Military Service Teaches Important Skills, But Getting a Civilian Job After Duty Remains Difficult Despite Programs Created to Help

U.S. military service members gain important skills and experience on the job. But after leaving the military, some find it difficult to leverage those skills or have their experience recognized by other employers. Each year, about 200,000 service members leave the military and navigate this difficult transition.

Today’s WatchBlog post looks at our new report about a key program meant to help service members make the transition to civilian life. We’ll also look at another new report about efforts to help those leaving Special Forces make that transition.

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Career transition programs may not be reaching service members 

The Department of Defense’s SkillBridge program provides employment training to service members transitioning from the military to civilian life. The program offers separating service members the opportunity to gain work experience with civilian organizations through training, apprenticeships, or internships during their last 180 days in the military. Service members of any rank—enlisted or officer—may participate in the training, and participation is voluntary.

About 12,000 service members participated in SkillBridge in the first half of this fiscal year (October-March). Most participants were enlisted—with highest participation from members of the Air Force and Army.

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What impacts participation? Many service members reported challenges with accessing the program. For example, because training must be completed prior to their discharge date, many service members said they simply don’t have enough time to complete it.

Officials across the military services said that participation in the program depends largely on the unit a service member is assigned to, their job responsibilities, and whether their position can be backfilled while they attend training. For example, Air Force and Space Force program officials said that commanders generally support service members participating in SkillBridge and will balance participation with mission needs by adjusting the program length or timing.

But more could be done to know whether the program is meeting its goals. For example, understanding whether the program helps service members get interviews and job offers is an important metric that could help DOD understand if SkillBridge is working. But DOD doesn’t have a standard way to collect data on the program—including participation and other metrics—across the services. Without this information, it’s hard to know if the program is meeting goals or needs improvements.

Check out our Q&A report to learn more. 

Special Forces have specialized skills, but transitioning to civilian life can still be difficult

Over the past two decades, DOD has built up its Special Forces to combat violent extremism in the Middle East. But with the drawdown of missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, the military’s needs are shifting. Many of these service members are deciding whether to embrace a shift in mission or leave to pursue other options in civilian life.

In addition to SkillBridge and other transition programs available to all service members, DOD offers programs unique to Special Forces. These programs provide internships, skill development, and post-military employment assistance.

Even so, Special Forces service members still face some unique challenges completing transition programs. For example, Special Forces operate at a high tempo—stemming from multiple deployments and rigorous training schedules. This may prevent them from being able to start these programs on-time and participate in other transition activities. And balancing the needs of an operation or mission with the ability to support transition programs can be challenging.

In addition, some Special Forces service members cited a sense of needing to stay on the job with their teammates instead of focusing on their own transition and training for the future.

These challenges can make starting, participating, and completing transition programs difficult. While some of these issues are not unique to Special Forces, officials and service members we spoke with said that some may impact Special Forces service members disproportionately.

Our new report has more information on Special Forces servicemembers transitioning into civilian life.

• GAO’s fact-based, nonpartisan information helps Congress and federal agencies improve government. The WatchBlog lets us contextualize GAO’s work a little more for the public. Check out more of our posts at GAO.gov/blog.