Harford Co. Sheriff's Office Guarantees An Interview To Any Soldier
BEL AIR, Md. (WJZ) -- Over the years the US Army has spent millions getting people to know their 'Be all you can be" slogan.
Now the Sheriff in Harford County is helping to make that slogan into a reality by agreeing to interview soldiers interested in working for the sheriff's department once they leave the Army.
The Army is successful in turning civilians into soldiers by promising to help them find a civilian job once they hang up their fatigues.
Of course this being the military, they have an acronym for the program, It's called PAYS for Partnership for Youth Success.
"The U.S. Army PAYS program guarantees soldiers and ROTC cadets two job interviews and possible employment after the US Army," said Captain John Raynor with the US Army Recruiting Command in Baltimore.
The Harford County Sheriff is like a lot of law enforcement leaders in that he's having trouble finding good employees to fill the ranks of his 600 employee department.
"Since I became sheriff in 2014, we've yet to have an academy class in law enforcement or corrections where we have been able to fill all of our vacancies," Sheriff Jeffrey Gahler said.
Gahler met with Lt. Colonel Amanda Iden, who in in charge of US Army recruitment in the Baltimore area, this week.
At a conference table at the Harford County Sheriff's Department's Southern District the two sat down and signed an agreement.
He guaranteed a job interview to soldiers who signed up for the PAYS program and are interested in joining his department.
"There are some decisions I face as sheriff that are challenging and some that are no-brainers, I put this one certainly in the no-brainer category," he said. "What an easy decision to make."
Hundreds of thousands of soldiers have signed up for the PAYS and there are dozens of companies in Maryland part of the program.
Employers like the former soldiers because they've spent years training for their Army jobs, which means that practically any one who applies for a civilian job is highly trainable, or as Lt. Colonel Iden put it, "We want to return a skilled labor force to our communities."
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