Earn Degree or Certificate With New Program

UNITED STATES

Courtesy Story

Fort Carson Public Affairs Office

By Norman Shifflett
Garrison Public Affairs Office
FORT CARSON, Colo. — The Army has launched a credentialing assistance program for Soldiers to help achieve career advancement. The program kicked off Oct. 1, 2019, at the Fort Carson Education Center, and Soldiers can use up to $4,000 in credentialing assistance per year to pay for credentials, licensing and training supplies.
A credential is a certification or occupational qualification that shows an individual is competent and qualified to work in a specific field.
Ceara Tapin, lead education counselor said the program gives Soldiers the opportunity to get credentialed, which can lead to better job opportunities, and they may earn more than those with college degrees.
Soldiers can visit https://www.cool.army.mil/ and search for credentialing associated with their military occupational specialty (MOS).
For those who plan on changing MOSs or just want to do something different when they transition from the military, another option is to search for civilian credentialing on the same site.
The first credentialing assistance program briefing was held Oct. 2, 2019. For one Soldier, who will be making the transition in a year or two, it provided a clearer path.
“I am interested in medical coding … (that is) the direction I think I want to go,” said Spc. Bertrand Evans-Taylor, an orthopedic specialist with the U.S. Army Medical Department Activity-Fort Carson. “This program is definitely going to help me achieve my goal.”
Currently the program requires the individual to do some leg work when signing up.
“They have to find their own provider, look at their credentialing (and) we can help them to determine what kind of direction they want to go,” said Rebecca Schlect, Fort Carson education services officer. “They will have to provide the information from the training facility program that they will be attending.”
Soldiers can get a checklist from the education center with the needed documents for completion. Once the packet is complete, the Soldier can bring it to the education counselor to be looked over before it is sent to Human Resources Command at Fort Knox, Kentucky, for approval.
Interested Soldiers are recommended to attend a briefing that will cover what the credentialing program is about, what the funding limitations are and how it works. The briefing will be held in building 1012 every Wednesday at 2 p.m. Soldiers must sign in at the front desk 15 minutes prior to the briefing.
“I have heard that the military experience doesn’t equate to civilian experience,” said Schlect. “They can be doing the same thing but because they don’t have the credentialing or licensing, they have to go back for additional schooling and training, which means they have to use their G.I. bill. Service members have been wanting to have civilian credentialing for a long time and that is what this program does.”