Although their funding has been cut, the crew operating the Helmets to Hardhats program continues its efforts – on a volunteer basis – to find jobs in construction trades for armed forces veterans.

The federal Helmets to Hardhats program started in 2003 both as a response to a dearth nationwide of skilled workers in the trades, and to guide vets through the transition from military lives into civilian employment.

But the program took a hard hit in 2010, when the federal government eliminated congressional earmarks, pulling the financial rug out from under Helmets to Hardhats. It lost its $3 million budget, which had funded 17 regional directors nationwide, as well as staff who traveled the country recruiting veterans.

That rendered the program’s various directors effectively volunteers, said Richard Eckler, the Massachusetts-based Northeast regional coordinator overseeing operations from Maine to Maryland. The website that vets use to sign up for the program is still intact (www.helmetstohardhats.org) and runs on donations made through the Building and Construction Trades Department of the AFL/CIO in Washington, D.C. Those donations come from the 15 international trade unions represented, as well as the contractors that actually hire the veterans, Eckler said.

“The program has put tens of thousands of men and women into jobs in the various trades around the country,” Eckler said in a recent interview. “Even if they’re in the green zone in Iraq or on the ground in Afghanistan, they can go online and register for the program.”

Eckler tasted firsthand the challenges of transitioning from military existence to civilian life when he faced a bleak job market upon returning from tours of duty in Vietnam. He found his way into the trades as an elevator constructor, building lifts for the next 35 years. Then in 2004, he joined Helmets to Hardhats to work on behalf of the men and women making similar transformations. Now he travels to military installations and pitches the program to returning vets, alongside police chiefs and representatives from security guard companies.

‘Rewarding Feeling’

When candidates from the program are ready, they are matched with a specific apprentice program in their local area, based on their interests and experience. Eckler is there to help guide them in the process. For Eckler, the greatest satisfaction comes from feeding candidates into an apprenticeship in one of the trades, and eventually a permanent job.

“It’s a very rewarding feeling when a kid calls and says how much they appreciate your help and [that they] are starting work at a new job next week,” Eckler said. “A lot of people in the unions are veterans. And a lot that aren’t, they hire veterans, and it’s kind of their way of showing their appreciation for what [vets have] done.”

That gratitude is shown in several forms. One is simply that the servicemen and women are shown preference for apprenticeships once they are registered in the system and apply for positions, said John Healy, sheet metal training coordinator for the Local 17 sheet metal union in Boston. Healy said the sheet metal workers usually have 10 to 20 Helmets to Hardhats applicants each year, and of those, about half are hired as apprentices. Just last year, the first class of apprentices from the program graduated from apprentices to journeymen, a five-year process.

Those former military personnel are ideal candidates to move up the ranks and become leaders in their chosen industries because of the discipline that has been ingrained into them in the military, he explained. That discipline often translates into willingness to be trained and learn the trade. The chance to get paid for learning a new skill is not an opportunity that comes along every day, and because the veterans who enter the trades are often more mature than their peers, they are more likely to commit to the program, said Eric Redding, director of apprenticeship and training for the Finishing Trades Institute of New England.

The most important part of his involvement, Redding said, is getting the veterans into a training program. He said it’s become harder for the vets to find out about the program since it lost its funding, and many hear about it by word of mouth. Once they know about it, they realize what an opportunity it provides because “it shows veterans sticking together and helping their buddies out,” Redding said.

For more information about Helmets to Hardhats, contact the local office of any of the 15 trade unions or nine management associations supporting the program. For a complete list, visit www.helmetstohardhats.org.

Email: jcronin@thewarrengroup.com