Task Force Movement: more than a job program
Dear American Legion Family members and friends,
For many years, The American Legion has worked to help transitioning military personnel convert their experiences in uniform into credits to help them move quickly and effectively into civilian careers that require special licenses and credentials.
Many of those civilian careers are in serious need of qualified professionals. That need grew painfully clear during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in such areas as commercial truck driving and nursing.
The American Legion is proud to have a place on the steering committee of Task Force Movement, a White House initiative that unites key stakeholders from industry, education, labor, government and the military to help our nation fulfill two key objectives:
- Get the U.S. economy rolling again in areas of need that, if not adequately staffed, pose national security and public health threats.
- Help transitioning military personnel and veterans get into career fields that make the most of their training and can put them in jobs that pay well, offer good benefits and fulfill important purposes, all of which contribute substantially to good mental health and well-being.
Last August, during the 104th American Legion National Convention in Charlotte, N.C., the committee met and announced an important new area of emphasis – health care. Look for new developments on that front in the months ahead. Task Force Movement was launched in April 2022 to speed up and ease the process for veterans to work in the commercial trucking industry, which now has some 80,000 vacancies. Five months later, TFM added cybersecurity to its targeted industries, where some 70,000 jobs are available in government and perhaps 10 times that in the private sector.
The program proved successful in its first year, providing scholarships, apprenticeships and education waivers for veterans who had already proven their skills while in uniform. It’s no easy endeavor to make this happen because different states and different industries in those states have different requirements to achieve certification. TFM has been working tirelessly with multiple stakeholders to break down barriers for veterans who are ready now to step into these careers in an economy starved for well-trained and capable employees who care about fulfilling important needs in the nation they swore with their lives to protect and defend.
By adding health care to its portfolio, TFM addresses a need The American Legion has listed among its highest priorities for the Department of Veterans Affairs over the last decade – recruiting and retaining qualified health-care professionals, particularly nurses. The shortage of health-care professionals in the nation right now is estimated at nearly 2 million, so everyone in that industry is competing for talent, more of which is desperately needed.
To keep making progress, TFM looks to continue building its roster of partners from industry, government, education, charitable foundations that want to support the initiative and the veterans community. Online registration forms to get involved are available on the TFM website at taskforcemovement.org.
Most important, all stakeholders – including The American Legion – have a responsibility to close these labor gaps because understaffed hospitals, idled trucks and online vulnerabilities do not simply represent economic inconvenience; they threaten our national security.
National Commander
Daniel J. Seehafer