Graduates Chengxian Li, Marine Corps, and Donnel Holmes, Navy, talk about their career aspirations following their graduation ceremony from the Home Builders Institute’s tuition-free skilled trades training program in Norfolk, Va., on Friday, Aug. 4, 2023. (Kendall Warner, The Virginian-Pilot/TNS)
(Tribune News Service) — How does experience as an aviation ordnance technician or work in the airborne infantry translate to the civilian workforce?
“There aren’t really civilian occupations like that,” said Robert Kennedy, an Army veteran and electrical instructor at Home Builders Institute’s Norfolk location.
Home Builders Institute is working to connect the dots between skills gained during military service and civilian job opportunities. The Department of Defense Skillbridge Program, in partnership with The Home Depot Foundation, offers transitioning service members the opportunity to participate in a cost-free 12-week program that will certify them in safety, electrical and carpentry and help place them in a job.
Three service members completed the program Friday. For graduate Donnel Holmes, an electricians mate assigned to Naval Station Norfolk, this means he is one step closer to entering the civilian workforce.
Most of the work Holmes has done for the past 20 years was on warships.
“A lot of the jobs in the military are not transferable. The electrician job is — I just had to find a way to make the connection between what that job looked like in the Navy versus what it looked like in the civilian world,” Holmes said.
Holmes is now qualified to become a licensed electrician, a second career he plans to pursue upon his retirement from the Navy later this year.
Like most transitioning or retiring military members, Holmes’ future is at a crossroads. He has the option of joining a local union, working for Dominion Energy or finding work with another company, whether that be in Hampton Roads or in his hometown of Richmond.
“Now I have the experience for submarines, ships, residential and construction,” Holmes said.
As part of the program, participants undergo an interview process to identify their skillset. Steve Kelley, regional career development coordinator for the Home Builders Institute, said sometimes the skillset has little to do with a service members’ specific job, and is more about the “collateral duties” they have experience in.
“You may go into the military to do one thing and find yourself doing something else. We call it collateral duties. I have had a lot of collateral duties. And many of our students have had collateral duties. And those are the strengths and assets that contractors want,” said Kelley, who served the Navy as a machinist’s mate for 20 years.
The Norfolk location begins a new class every six weeks, offering instruction to up to 30 service members at a time. The Norfolk facility, which opened in 2019, is one of just two Navy-centric locations, with the other eight being in close proximity to Army bases.
Arielle Middleton, a motor transport chief with the Marine Corps, is five weeks into the carpentry program. She is considering separating from the Marine Corps in December. Stationed at Quantico, Middleton commutes to Hampton Roads to participate.
“When I was looking at getting out, I thought, ‘What options do I have?’ I wanted to become certified, licensed, and really a master of a craft,” Middleton said.
Middleton has been with the Marine Corps for 16 years. She has worked as a combat engineer and in motor transport, but the bulk of her career was spent in criminal investigations. But it was actually a passion for renovating and restoring furniture in her spare time that led her to the Skillbridge program.
“Everything I thought I knew before was kind of self-taught, YouTube taught. Coming here, you get like the legit, ‘This is what we do. This is why things are done this way,’ ” Middleton said.
While she has one week left in the carpentry program and six weeks in electrical, Middleton said she already feels more confident in her craft and is interested in pursuing it as a full-time business.
“I feel like I would be panicking if I was not in this program. I think you sleep better at night when you know what you want to do and the ways you can achieve that goal. And even if you are not committing to a company, you are at least getting yourself prepared and set up for future success,” Middleton said.
The carpentry class is led by Sergio Arman, a former Navy “seabee” who retired from the decommissioned Construction Battalion 2. The electrical class is led by Robert Kennedy, an Army veteran who served in the airborne infantry for 10 years.
“The transition out can be hard for some. People get out and they realize what they left behind — that structure that is in the military. You know where to go, what time to be there, what to do when you get there. All that is there,” Kennedy said.
“But then the wheels come off and you have to find a way to continue to support your family.”
caitlyn.burchett@virginiamedia.com
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