Program assists transitioning service members

Rex King Rex King knows about transitioning out of the military into civilian life.

“I was in the Navy 20 years. I retired in 2007,” said King, who moved to the Augusta area and works with AmeriCorps Volunteers in Service to America with the Central Savannah River Area Wounded Warrior Care Project since November.

King is to help the organization on a new initiative.

“He’s going to be helping us coordinate our mentoring program,” said Laurie Ott, the CSRA Wounded Warrior Care Project’s executive director.

The mentoring project will target transitioning servicemembers, she said.

“They have a lot of vocational needs,” Ott said. “They had planned on a career in the military.”

Because of injury or illness, they are unable to continue with the military, and are often in need of help as they transition from the military to civilian life, she said.

King has a year-long commitment as an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer and sees the experience as a valuable opportunity not only for the people he hopes to help but for himself as well.

Only a few weeks into his volunteer service, King said he has realized he was learning a different set of skills than those he learned as a Navy firefighter.

“Every day, I pick up something from Ms. Ott,” he said. “Watching her professionalism and dedication is just going to make me sharper. Her communication and writing skills are helping me a lot.”

The AmeriCorps VISTA

program has been around since 1965. It expanded to offer opportunities for veterans according to Joan Stoddard, community building coordinator for the United Way of the CSRA and Augusta’s AmeriCorps VISTA program coordinator.

Two veterans began under the expanded program in November; a third will be brought in around May, she said. There are 35 AmeriCorps VISTA volunteers working with non-profit organizations in the Augusta area.

Unlike a traditional unpaid volunteer position, there are monetary benefits in working as an AmeriCorps VISTA.

Some benefits during the one-year commitment include health care coverage, a living allowance, child care assistance and student loan forbearance or deferment.