAY, Hawaii(07/18/2003) -- In an effort to provide active duty Marines an easier transition back into the civilian world beyond their term of service, the Marine for Life Program extends its helping hand.

Members of the Marine for Life transitioning Marine outreach team visited MCB Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay recently to speak with career planners, transitional recruiters, retention specialists and key commanders to spread the word of the program to Hawaii's Marines.

When a Marine prepares to exit the military, finding a decent job or the right place to move can be a daunting task. The Marine for Life Program utilizes Marine reservists as hometown contacts to help ease the transition for the Marine by providing a contact in the specific area who possesses an understanding of job opportunities, living conditions and other pertinent information that will help the Marine make an easier move.

Hometown contacts range in rank from staff sergeant to lieutenant colonel and are expected to network with local employers and study the local job market so they can provide valuable assistance to the transitioning Marines in their respective areas.

"The challenging part of getting out of the Marines today is finding a job," said Capt. Shannon Frison, Marine for Life transitioning Marine outreach coordinator. "We've had some very positive results in just our first couple of years.

We started out with contacts in 6 sites across the U.S. Today, we have 72 across the country. That number will grow even more next year, as more and more Marines are taking advantage of this program."

Any active duty Marine is allowed and encouraged to make use of the program when nearing the end of active service. No specific rules apply to how long before EAS a Marine should wait before starting a working relationship with a hometown contact. Signing up for the program is as easy as visiting the program's W eb site.

For more information on the Marine for Life program, go to www.MarineForLife.com or visit your unit's career planner for more specific details.




The Marine for Life logo.
Photo by: Courtesy.


Sempers,

Roger

[thedrifter]

Marines try to integrate few, proud into business
Jonathan Cribbs
Staff
As thousands of servicemen return from active duty in Iraq, the U.S. Marine Corps is beefing up its community relations program in Baltimore and abroad in hopes that Marines will be able to take their Semper Fi attitude from the battlefield to the boardroom.

The corps' Marine For Life (www.marineforlife.com) campaign, aimed at reintegrating soldiers into the private sector after their duty is up, opened its Baltimore location last month. The national organization plans to have 125 new branches by next year, said Capt. Alex Wright, the Baltimore area office's "hometown link," who will put work-ready Marines in touch with local employers.

The corps loses more than 27,000 Marines a year due to normal attrition, Wright said, and Marine For Life will continue to expand over the next two years. "The other avenue is to build a network of employees who understand the value Marines can bring to their companies," he said.

More Marines than usual will be looking for jobs as they filter back into the United States from abroad since many of them would have finished their four-year terms last year, before being activated to go to Iraq, Wright said. Many Marines' honorable discharges were delayed after the war started.

But the job market for incoming Marines might not be as friendly as Marine For Life would like, said Anirban Basu, CEO of Optimal Solutions Group, a Baltimore economic and policy consulting firm.

Even as recent reports hint at a possible third quarter economic recovery in 2003, the labor market tends to lag at least six to 10 months, Basu said.

"That's the most optimistic time frame," he said. "It's what many workers across the country are facing. A lot of Americans are now beginning a new job search. I would expect many more Americans will join the labor force ... under the theory that things are getting better. These military personnel will be competing with a lot of people for not too many jobs."

Marine For Life's national budget will balloon in fiscal year 2004 to $10 million, up 500 percent from this year when the budget was $2 million, Wright said. He said he is looking for local employers interested in possibly hiring former Marines.

The program began with 46 recruiting and reserve offices throughout the country. In the region, offices are in Washington, D.C., Andrews Air Force Base and Wilmington, Del.



? 2003 American City Business Journals Inc.

http://baltimore.bizjournals.com/bal...14/story6.html

Sempers,

Roger