ACAPNYOU; preparing the best for success. 1 Jun 12 Soldier Service Center, Building 5700, Room 185, Phone: 334-255-2558/2546 Office Hours: Mon-Fri 0800-1600 – Also open on DONSA days WEBSITES: http://www.rucker.army.mil/fort%20rucker/acap.html and ACAP ON-LINE at www.acap.army.mil and https://intranet.rucker.army.mil . 24/7 ACCESS TO JOB LEADS Look for a Job at “Fort Rucker ACAP” on FACEBOOK We now rely on Facebook.com to keep you up-to-date with the latest events and information. Search for “Fort Rucker ACAP”, or else click on (http://www.facebook.com/#!/FortRuckerACAP ). Click on “Like” and check it often . Get real time updates and information quickly. Employers post their links and job vacancy announcements on our facebook page or else we post it for them. Check it daily! ____________________________________________________________________________________ VA Window of Opportunity Ensure You File Your VA Disability Claim 180-60 Days Prior to ETS/Retirement Date VERY IMPORTANT TO GET YOUR VA CLAIM IN ON TIME! _______________________________________________________________ Bryan Tharpe, ACAP Transition Services Manager, Email: [email protected]Alfred Alexander, ACAP Center Contract Manager/Counselor, Email: [email protected]Rebecca Chandler, ACAP Counselor, Email: [email protected]Brent Boozer, AL Veterans Outreach Rep (Wed 1000-1500), Email: [email protected]Britt Redmond, AL Veterans Outreach Rep (Wed 1000-1500), Email: [email protected]__________________________________________________________________________________ VIEW THE AIR JOBS DIGEST: Find dozens of aviation jobs. https://www.airjobsdigest.com/ ______________________________________________________________________________ TECHNICAL CERTIFICATIONS/ARMY e-LEARNING PROGRAM The Army e-Learning Program is a resource that provides courses to help prepare Soldiers for various technical certifications. The courses are free to the Soldier and their organization. The program does not provide the certification exam, however it does provide courses, practice tests, and on-line books to help prepare for the actual certification exam. Visit the following link for more information. https://forums.army.mil/SECURE/CommunityBrowser.aspx?id=1738883 .
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ACAPNYOU; preparing the best for success.
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Jun 12 Soldier Service Center, Building 5700, Room 185, Phone: 334-255-2558/2546
Office Hours: Mon-Fri 0800-1600 – Also open on DONSA days
WEBSITES: http://www.rucker.army.mil/fort%20rucker/acap.html and ACAP ON-LINE at
www.acap.army.mil and https://intranet.rucker.army.mil.
24/7 ACCESS TO JOB LEADS
Look for a Job at “Fort Rucker ACAP” on FACEBOOK We now rely on Facebook.com to keep you up-to-date with the latest events and information. Search for
“Fort Rucker ACAP”, or else click on (http://www.facebook.com/#!/FortRuckerACAP). Click on
“Like” and check it often. Get real time updates and information quickly. Employers post their links
and job vacancy announcements on our facebook page or else we post it for them. Check it daily!
Please call the ACAP Center at (334) 255-2558 or go to the ACAP Express web site:
https://www.acapexpress.army.mil to enroll in ACAP and make an appointment to get started. I look
forward to your first visit at the ACAP Center.
Spouses of retiring Soldiers are highly encouraged to attend the VA Benefits
briefing along with their sponsor. They may still have benefits even after their
sponsor dies. Spouses are cordially invited to attend all events with the sponsor. ____________________________________________________________________________________
DOD Resumes Military Career Spouse Program
The Department of Defense recently announced the resumption of the Military Spouse Career
Advancement Account - MyCAA - program. Beginning March 13 at 12 p.m. EST, the 136,583 military
spouses who are currently enrolled in the program will once again be able to receive tuition assistance.
“We made a commitment to our military spouses when they established a career advancement
account and we will be true to our promises,” said Tommy Thomas, deputy under secretary of defense,
military community and family policy.
The first phase of the reinstated program will enable the department to continue to pay up to
$6,000 in tuition assistance for spouses currently enrolled. The department is working hard to adjust and
meet the demands of the program and develop a long-term solution for spouses not yet enrolled who
would like to establish an account.
