Sergeant Major of Army Interview on ACAP Transition

SMA Raymond F. Chandler III, in an interview discusses the Army Career and Alumni Program (ACAP) transition.

• Category

  Education

[vonshtoyven]

so soldiers are likely to commit crime ? lol

[Mitchell Lee]

Soldiers do have 12 months to prepare

[lehnertz85]

ETSing is the soldier’s responsibility but the Army needs to ensure they are given the 12 Months to prepare. Thanks for your time,

William Lehnertz

Oregon College student/ 8 year AD/25U

[lehnertz85]

Sorry for the way the comments appear, I should have pasted them in backwards.

[lehnertz85]

. I wish I had applied myself when I was a young Private. ACAP needs to enforce soldiers to really think about their skills they can provide to a future employer. When I went though ACAP twice, they were more focused on “beefing up” the resume with a bunch of generic terms and less on the understanding that the resume represents you and should tailor it to what skills you specifically provide to the future employer in which you’re applying to

[lehnertz85]

2: Soldiers need to focus on their true skills and abilities to determine where they need work. This should be expressed through counseling statements the moment soldiers enter the Army. In doing so, would show them, they need to take basic writing and math course in college while on Active Duty. I have the pleasure of enduring the same courses I completed in high school and doing them all over again in college.

[lehnertz85]

My last 8 months was a roller coaster! I made the suggestion of incorporating WTU/WTBs for those who are ETS and retiring soldiers. This would allow units to have soldier off the BDE EMTOE and assist the BDE in getting a replacement quicker. Many, who I talked to about this, said it was a pretty good idea.

[lehnertz85]

The standard inter-post transfer requires the soldier to in process BDE then BN then CO then PLT or S shop. For the average soldier this takes days, especially when they didn’t know you were coming. Commanders at all levels need to understand Transitioning soldiers need time to process their life and make sound decisions and not have to worry about field problems, commex’s, IPTs and others.; more so with soldiers who have families.

[lehnertz85]

1: Company Commanders and 1SGs need to allow soldiers to have that 12 month period to prepare for transition.(whether retiring or ETSing) -- In my case I was allowed time to go to my appointment but the BDE level saw I couldn't fulfill their deployment timeframe. As a consequence I spent my last 8 months transferring to 3 different Brigades within my Division. I expressed my concerns but was told there’s nothing that can be done.

[lehnertz85]

I agree 100% with you, SMA, soldiers need to prepare throughout their career for their transitions. I'm an Army veteran who left service 2 months ago. I would like to provide some suggestions: