Welcome Home - A Podcast for Veterans, About Veterans, By Veterans
Welcome Home is a Willing Warriors and the Warrior Retreat at Bull Run project. The program highlights activities at the Warrior Retreat and issues impacting all Veterans. For questions or feedback, please email us at podcast@willingwarriors.org.
Welcome Home - A Podcast for Veterans, About Veterans, By Veterans
Navigating New Horizons: LTC Willson on the Army's Soldier for Life Program
When I hung up my Air Force uniform in 1983, the road back to civilian life was lonely, lacking the rich resources available today. That's why I was eager to sit down with Lieutenant Colonel Raymond E. Willson of the Army's Soldier for Life program, a vital initiative guiding service members through the transition to civilian life with a comprehensive support system. Our discussion opens a window into the program's mission: embed a lifelong soldier mindset and provide advocacy and connection for soldiers, veterans, and their families. We unravel the depth and breadth of support that spans career opportunities, wellness programs, and the camaraderie that outlasts active duty.
Transitioning back into civilian society is an expedition that every soldier must navigate, and this episode shines a light on the Army's arsenal of programs designed to equip service members for success. Col. Willson and I delve into how the Army prepares soldiers for new career paths with programs like DOD Skillbridge, the Army Career Skills Program, and the PACE program's promise of job interviews. We also discuss the support offered by organizations like the American Warrior Partnership and the Cohen Network. These initiatives address more than just vocational needs—they are about the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual wellness that solidifies the transition process and the unexpected yet cherished outcomes that come with the bonds formed in military service. Join us to discover how these efforts enrich the lives of those who have served and continue to serve and how they contribute to an enduring sense of community and opportunity within the Army.
Good morning. I'm Larry Ziliox, your host Director of Culinary Services here at the Warrior Retreat at Bull Run, and today our guest is Lieutenant Colonel Raymond Willson. He is with the Soldier for Life program, the Army Soldier for Life program, which I've been wanting to get him on as a guest ever since he brought some of his team out to visit the Warrior Retreat and found out about his program and it's just very interesting to me, mainly because when I was in the Air Force but I think all branches were pretty similar at that time, back at 83, when you got out, you got out and there was no transitioning. There was hey, okay, see ya. And this program, the Soldier for Life program, just fascinates me. So, colonel, welcome to the podcast. We really appreciate you taking the time to sit down and talk with us today.
LTC Raymond E. Willson:And if you would just give us a little bit of background on your time in the Army and how you came to be with the program, First of all, thanks for having me on and allowing the opportunity to talk about one the Army, and to what the Army is doing with the Soldier for Life program and, as you mentioned, the opportunity we had to come visit you, the team and the facilities was a true privilege to see the work and the resources that are being done to provide help, assistance and a community to really service members, veterans and families. But to the question to really actually join the Army, in 1994 as a reservist and I joined to be a truck driver. Both my parents retired from the military and I didn't really want to do it full-time, have some stability and settle down and have some rich. But one thing I'd like to talk about in the military, and although I did not know it at the time, is the tremendous opportunities that are available to service members once they join. So in my case I was in the reserves for a little over 10 years and then I had the opportunity to receive a commission and then there was another opportunity to go active duty. I mean, the list just keeps going on and on. So, although this was not my plan and quite frankly I don't know that, I had a plan at 17 or 18, but the opportunities that have been afforded to me.
LTC Raymond E. Willson:We talk about travel all the time but really for me one of the best gifts of the military it's the people. It's the people you meet along the way. Some of them will remain in contact and friends for the rest of their lives, others are just kind of short-time but that opportunity can meet people and develop relationships. And the other thing, it's provided for my family when I live alone. I mean overall would not change the things.
LTC Raymond E. Willson:I think it's important and we talked about this within our program quite a bit we have to tell our positive Army story for others to hear it and kind of be introduced to some of the opportunities that are available that they may not be aware of. And really in our society today if you don't have a family member or friend or live around a military installation, you're exposed to any service. You may not be what it could have been or you may not be introduced to those opportunities. How I got here today I think we're all aware. Every two or three years we grew up for a new assignment. So this opportunity came available with the Army Shoulder for Life program. I was affordably the opportunity to move here at PCS, here and take the ground running, and that's been about a year and a half ago Looking at the program itself.
Larry Zilliox:Tell us the concept behind it. What was the Army thinking when they developed the program?