The program was launched March 2, 2009, to assist military spouses in attaining portable
careers in high-demand, high-growth occupations. An unexpected spike in enrollment prompted the
Defense Department to pause the program on Feb. 16. A thorough review began immediately to assure
the program was accomplishing its intended goals.
“When we determined that an operational pause in the program was critically needed, we failed
to notify our spouses in a timely and appropriate manner,” said Thomas. “As a result of our failure, we
know we will have to work hard to restore their faith in us. We are committed to earning that trust
through improved communication and by delivering services.”
The Defense Department is currently developing options for the long-term management of the
program and expect to be able to announce the details soon. Until new accounts can be created, Military
OneSource Spouse Education and Career Consultants will continue to be available to provide education
and training, career exploration, assessment, employment readiness and career search assistance.
ACAP CENTER RESOURCES AVAILABLE TO YOU:
3.5-day TAP Job Assistance Workshops Automated writing tools
CAREER ADVICE SECTION (Reprint from CareerPotential.com)
Are You a Commodity in the Employment Marketplace?
Competition is Fierce, So It's Essential to Distinguish Yourself
By Eric P. Kramer
Career Coach and Author
ACAPNYOU; preparing the best for success.
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In a competitive and crowded marketplace, every product and service must differentiate itself. It is not
enough to be simply “as good” as all the rest. In addition, with easy access to cheap (or even free) Internet marketing, there is a great deal of advertising that makes it difficult to differentiate services and
make buying decisions. As an example, just think of all the “pop-up ads” you see online. In the employment marketplace, this is exemplified by the thousands of job web sites and hundreds of resumes
submitted over the Internet in response to advertised jobs.
To rise above the flood of advertising, successful companies establish powerful branding and distinct
“value-adds.” You can adopt the same strategy to rise above the flood of your competition in the
employment marketplace.
“Value-add” refers to an extra feature or benefit that goes beyond the standard expectations and provides a more compelling reason to purchase. A value-add makes the service or product more desirable
and positively influences the buying decision. However, a value-add has no impact if it is not provided in
addition to good service. Always having on-time delivery, for instance, does not make a difference if the pizza tastes lousy.
The worst characterization of a service is to be “a commodity.” A service is a commodity when it is equivalent to what all the competitors offer. A provider of a commodity service can easily be exchanged
for another provider of the same service who offers a lower price. For example, many dry cleaners provide a commodity service. Customers will change to another dry cleaner if they can find one that costs
even slightly less. In the employment marketplace, many employees (even mid- and senior-level employees) are commodities in that they provide a service that can be replaced easily. In bad economies,
companies replace more expensive “commodity” employees with cheaper employees. So, the big
question is: are YOU a commodity in the employment marketplace?
If you are a commodity, it will be difficult to differentiate yourself in interviews. However, most of us are
not commodities – we just haven’t defined our value-adds, or learned how to articulate them. Here are some tips to determine your value-adds:
Know Yourself
Take an inventory of your skills. Do not limit the inventory to skills applicable to the job for which you are interviewing; do a full inventory. This inventory should include skills connected to your job, interests,
hobbies, and leisure activities. When you have a full inventory, you can choose which skills serve as
value-adds for the type of jobs you are seeking.
Know Your Profession
Every profession has areas of concentration and a large skill base. For example, within human resources,
you might be applying to be a Compensation Manager. But the human resources field has a number of other specialty areas and required skills, such as diversity management, employee retention, benefits,
training, and international employment. So, even though you’re applying to be a Compensation Manager,
having international employment experience could be a differentiating value-add for a multinational company, or a company that is expanding internationally.
Once you have determined your value-adds, be sure to clearly communicate them in your interviews. This could make all the difference, and ultimately lead to more job offers! To learn more about value-ads
Which Defense Contractors won Contracts and where are they Located? Interested in working for a defense contractor, but don’t know where to start? Want to find out what
defense contractors are located near you? You are in luck. The federal government has websites to help
transitioning service members find out what companies are winning defense contracts, and how much
those contracts are worth.
