Build Your Future’s military initiative, Hard Hat Heroes, has expanded its credentialing portal by releasing alignments for two new branches: Navy and Air Force. Through this portal, veterans can apply to receive NCCER industry-recognized credentials for the construction-related training they received while in the military. With these newest additions, credentials are now available to the Army, Navy and Air Force. 
Since its inception on Veterans Day 2016, Hard Hat Heroes has credentialed 12-series Army veterans in crafts such as carpentry, masonry, electrical, heavy equipment operation and concrete finishing. In addition to the skilled craft credentials, some higher ranking Army MOS codes can receive credentials in managerial curricula such as Fundamentals of Crew Leadership, Project Supervision and Project Management.
As an extension of the first task-based alignment, Hard Hat Heroes has added 36 Navy Seabee rates as well as 8 Air Force specialty codes. The Seabee rates have similar skilled craft credentials and managerial completions as the Army, while the Air Force also includes credentials for welding, power generation maintenance electrician and ironworking. 
This online tool can be found at veterans.byf.org and is also available to employers looking to recruit, train and retain service members. The task-based alignments were created not only to help veterans transition into civilian construction jobs, but also to help employers understand the skills that service members already possess in various craft areas. These resources allow employers to hire qualified soldiers and sailors at the correct skill level, provide competitive pay and continue training where the military left off.
Hard Hat Heroes will continue to refine the current alignments and develop new ones with the support and expertise of the key organizations that made these alignments possible: KBR, Performance Contractors, Cajun Industries, Bechtel, NextOp, U.S. Army School of Engineers at Ft. Leonard Wood and the Air Force Civil Engineer Center at Tyndall Air Force Base.
Join our webinar series to learn how to implement these resources within your organization. These presentations will take place two times per month with the next sessions being held on June 14^th and June 28^th at 4:00 pm (EDT). To sign up, contact Ashleigh Potuznik at 386.518.6915 or apotuznik@nccer.org.
NCCER salutes our military members and veterans and thanks each of you for keeping America safe.
About Build Your Future – Build Your Future (BYF) is a national image enhancement and recruitment initiative for the construction industry. Its mission is to recruit the next generation of craft professionals by making career and technical education a priority in secondary schools, shifting negative public perception about careers in the construction industry and providing a path from ambition, to training, to job placement as a craft professional. BYF provides a number of resources to assist industry, education and military organizations in achieving these goals. For more information, visit www.byf.org.