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thedrifter
06-13-07, 06:01 PM
Get help at TurboTAP, but watch what you type
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Jun 13, 2007 13:30:04 EDT

The Pentagon has a new Web site for do-it-yourself transition services — but type carefully when you look for it online.

The Web address for the program, launched June 9, is www.TurboTAP.org . However, if you mistakenly use the .com suffix, you’ll be taken to a Web site selling a device that lets bartenders pour beer faster.

The beer tap that promises to provide a perfect pint in two seconds might bring joy, but not the same kind as finding a job.

Michael Dominguez, the principal deputy under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, said Wednesday that TurboTAP is a “dynamic, automated Web-based-system for delivery of transition assistance and related information.”

It aims to help National Guard and reserve members who often are unable to attend transition courses when demobilizing from active duty.

“We are excited by the possibilities for TurboTAP,” Dominguez said in testimony before the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee about the myriad government programs aimed at helping troops find post-service employment.

Guard and reserve personnel will be able to access employment information, build a resume online, do a job search or contact a military career center, he said.

TurboTAP also is available to active-duty service members.

The online system could help the Defense Department meet a Bush administration goal of having 85 percent of separating service members — active and reserve — attend transition courses. That goal was set by a presidential task force that looked at no-cost or low-cost ways to improve benefits for returning war veterans.

“TurboTAP will better meet the needs of the National Guard, reserve and active component service members and their families because it gives them the tools to connect and access the information to meet their needs when they are ready, present or future,” Dominguez said. “We have high expectations for this being a 21st-century approach to delivering individualized information and benefits to service members and families.


Ellie

thedrifter
06-14-07, 06:56 AM
Pentagon creates Web site to help veterans returning from Iraq find jobs

By: HOPE YEN - Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon said Wednesday it has created a new Web site to help veterans who face difficulty returning to their old jobs or finding new ones after deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Michael Dominguez, principal deputy under secretary of Defense, said the program, dubbed TurboTAP, seeks to improve on its current Transition Assistance Program by letting National Guard and Reserve servicemembers get job information, build a resume online and do a job search all in one place.

In addition, veterans would be able to create a customized transition plan from military to civilian life. They also would be able to access "helpful checklists" regarding key things they should be doing after leaving the military and would have direct e-mail access to Labor Department career centers.


The Web site is http://www.turbotap.org.

"TurboTAP will better meet the needs of the National Guard, Reserves and active component service members and their families because it gives them the tools to connect and access the information to meet their needs when they are ready," Dominguez told the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee.

"The success and accountability of transition will be managed online versus a form being hand carried to a personnel file," he said.

The announcement comes as several government panels review ways to improve veterans care, such as easing a servicemember's return to civilian life. In addition to problems of red tape and backlogs for those seeking disability benefits, some veterans have said they had difficulty finding new jobs or returning to their old ones after repeated or extended tours in Iraq.

With today's military comprised mostly of younger adults, unemployment among veterans ages 20-24 consistently outpaces non-veterans of the same age group, Labor Department statistics show.

In 2005, the jobless rate hit 15.6 percent -- the highest in at least two decades -- before dropping last year to 10.4 percent. Still, that figure exceeded the 8.1 percent rate in 2006 for non-veterans 20-24.

During the Senate hearing, members of both parties expressed concern that the government wasn't doing enough to advertise or coordinate an array of sometimes overlapping job programs offered by the Labor, Defense and Veterans Affairs Departments.

In some cases, veterans may be falling through the cracks if the departments aren't fully communicating or tracking who is serving whom, senators said.

A presidential task force chaired by VA Secretary Jim Nicholson last month urged greater outreach and coordination among departments in informing veterans of job placement services, training as well as their legal rights in returning to employment.

"Our nation's veterans have all the character necessary to succeed in the working world -- they are disciplined team players who have proven that they can perform under pressure," said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. "All they need is someone to provide a helping hand."

On the Net:

Senate Veterans Affairs Committee: http://veterans.senate.gov/

Defense Department: http://www.defenselink.mil/

Ellie