Entering the military requires extensive training and separating from the military should provide similar training, says Cole Lyle, executive director, Mission Roll Call.

WorkingNation sat down with Lyle in Atlanta at the Warrior Community Integration Symposium – an annual convening of veteran-serving organizations hosted by America’s Warrior Partnership.

He says the DOD’s Skill Bridge program is helping veterans with that transition but needs to be expanded. “I think expanding SkillBridge and making it maybe mandatory for a certain period of time would be a great step in the right direction.”

Lyle continues, “The Transition Assistance Program needs to be improved by a lot. It’s not near as comprehensive. We take typically people that enlist in the military from disadvantaged backgrounds. When they get out, they lose their access to the resources – from their chain of command, their peer support network, things like that. Then they’re expected to learn this kind of on the fly because they’re adults.”

Learn more about Mission Roll Call.
Learn more about SkillBridge.
Learn more about the Transition Assistance Program.
Learn more about America’s Warrior Partnership.