Put Your Military Skills to Work with Carpentry
United Brotherhood of Carpenters
According to Dudley Light, the National Director for the United Brotherhood of Carpenters with
the Helmets to Hardhats Program, opportunities in the carpentry trade should not be overlooked by
candidates coming out of the military due to the wide variety of job offerings and the potential
for advancement. "Typically the first people on the job site are the carpenters, and the last
people to leave the job site are the carpenters," explained Light.
Mr. Light has placed 217 candidates. According to Light, carpentry is a trade that applies to
many candidates coming out of the military because there are so many work options. "We place
millwrights, pile drivers, floor coverers, interior systems carpenters, residential carpenters,
commercial carpenters, mill-cabinet carpenters, lathers, and other skilled professionals," said
Light.
Additionally, Light explained, "The vast majority of superintendents that work for
construction managers come out of the carpentry trade, so the possibility of advancement is great."
"Many military experienced individuals don’t always see how easily their work might apply to
what they learn to do in our trade," said Light. "If they have been in the military three-to-five
years they are typically going to run across some type of construction experience. It's basically
just sitting down to think about it," he said. "Obviously, if they are in a construction battalion,
they can easily transfer their skills, but it really doesn’t matter. They have probably done
something that applies."
Light has come across many candidates who did not even realize that their experience applied
to the industry. "I talked to a gentleman out of the Navy who worked in a print shop in the Navy
for 5 years," Light said. "He printed a base newspaper everyday and there were 6 printing presses
there that they had to re-set and re-align every six months." A big part of realigning these
presses for the base newspaper was done with lasers, and it turns out that laser realignment is a
big part of one of the carpentry specific trades. A millwright does a lot of work with lasers as
well as moving and scanning equipment. "He actually had at least 2 and half years of construction
related experience, even though he printed a base newspaper," Light said.
For Helmets to Hardhats program candidates like James Faulkenburg, the correlation between
work in the military and the carpentry trade was evident. As an Army Engineer, he would go on
deployments to the Philippines and build schools, roads, airfields and plywood cities for tactical
maneuvers for the infantry. "We poured concrete for roads in the military and then you come out
here and it’s basically the same thing, a level is still a level," he said. He also loves the fact
that he gets to see the efforts of his labor immediately. "It’s really neat when you drive by
something, and you have your kids, and you can say ‘I built that.’"
Michael Pierce, who works as a millwright explained what he likes about his profession.
"Millwrights install machinery, conveyor systems, steam turbines, it’s kind of the metal side of
carpentry and it goes back to the old days when the Millwrights would actually build sugar mills
and flour mills," he explained. "When I took a buy out from my job at Ford Motor Company, I learned
that my military experience could get me into Helmets to Hardhats which gave me some previous
credit. My biggest thing is that at Ford I was considered unskilled labor because I was working on
an assembly line, and now what I do is very skilled."
For those interested, Light said it is important to search for a career on the Helmets to
Hardhats website, and specifically apply for a position that is listed for the carpenters. "The
reason that’s important is that the system generates an email which alerts me of their interest,"
he explained.
Also, he said it’s not a bad idea to brush up on your basic math skills. "Any kind of math
skills they can bone up on are really important across all the trades. You would be surprised how
many kids come out of high school that just aren’t that good at math, and having that basic
familiarity really puts you a step ahead."
Light urged candidates to take the carpentry trade into consideration, and talk to a Helmets
to Hardhats representative about how their own skills might apply. "It’s a natural fit many times,"
he said, "and you can’t beat the benefits and wages we offer."
You can contact Dudley Light for more information about career opportunities with the United Brotherhood of Carpenters at (214) 906-8322 or at jdlight@carpenters.org.