LTC Raymond E. Willson:Yeah, so we'll take you back to 2011, 2012 timeframe, and that's when the program was stood up and initiated and at the time it was a direct report to the Chief of Staff of the Army and the intent of the program was to combat the veteran unemployment rate at the time. Initially, this program it's directed directly to the Chief of Staff and it was the eyes and ears. As it was then it is today. We're focused on travel, so traveling within our specific areas or our specific functions, getting out to the communities, seeing what resources are available, engage with community leaders, identify best practices and there are some fishing points start that conversation and engage and see how we can break down some of those barriers. So since 2012, it's kind of moved around a couple of different times, but most recently we're in the past year and a half or so.
LTC Raymond E. Willson:The program now lies under TRADOC Training, doctor and Comming, which is headquartered out of Fort Eastus, virginia. So really now the program is focused. There's some pillars that we like to talk about that we're focused on, but overall it's the mindset. So TRADOC is currently in charge of the assessing. So recruitment and bringing soldiers in, and the idea is that you know from your from the very first handshake through military honors. You're, you're a soldier for life and, yes, you absolutely have the opportunity to serve while you're in uniform. But once you take that uniform off, you know there's still numerous opportunities that you know individuals and do you know volunteering at a local organization. It could be as simply as telling your army story and the opportunities that were afforded to you to you know, chance encounters. Or your individuals in the neighborhood. They're teaching JRTC, there's, there's, there's many, many you know opportunities. So that's that's kind of the foundation of of where we're at the mission, of the program currently.
LTC Raymond E. Willson:One thing I would like to add is a few years back really, there were, there was one acronym that that encompassed two programs and I'm sure there'll be some listeners familiar with the acronym SSL, ta that is, that is no longer the acronym that we use, and and there are two separate programs under two separate commands. But, as I mentioned, you know, soldier for Life is under TRADOC and we're an outreach advocacy program that connects and engages with government and non-government organizations that support soldiers, veterans and family members. And when I say, when I say soldiers, we can replace that with service members. So, yes, it's an army program, that's, that's the intended audience, but you know when, when we're out, you know at events and you know we're speaking. The programs that are available to the army are the exact same programs and organizations that are available to to any, any service member.
Larry Zilliox:When we look at some of these pillars that you're talking about, what are the core pillars of the, the program I see from the webpage? We've got employment assistance, educational programs, health and wellness and retirement planning, which is a huge change. Like I said, when I was in, there was no transitioning assistance. There was no preparing for what the life after the army or the branch of service you were with was going to be like. If you could just touch on each one of these pillars briefly and just give us an overview what a soldier would find with each of these, Before I jump into that, I left out the second part of the previous answer.
LTC Raymond E. Willson:Okay, so, if I can just go back a minute, so SSL, tap, you know I've talked already about soldier for life, but the second part of that is TAP, which is the actual transition assistance program. Okay, and, and that program is under HRC human resources command out of Fort Knox, so it used to be synonymous, you know, used to be tied together, but but now they're really two, two separate entities. So TAP, if we're not familiar with it, that's the actual program that service members partake in up to 12 months prior to their transition. So there's classes, there's, you know, events, briefings, workshops and then transitioning service members. You know some are voluntary and then others are there, their mandatory, that individuals go through this.
LTC Raymond E. Willson:And to your point layer, when you said you're kind of in one day, the next day you know you're out, you had a D2-214, and you were, you know, trying to figure it out. Yeah, the army and the military in general has absolutely gone away from from that. The transition of service members is extremely important and I'll kind of lay out you know why it's important. That's okay, and then I'll I'll jump into these pillars that we focus on? Yeah, absolutely. So really, we'll use last year's data and I kind of I like to use this as the why like why is this important and why do we have this and why are we doing this? So for FY23, and this is solely for the army, over 130,000 individuals transitioned from the army last year. And that's, that's all three components, so that's active duty, guard and and that's res and reserves. So we'll kind of drill down here a little bit and so of that of that 130 plus thousand, you know approximately 60,000 of those individuals were active duty and then those of that 60,000 number, 80% of those individuals fall into three categories, these rough categories they're 18 to 34 years old, they're E1 to E6, and they have one to 10 years of experience.
