GREAT FALLS — For many service members preparing to leave the military, the biggest question is often what comes next. The SkillBridge program is designed to help answer that question by connecting service members with civilian work opportunities before they officially separate or retire from the military.
Madison Collier reports - watch the video here:
The program allows service members during their final months of service to train or work with civilian employers while continuing to receive their military pay and benefits.
According to Great Falls Development Alliance President and CEO Brett Doney, the program can be an important bridge between military service and the civilian workforce.
“The Air Force has a program that will pay for six months for a retiring airman to take a job in the private sector to help with that transition,” Doney said.
Communities like Great Falls, home to Malmstrom Air Force Base, see thousands of service members rotate through the region over time. Doney says programs like SkillBridge offer an opportunity to keep some of that talent in Montana.
“We’re a military town,” Doney said. “We want to take advantage of those skills when airmen decide to retire from military service.”
Building opportunities across industries
Helping connect service members with those opportunities is part of the work being done by Leif Ibsen, owner of Montana Opportunities for Veterans Everywhere.
Ibsen works with transitioning service members to help design opportunities that match their interests and career goals.
“So what we do across the state is work individually with each service member to custom build a SkillBridge opportunity for the employment industry they’re interested in,” Ibsen explained.
Those opportunities can span a wide variety of industries across Montana.
“We’ve done construction, the trades, ranching, fly fishing, the Forest Service,” Ibsen said. “If it’s a valid path to employment, then it’s a valid option for a SkillBridge.”
The program allows service members to explore a career path before committing to it long-term.
“It allows them to test an industry and see if it’s actually the lifestyle they think it is before they fully commit to that career,” Ibsen said.
Which employers benefit from as well.
“It lets the employer test drive that service member inside the organization and see how they perform before hiring them,” Ibsen explained.
A tool underutilized
Despite its potential, both workforce leaders and program organizers say SkillBridge remains underutilized in many parts of the state.
“It is an underutilized resource inside of the state,” Ibsen said. “Incorporating transitioning service members into the workforce can be very beneficial.”
Part of the challenge is simply awareness. Many employers may not fully understand the skills service members bring with them after years in the military.
Ibsen said even those who only serve a few years develop valuable experience.
“Whether they did their initial enlistment of three or four years, or they did a 30-year career, each one is bringing skills back to that employer and the local community,” he said.
One veteran’s experience
For U.S. Air Force veteran Paul Lamelin, the program played an important role in his transition to civilian life.
After serving 20 years in the Air Force, Lamelin used the program as he prepared to retire.
Learn more about Paul Lamelin's path to transitioning out of the military by clicking here.
“SkillBridge has definitely helped me leverage what I wouldn’t have been able to do,” Lamelin said. “It prepared me for that transition.”
He now works for the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services as a SNAP program compliance auditor.
For many veterans, programs like SkillBridge can reduce the stress and uncertainty that often come with leaving military service.
As more service members prepare for life after the military, supporters of the program say programs like SkillBridge could help connect those veterans with careers while strengthening industry and community across the state.