The Federal Procurement Data System Next Generation (FPDS-NG) is now the official site for all federal
procurement data and reports. The FPDS-NG site requires registration for a user account, and is free to
the public (https://www.fpds.gov).
USASPending.gov (http://www.usaspending.gov) also contains current Department of Defense (DoD)
procurement data, and should be the starting point for your search. The site lists defense contractors by
location, company name, product provided, and service provided: and it lists the top 100 contractors and
their subsidiaries.
The site was launched as part of the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006. That
law requires a free, searchable website, accessible to the public, showing for each federal award:
- The name of the entity receiving the award
- The amount of the award
- Information on the award, including transaction type, funding agency, etc.
- The location of the entity receiving the award
- A unique identifier of the entity receiving the award
TOP 50 MILITARY FRIENDLY EMPLOYERS (Ranked by GI Jobs Magazine): G.I. Jobs' Top 50 Most Military-Friendly Employers®
http://www.gijobs.net/content/top50.cfm
COMPANIES WITH IMMEDIATE OPENINGS: Click on the link below. http://www.gijobs.com/opportunity-index.aspx.
(Please ensure that you choose the correct month.) _________________________________________________________________________________
Click on the link below to find a listing with contact information. If site does not open, copy link and paste into browser: http://huntsvillemadisonalcoc.weblinkconnect.com/CWT/External/WCPages/WCDirectory/Directory.aspx?CategoryID=2067 _____________________________________________________________________________
MILITARY NEWS AND INFORMATION
(Source: www.military.com)
See for yourself!
**************** UNCLASSIFIED / **************** Subject: ALARACT 443/2011 - JOINING FORCES INITIATIVE Originator: /C=US/O=U.S. GOVERNMENT/OU=DOD/OU=ARMY/OU=ORGANIZATIONS/L=CONUS/L=WASHINGTON DC/OU=DA PENTAGON TELECOMMUNICATIONS(UC)/OU=ALARACT RELEASE AUTHORITY(UC) DTG: 071557Z Dec 11 Precedence: ROUTINE DAC: General To: /C=US/O=U.S. GOVERNMENT/OU=DOD/OU=ARMY/OU=ORGANIZATIONS/OU=ADDRESS LISTS/CN=AL ALARACT(UC) /C=US/O=U.S. GOVERNMENT/OU=DOD/OU=AUTODIN PLAS/OU=AIG 6-AZ/OU=ALARACT -------------------------------------------------- UNCLASSIFIED// THIS MESSAGE HAS BEEN SENT BY THE PENTAGON TELECOMMUNICATIONS CENTER ON BEHALF OF DA WASHINGTON DC//SAMR-CQ// SUBJECT: JOINING FORCES INITIATIVE 1. FIRST LADY MICHELLE OBAMA AND DR JILL BIDEN ARE LEADING A NATIONAL EFFORT TO RALLY THE AMERICAN PEOPLE TO ACTION IN SUPPORT OF MILITARY FAMILIES, SERVICE MEMBERS AND VETERANS. 2. THIS INITIATIVE IS CALLED "JOINING FORCES" AND IS FOCUSED ON ENERGIZING ALL SECTORS OF AMERICAN SOCIETY -- INDIVIDUALS, COMMUNITIES, BUSINESSES, PHILANTHROPISTS, NON-PROFITS AND FAITH-BASED INSTITUTIONS -- TO GIVE OUR FAMILIES, SERVICE MEMBERS AND VETERANS THE SUPPORT THEY HAVE EARNED AFTER NEARLY 10 YEARS OF WAR. 3. THE ARMY'S COMMITMENT TO OUR FAMILIES CONTINUES TO YIELD OUTSTANDING
RESULTS. IN 2003 THE ARMY STOOD UP THE ARMY SPOUSE EMPLOYMENT PARTNERSHIP, A VERY SUCCESSFUL PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM WITH CORPORATE AMERICA, TO ENSURE MILITARY SPOUSES COULD REALIZE THEIR EMPLOYMENT AND CAREER ASPIRATIONS. TO DATE THIS EMPLOYMENT INITIATIVE HAS YIELDED OVER 114,000 EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES. THE SUCCESS OF THIS INITIATIVE WAS RECOGNIZED BY SENIOR LEADERS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE RESULTING IN ITS EXPANSION ACROSS ALL SERVICES AND THE COAST GUARD. ON JUNE 29, 2011, THE MILITARY SPOUSE EMPLOYMENT PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM WAS LAUNCHED AS AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE WHITE HOUSE'S JOINING FORCES INITIATIVE. THE MSEP PROGRAM NOW BOASTS 96 FORTUNE 500 PLUS COMPANIES, NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS, AND GOVERNMENT AGENCIES. 4. COMMANDS ARE ENCOURAGED TO HAVE THEIR ACTIVE DUTY AND RESERVE FORCE MEMBERS, FAMILIES AND FRIENDS FOLLOW THIS EXCITING INITIATIVE THROUGH THE JOINING FORCES WEBSITE AT HTTP://WWW.WHITEHOUSE.GOV/JOININGFORCES. INDIVIDUALS ARE ALSO ENCOURAGED TO SIGN UP FOR EMAIL UPDATES AND FOLLOW THE INITIATIVE ON FACEBOOK AND TWITTER AT HTTP://WWW.WHITEHOUSE.GOV/JOININGFORCES/STAY-CONNECTED. 5. HQDA POC FOR THIS MESSAGE IS MS. CAPELLA-WEINARD, 703-692-1432. 6. THIS MESSAGE EXPIRES ON 07 JUNE 2012. Classification: UNCLASSIFIED _________________________________________________________________________________
