Transition Assistance Programs for the Submarine Industrial Base Workforce​

By Nicholas Weising

A U.S. Navy investigation in April found that the Virginia-class submarines being built for the AUKUS agreement are running 2-3 years behind schedule. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell blamed naval supply chain challenges. Even if the logistical challenges are overcome, there is a consensus across government, industry, and academia that America’s shipyards simply do not have the capacity to fulfill the ambitious AUKUS production timeline. AUKUS attempted to pre-empt this by setting aside $4 billion for investment into the submarine industrial base (SIB) in 2025, plus another $3.3 billion which was included in the U.S. national security supplemental appropriation passed in February 2024. This cash injection would primarily go toward workforce training and education for blue collar shipyard workers. While this appropriation is necessary for the U.S. to begin meet its strategic goals outlined in the AUKUS agreement, it will not meet the SIB’s workforce needs in the short term. Furthermore, the investment’s magnitude attests to the severe lack of suitable workers in this space right now. The existing career transition programs for sailors can be revamped to help U.S. shipbuilders struggling to fill positions.

There is no shortage manpower when looking at the outflux of servicemembers from the military. More than 80,000 active-duty members voluntarily separated from the military from 2022 to 2023. The low retention rate of the armed services is a problem unto itself, but the high number of individuals leaving creates a large pool of potential candidates that transition programs should be able funnel into to high-demand SIB jobs. There is no shortage of initiatives available–especially enlisted servicemembers—to assist in reacclimating to civilian life. Each service branch has their Transition Assistance Program (TAP), is a series of counseling and education sessions, which includes going over Department of Labor (DOL) and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) benefits. This program offers baseline resources for everyone exiting the service, but more programs exist. Skillbridge is a competitive Department of Defense (DOD) program which offers outgoing personnel civilian work experience and training with the last 180 days of their military service. Many prospective candidates for these programs would be well qualified for positions in the submarine industrial base. For instance, machinist mates, Navy hull technicians, and avionics technicians can easily be retrained to fill the shortage of industry billets in computer numeral control (CNC) machining, welding, and quality assurance, respectively. Obtaining credentials during service has a big impact on lifetime earnings. “A combat medic…might previously have found work as an emergency medical technician, a job that pays an average of around $37,000 a year. By working toward transferrable credits and credentials in the military, that same medic could instead aim to become a registered nurse, with an average annual salary closer to $83,000.” Firms seek to hire new veterans because the cost of training and hiring individuals who have already learned relevant skills in the military is much lower than the cost of hiring and training candidates with no experience; however, a significant demand for skilled workers remains. How can existing transition programs for exiting servicemembers help funnel skilled individuals into much-needed, well-paying jobs in the SIB?

Most military transition programs are focused on education and not job placement, and there is limited evidence that federally-funded employment transition programs are actually effective. The baseline program–TAP–is fair but not great for servicemembers in its current form. A study found that those who attended the TAP three-day DOL employment workshop found work faster, remained employed longer, and had lower unemployment rates one year after branch separation compared to those who did not. TAP attendees did not have higher employment rates six months after separation, though, and they also earned considerably less in wages than non-attendees in all periods. Starting TAP earlier in the separation process was associated with higher wages for the workshop participants, but large numbers of separating troops miss their mandatory classes. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) found in 2023 that the requirement to attend TAP classes was waived for more 50 percent of all separating individuals, and nearly 25 percent of that cohort were considered at risk for transition problems. Even ignoring those who shirk, about 70% of all servicemembers participate in TAP less than a year before their planned separation—later than required program deadlines—which has lower expected outcomes. Broadly, there is also an element of self-selection here. Motivated enlisted sailors who go out of their way to get job credentials via the Tuition Assistance Program and get accepted into Skillbridge (and thus would dutifully attend TAP) are also the candidates whom the military is most aggressively trying to retain, via reenlistment bonuses and other incentives.

The DOD can restructure TAP to create better outcomes for Navy veterans and support the SIB. The entire purpose of programs like Skillbridge is to give servicepeople work experience. This is prime for partnership with the SIB. Inviting SIB companies to TAP such that the program becomes a sort of public-private partnership. 10 U.S.C. 1144 establishes the mandatory curriculum of TAP but gives participating departments discretion on how to deliver the material. This means that the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) has the authority to reform TAP, with the advice of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, whose purview includes the Defense Human Resources Activity and thus the administrators of TAP, the Military-Civilian Transition Office. Added sessions of the Navy TAP should include SIB job fairs and mock interviews. Creating formal TAP pathways for enlisted sailors to jobs in industry would help considerably with veteran unemployment immediately after service while addressing an acute labor shortage in the defense industrial base.

A more rigorous TAP program would be more expensive. It would also be more able to address individual servicemembers’ particular concerns. Counselors can track a sailor’s progress on accruing credentials or sufficient experience in the field so that they have the relevant qualifications for SIB roles. A more robust TAP would be much more successful in transitioning veterans to civilian life and would increase the likelihood of participants pursuing jobs in submarine yards. Of course, modifying TAP will do no good if the rate of attendance does not change. The easiest fix is that there needs to be a severe reduction in the number of waivers given to outgoing sailors. Human resources staff should vet waiver requests much more stringently and push for course completion to occur far ahead of separation day. Commanding officers should actively encourage their unit members to attend TAP properly and perhaps even offer incentives to pursue other career development opportunities. Above all, however, reforming TAP from a hodge-podge of trainings into a pipeline to useful, defense-related work will increase the value for transitioning servicemembers to participate.

One of the biggest reasons outgoing servicemembers give for shirking TAP are “mission- or duty-related requirements that interfered with ability to attend the course.” While acknowledging that branches (rightfully) prioritize mission completion over offboarding procedure, greater weight needs to be given to offboarding. Not just because veterans deserve to have remunerative careers and fulfilling lives after service, which they do, but because there are real national security implications downstream of this issue. The defense industrial base is a critical component of U.S. national security infrastructure; funneling departing servicemembers into defense-relevant work is a win-win for industry and for the U.S. military. Adding formal SIB pipelines from the Navy’s TAP can provide a framework for other branches’ TAP. aerospace companies, munitions manufacturers, and logistics firms would similarly benefit from a steady supply of talented veterans. The ability of the military to develop a civilian workforce to man the defense industrial base will be key determiner of the United States’ ability to project power and protect its interests.

Nicholas Weising, Program Associate

The views expressed in this piece are the sole opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the Center for Maritime Strategy or other institutions listed.