Twenty-five years ago, my father was intimately involved in arranging college credit for advanced technical training completed by sailors at Service School Command Great lakes and other Navy training programs around the country. It therefore warms my heart to see this bit of news about the expansion of a similar program in the Army.

The Army plans to offer accredited college credit hours for its training programs with enough offerings that a soldier could retire with a bachelor's degree.

The program is called the College of the American Soldier and is viewed as a recruitment tool as the Army seeks to expand its force.

With the offering, the Army will be able to tell recruits to come in to learn a skill and to obtain an education, said Lt. Gen. Benjamin Freakley, who outlined the program during a breakfast meeting Tuesday with reporters.

Freakley is head of Army Accession Command, which is responsible for recruiting and the initial training of soldiers. He said the Army is working with colleges to gets its training programs accredited, and hopes to begin the program in February.

Under it, every new recruit in basic training will have the option of obtaining a technical certification in a skill such as welding or potentially 17 hours of college credit in leadership, first aid and other areas, he said.

"The idea would be, by the time you are a staff sergeant, somewhere between six and 10 years in the Army, you're going to have your associate's degree," Freakley said.

Soldiers who attend the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy could get 45 hours of credit because they have to write and take classes in areas such as literature and public speaking, he said. Those who retire as a master sergeant or sergeant major could have a bachelor's degree through the program, he said.

My only questions -- who will issue this degree, and will these credits be accepted for transfer by colleges and universities? The program my father was involved in creating actually counted these courses for college credit through several different schools, and were accepted as a part of their degree programs. Will these be captive credits that will only earn you a degree through the College of the American Soldier, or will you be able to get out with that associate's degree and transfer to Podunk State College, Big State University or Prestigious East Coast University?

Posted by: Greg at 10:36 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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