Devon Richard is going back to school after a long time out of the classroom.
Richard is 32. When he was a teenager, he dropped out of high school where, he admits, he was not very interested in learning.
“I started fights, stabbed a kid with a fork," he said. "[I was] pretty much a troublemaker.”
For 15 years, Richard bounced around from place to place, job to job, never getting ahead—until a co-worker made a suggestion.
“A buddy of mine that's stationed here in San Antonio, we work together where I worked at, I was his boss. And he was like, ‘Why don't you join the military?’” Richard said.
But the military generally won't accept people like Richard who lack high school diplomas. And it isn't always easy for potential recruits to go back to school on their own. That's why Richard was happy to find the Future Soldier Program at Palo Alto College in San Antonio—a new college GED program in partnership with the Army. He signed up in July.
“Pretty much to better myself, prove my family wrong, and have better stuff for my daughter when she gets older,” Richard said.
Richard is among eight people who have signed up for the program in San Antonio, which allows them to earn a GED diploma for free and then automatically enter the Army.
Taylor Coffee, who coordinates the program at Palo Alto College, said Army recruiters in the past often told potential recruits to get GEDs, but few actually did it.
“We need to have a better process to where a recruiter, instead of just handing them information, we have a streamlined process to where we can help future soldiers get their GED and enlist at the same time,” Coffee said.
The program is one of several the Army has recently created nationally to help recruitment. Another—a "pre boot camp" —is designed for recruits who need extra academic or physical training. Meanwhile, the Army has reformed its national and local recruiting operations.
Last year, the Army fell about 11,000 people short of its goal of recruiting 65,000 active-duty soldiers. Army leaders say they're on track to meet this year's lower goal, which is 55,000 recruits.
Captain Yleñia Izaguirre is the commander of San Antonio West recruiting company. She said times have changed and so have the recruits.
“People have way more options now in this 21st century than they did before,” she said. “And so we're really trying to compete with that, and we offer them bonuses, educational opportunities, things of that nature. Slowly the gap is starting to come a little more close between the private sector and the military."
A new marketing effort is also part of the Army's reformed recruiting efforts. Izaguirre said that can help high schoolers—and others—better appreciate what the military offers.
“We're not just on the front lines. I could get you a cyber accreditation,” Izaguirre said. “Where are your other friends working? Somewhere in the community with no prospects, right? So that's where we really want to hopefully bridge that gap.”
Palo Alto College President Robert Garza said he hopes the program will mark a new level of cooperation between local colleges and military recruiters who meet with potential enlistees.
“My hope and expectation for the recruitment team for the Army is put them in your car and drive them over here to Palo Alto,” Garza said. “We'll take care of them, navigate them, make sure they get their GED. And then they have those opportunities for their future.”
Students in the program are going through an eight-week program learning, not just the academics they need for the GED, but also military readiness.
“I'm going to go in the Army,” said Devon Richard, the 32-year-old recruit. “I'm going to see what it's like in the Army. And if I don't like it, I'll go in the Air Force.”
Garza—the college president—said he hopes to expand this program, not just to his sister schools in Texas, but also across the country, so those who want to serve have the chance.
This story was produced by the American Homefront Project, a public media collaboration that reports on American military life and veterans.
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