LTC Raymond E. Willson:So that transition is extremely important for those individual individuals because they're not retiring, you know they're actually looking for that next step in their career and you know when we transition, you know a lot of times it's just not ourselves, right. There's a spouse, there's kids, there's family members, extended family, whatever that is. So you know giving the transition rights and to continue to improve on that, and you know affording and allowing transition to serve members of the opportunities, you know, to set them up for success the best that we possibly can. So then, with with the transition you know program, they're going through classes such as, you know, employment, education, health and wellness, that that type of stuff. So that's, that's.
LTC Raymond E. Willson:So you have the, you have the tap is one entity, one approach and that's getting the individual successfully transitioned from the military. And then and then you have soldier for life. So soldier for life, the soldier for life program, you know, does not specifically assist an individual transitioning from the military. It's not like you come to soldier for life, you complete some classes and then your paperwork is, is checked off on and really the you know the idea and the mentality of of our program. The soldier for life program is, once again, as soon as you get into military, you're made aware of opportunities, why you're in military programs, you know, to help you start thinking through that process upon the transition, and I like to tell you know when I'm talking that the transition isn't just, you know, the last 12 months of your contractor, you know your service obligation. It's really the you know could be the life of your service as you build upon that and prepare to exit.
LTC Raymond E. Willson:So then, to kind of round that your question. So the full life really has four. We call them, you know, functional areas or pillars that we focus on, and there's a team over each one of these areas. It's employment, education, health and wellness. And then the fourth one we throw in there is is community outreach. So that's that is our efforts. As I mentioned, there's a team over each one of those areas and then, in addition to that, we're working down into four regions. So you know, specifically, I'm, I have responsibilities for the West and the Northeast, and just so our listeners are clear too this is not a physical place.
Larry Zilliox:It's not like on a military, on an army base, that it's a place where you go to the soldier of life building or anything like this. This is a program that is built around resources and getting the word out to army soldiers what's available for them through their career, but then on beyond their career, however long that would be. Is that a fair assessment?
LTC Raymond E. Willson:Yeah, that's absolutely accurate and if I can, I'll just kind of expand upon. You know the pillars and you're absolutely right when you said you know resources that we advocate for or, you know, educate about. So you know the Soldier for Life program is not the proponent of any program or any service, right? So you know our program cannot assist you, you know, with the actual benefit of your education or food and securities. Or you know homelessness, your, you know, provide you employment, but what we can do and what we do do is we help wade through the sea of goodwill. So there's a vast amount of organizations, you know, with a mission that entails supporting soldiers, veterans and family members. And I like to say, you know, it's me, after you know 20-something years in the military and kind of where I'm at today, if I have a tough time navigating that, how does you know? How does Private Wilson, you know, understand, hey, this is a program that may be beneficial and maybe we, you know, maybe this other one's, you know, not quite right for you at this particular time. Yeah, so when we're talking about education, you know we like to talk quite a bit about one the Army resources that are available. So you know things like Army Ignited, the Cool Program and then some other organizations you know not Tidy and RV. Student Veterans, you know of America and then you know there's a lot of universities out there that are veteran friendly and have, you know, program staff that support. You know veteran students. You know what a couple that just come to my mind is Syracuse University, purdue, you know Cornell, I mean those are three and I get some feedback that I get with. You know all these other ones, but the point is it's best practices kind of the part of the country and you know, for education, no, you know, we like to just identify that along with.
LTC Raymond E. Willson:You know other other government and non government programs that are available when it comes to employment. You know there are DOD. You know Army-specific programs that we talk quite a bit about and you know DOD skill bridge and if you're not familiar, it's essentially an internship opportunity that an individual can partake in, you know, for a specific amount of time prior to their transition. The Army has a career skill program which is very similar to the DOD skill bridge. It's internships and there's cohorts. You know kind of environment.
LTC Raymond E. Willson:The Army has a PACE program, stansford partnership for your success. The highlight of that program is that, upon a transitioning service member, they can choose from a list of companies in the area that they're transitioning to up to five that will guarantee them an interview. So it doesn't guarantee them a job, but it guarantees them. You know the interview and really that's. You know. So when we're talking quite a bit about, you know, service members and the services that are available to them. You know, but in this case this is an opportunity for the PACE program and then so the life. You know, when we're out talking to organizations that, hey, like, did you know about this? And maybe this is an opportunity that your company, you know, may want to partake in. You know, recruit military, hire our heroes.