Disabled American Veterans
Department of Alabama
Legislative Report – May 2012
Budgetary restrictions due to the National debt are impacting virtually all legislative actions before
Congress. It's going to be interesting to watch, but without corrective congressional action, the January
sequestration required by the Budget Control Act (BCA) would force an additional $60B in automatic
cuts to DOD for FY2013, in addition to the $45B already taken. This sequestration would result in
massive force reductions of more than 200,000, leaving the smallest ground forces since 1940. Such cuts
would have far reaching effects upon our national defense forces that have made great wartime sacrifices
in the last few years. In addition compensation, healthcare, and other support for servicemembers,
retirees and their families may well be degraded. Currently reductions in Army staffing is slated to draw
down 70,000 in the next five years. As such near 24,000 enlisted personnel and 4,500 officers could be
forced to leave the Army. Attrition should take care of the remaining required reductions. It is anticipated
that even more of force structure will be shifted to reserve forces. Your help is needed to contact our
Congressmen to preclude DOD from taking this devastating hit. DOD gets only 17% of the
national budget but would have 50% of the cuts. DOD should not have such a disproportionate share.
Along with all this the White House's Office of Management and Budget announced that the VA
healthcare programs are not subject to sequestration. This ends months of speculation about how across-
the-board budget cuts would be applied in January.
You are also aware that TRICARE remains under attack. DOD continues to push for
TRICARE increases, saying that without increases in fees, further cuts in end strengths must be made.
This is a real dilemma, so again let Congress know your feelings.
Alabama Department of Industrial Relations News Release For Immediate Release: May 15, 2012 New Program Provides Job Training for Older Unemployed Veterans
MONTGOMERY – Beginning today, older unemployed veterans may sign up for a new job training
program called Veterans Retraining Assistance Program (VRAP), which is designed to provide
training and education that will lead to high-demand jobs. VRAP was established as part of the VOW
to Hire Heroes Act of 2011, which was signed by the President on November 21, 2011.
Veterans may apply for this program if they:
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-9/11 GI Bill, Montgomery GI Bill, Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment Assistance)
-employability)
VRAP will offer up to 12 months of training assistance at the rate of the Montgomery GI Bill
payment, which is currently at $1473 a month. Participants must enroll in VA approved education
programs at community colleges and technical schools that lead to an associate’s degree, non-college
degree, or a certificate that will lead to employment.
There are limited spaces in the program. Those interested in applying can do so online at
http://benefits.va.gov/vow/education.htm or by visiting a local Career Center. A listing of Career
Centers can be found at www.joblink.alabama.gov.
It is estimated that there are 11,000 unemployed veterans in Alabama.
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Members of the media needing more information should contact Public Information Manager Tara