Marine for life offers 'safety net' to transitioning marines - From the Trenches

Sandy Carter has hired two employees, thanks to Marine For Life, and she's glad there's a program that allows employers to recruit from the ranks of those leaving the Marine Corps.

"The program works out very well for me," said Carter, who works for Allied Security in the Denver area. Carter considers Marines a perfect fit for her line of work. A Marine, Carter said, is "somebody I would prefer to hire."

Marine For Life helps transitioning Marines getting settled in civilian life find jobs, decide on careers, make educational choices and look for homes.

"For those who have served honorably, our debt of gratitude extends well beyond their last day" of active service," then-Commandant Gen. James L. Jones said.

"Taking care of our own," means more than helping Marines prepare to leave active service, Gen. Jones said. It also means sticking with them after their departure and helping them tap into networks of people, businesses and organizations.

Marine For Life has more than 70 hometown links across the nation, and that number is projected to grow rapidly in the next year. A hometown link is a reserve Marine who assembles a network of available resources to help Marines prepare for civilian life.

For example, a Marine leaving active duty can go to www.MarineForLife.com and type in the zip code for his new home. That brings up helpful information on the city, town, or region.

The program is picking up speed and its Web site is growing, To improve the Web site and fill in gaps with personal assistance, each hometown link location has one or more Marine reservist working to enter data related to their community. As the data increases, more and more Marines looking to begin their new lives can take full advantage of Marine For Life online.

For now, Marines leaving the Corps can use the Web site, but are encouraged to contact their hometown link for additional help.

In Augusta, Maine, Lt. Shaun Bennett serves as the hometown link for the whole state.

"Since I'm covering such a large area, I am finding resources in the population hubs, like Portland, Lewiston, and Bangor, and working outwards from them," Bennett said. "When I make contact with a Marine, I establish where they're going and what they're hoping to do once they get home. After that I focus my efforts around those criteria."

Cpl. Eugene Pray in New Portland, Maine, left active duty in September. Pray has been searching for a job with the federal government, and he said he has been impressed by Bennett's knowledge of the job scene. "Any questions that I've had, he's answered," Pray said.

Though Pray has specific goals for his future, not everyone does. Marine For Life can be especially helpful when Marines aren't sure what their next step should be, said Maj. John "Buck" Nelson, a hometown link in New York.

"It's pretty easy to help people who know what they want," Nelson said. When Marines have more questions than answers, Nelson tries to link them with experts in prospective career fields.

"If a guy comes out and says he's a diesel mechanic, I can find him four different jobs in four different towns," Nelson said. However, if someone isn't sure what to do next and wants additional job skills, Nelson frequently points out that the economy makes going to college "a good idea right now."

Marine For Life is about helping Marines find the answers they need as they move into the civilian world, said Sgt. Angel Cardona, who works with Nelson. That doesn't mean the hometown link is going to "hold their hand," but it does mean the hometown link can point them in the right direction.

"What I encounter a lot is unrealistic expectations," Cardona said. Sometimes Marines getting out of the Corps don't understand the realities of the job market, and Marine For Life can give them the facts and keep them from wasting time searching for something that's out of reach.

On the flip side, Cardona said he doesn't want to see a Marine aim too low. He said he wouldn't want to guide a Marine into a low-paying, dead-end job. Doing that, Cardona said, would leave him asking himself, "Did I really help him?"

Though the scope of Marine For Life is much broader than finding jobs for Marines, employment is typically the dominant concern for Marines using the program, said Maj. John Christensen, the hometown link in the Denver area. Christensen said he sometimes feels like a "post-Marine Corps career counselor."

One Marine Christensen helped is Sgt. J.R. Bell, who left active duty in August.

After initially planning to settle in Denver, Bell opted to live in Seattle and sell cars while preparing for a career as a firefighter. Nevertheless, Christensen's help kept Bell at ease when it looked as if he would be making his home in Denver.

Bell said he would recommend Marine For Life to any Marine planning to leave the Corps. "It's a guaranteed safety net."

By Sgt. John Lawson III HEADQUARTERS MARINE CORPS, Washington

COPYRIGHT 2003 U.S. Marine Corp.
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group