LTC Raymond E. Willson:There's a very vast military network on LinkedIn. You know that we like to promote and actually LinkedIn is one of the strongest ways that we have to communicate. You know our message and promote the message of others. You know, with about 100,000 connections. And then you know the last pillar, or the third pillar that I mentioned was health and wellness. So you know we're really, as in the active duty army, h2f, h2f, health and holistic fitness. You know it's the physical part, but it's also, you know, the mental, emotional, spiritual aspect of it. I mean there's organizations like AWP, American Warrior Partnership Right, the Cohen Network, you know is one that I like to talk about quite a bit.
LTC Raymond E. Willson:That divides, you know, full-time worker, you know counseling services to individuals and once again, like I'm rattling off two or three. But and then the last thing I'll highlight is, you know, the community outreach. So you know I mentioned travel, like that's our main job and our main focus, or a focus, you know, of ours, and that's that's to go out in the communities, connect and engage with veterans, soldiers and families. It really varies quite a bit throughout the country. For example, if you're on the northeast Maine, vermont, new Hampshire type areas where guard and reserve really strong and robust, but not an active duty unit or base close by Then you go out west and it's a different environment, as it would be in the south or the Midwest. It's really getting out, understanding the need and being able to put resources against that.
Larry Zilliox:Yeah, I've got to say that I see the real value in the program is delivering resources that are qualified resources, that when you go out, like you say, and you just get on Google and you do a search and you go, I need help with this, you get a million responses and they all have fancy websites. They all look pretty good To have your program vet particular organizations, so that a soldier or a veteran can go right to your webpage and say, okay, I need help for this. Or a spouse or military spouse, I'm interested in finding out about education. Those resources are right there on the webpage forum. They're vetted. They don't have to worry that they're going to be caught up in some sort of scam or waste their time. The Army, thank goodness, has done the work for them.
Larry Zilliox:I also wonder about how this helps with retention. I know that then you mentioned that there were about 60,000 service members who separated from the Army in 2023. I also know that I think recruiting was down and I think the Army gained about 55,000 recruits. So there's a negative number there which is across the board in all services. Retention is an issue, recruiting is an issue, but I got to think that this program has to contribute to keeping some of those soldiers from separating. Do you have any sense of that?
LTC Raymond E. Willson:I do have a sense of it, but it's just a sense. We're not able to quantify or have data. What we do know is that there's a growing civil divide. So there's a growing partnership or understanding of individual military of what's going on in the civilian world and then civilian world understanding military dynamics of that. I think and this is just Ray Wilson speaking, but from my perspective the more we're out in the community, specifically areas of the country that don't see a lot of individuals in uniform or associated with the military being able to talk and have that dialogue and to be a friendly encounter or other times we have opportunities to get up and speak in front of large audiences.
LTC Raymond E. Willson:I would like to go back a moment and just clarify a little bit with the betting. Our office doesn't. There's no kind of checklist, there's no kind of process that we go through to say this is a 10 star rating. There's no trip advisor stuff going on 5 star to 1 star. What we do, and what I specifically do, is I talk about the organizations that I'm familiar with. So, for example, I can and I absolutely talk about the warrior retreat and what I know of it, one from having conversations with you, one from visiting the facilities and the team and then, obviously, information that's available to research. For us there's not an actual betting process, but it's more of individuals or influencers that we work with daily. And then you know the, the organizations and I don't want to say affiliated with, because not affiliated with anybody, but organization back we have been involved with- yeah, so there's some degree of interaction there.
Larry Zilliox:It's not just Somebody in the program sitting at a computer and compiling lists of possible Resources and then offering those out. So that's right. Yeah, just I get. What you're saying is that it's it's not like trip advisor, it's not a it's not a vetting process. I use the wrong word vetting, I'm sorry about that.
LTC Raymond E. Willson:I just wanted to clarify. Yeah, I didn't want the lawyers after. I understand that.
Larry Zilliox:Yeah, for sure. Before we wrap up here, I really appreciate you taking the time to explain the program because I think it's immensely valuable. I think it the more you can get out and talk to the, the public and let people know what the army and what life in the army is all about and and how you know, like you say, your soldier for life. I can't see how the army doesn't benefit from that, for sure, but I also think it helps with retention as well, when Soldiers find out about benefits that they might not even had considered. As far as educational, certainly, from a health, well-being standpoint, employment comes later on. Yeah, I just think it's. It's a wonderful, wonderful program. So what's the one thing you would like our listeners to know About life in the army?
LTC Raymond E. Willson:one thing that it's greater than I could ever imagine it's. It's hard to pinball when you say, like you know the one thing right, like what's your one favorite food, I mean. But I think I'd go back to you know previous comment, where it's, it's the people. For me it's, it's the relationships that I built. So I mean I, I have relationships, you know back 25 years with individuals and then you know, obviously you know traveling at different duty stations and locations and you know being, you know with people extremely serious moments. But then also you know, you know Jill, real moments and you know someone's life and then you know the idea that I mean I have a group of you know friends and in the military that I I may not talk to him, you know, but once a year, you know, once every every couple years, but that camaraderie in that and that bond, you know that that is built, it's.
LTC Raymond E. Willson:You know we pick up exactly. You know where we left off. You know we talk about family and you know where we're at in life. And then of course, I'm gonna sound like the old guy in a room, but you know we tell stories about something funny that happened, or you know how bad the food was, mm-hmm, not not trying to be a you, larry, know your next one, so yeah, but it's, it's just, it's that, it's that bond and the shared experience, you know that, yeah, with individuals. For me that's what it is.
Larry Zilliox:I think it's that's true of most service members. I know it's true for myself. I talked to people that I served with 40 years ago all the time and it's. It's actually something that it's hard to explain To people who have never been in the military. That's right, and it's sometimes even hard to understand yourself what it is, but it is. It is one of the the things that you get from service for your country. That's unexpected, but really often, like you say, the best part of of service. It really is. So I agree with you a hundred percent. I know it is for me.
LTC Raymond E. Willson:Yeah, I mean, you know, If I go back home, it's where I read with high school and I talk about Billy Mack or a whooby. My buddies have no idea what that is, but you know, if I pop that, you know with someone I served with 25 years ago. You know there's just probably a story behind it. And then, if I can, if I can, add one more thing, if you're not, you know, too far over on time now. So it's, it's definitely the people. But one thing that caught me by surprising that I wasn't aware of, it's the opportunities and and you talked about, you know this the, the retention piece. You know sessions and recruiters. You know when, when I joined the reserves in in 1994, I joined to be, you know, an 88 Mike, a truck jagger, and that's what I was gonna do. I had no idea of the world and the opportunities that you know we're gonna gonna open up to me.
LTC Raymond E. Willson:You know, from a listed to commission, bachelor's to masters, just life skills. You know being a leader, being around, creative and innovative. You know Binkers, realistically, if somebody wants to join them, the army today, yes, they can. You know, go infantry aviation, you know, I mean you, you name the branch or you know you name over a hundred, I think it's like 150, you know m O S Is mm-hmm. But in addition to that, like, if you want higher education, you want to go.
LTC Raymond E. Willson:You know there's programs that are very well known, you know institutions for, you know advanced degrees, you, you can join the army to be an athlete right, the world-class athlete program, and this you know. We talked about this quite a bit and people like I had no idea that I could, you know, be in the band or become a dentist, or you know cyber secure. You're like whatever it is, yeah, but but that's our job, one within this program. But then to I would say, you know, in the larger army and military community is, you know, when we have the opportunities, you know, to be able to just present that message? And you know things that individuals may not be aware of. I mean, we talk quite a bit about hey, you're able to travel the world and do this.
LTC Raymond E. Willson:And yeah, that's great, and I've been to some places that I've never gone to, you know, on my own Right, but there's so much more. So just kind of run up the question One it's the people and two it's the opportunities that are afforded to you.
Larry Zilliox:Yeah, yeah, and there certainly is. In all branches of the service there are tremendous opportunities that will give you skills that you'll use all your life and, very often, skills that you will make a lot of money with, especially in some of the specialized positions in intelligence and satellites and cybersecurity and things like that. So, yeah, if anybody's listening and they're thinking about what to do with their life, then think about the military and think about the army and go to the Soldier for Life webpage, which is it is soldierforlifearmymil, and you'll see all the resources and it's a great web page lot there for you. Find out, you know, find out what these programs are all about and how they can help you. Colonel, thank you so much for joining us today. We really appreciate it.
LTC Raymond E. Willson:Thank you, Larry. I look forward to seeing you soon.
Larry Zilliox:Yeah, and for our listeners, we'll have another episode that will drop next Monday at 5 AM. If you're an early riser and you don't have anything to do other than wake up at 5 and listen to podcasts, well, there'll be one waiting for you. Thanks, Take care.
