By Benjamin Horvath – Inside Towers Special Correspondent
There are several transferrable skills that service members can take from their military experience and bring into the civilian workforce. Warriors4Wireless is one organization that does just that—trains disciplined military veterans with the requisite skills they need for careers in the telecom industry.
“We’re hardworking, we know what has to get done and we’ll do it with a certain amount of discipline and won’t stop until the job is complete,” said Michael Praet, a recent graduate of the Warriors 4 Wireless training program.
Praet is an example of a service member whose skills are tailored to a career in wireless. He has served in the Army for eight years working in the Signal Corps, the group responsible with managing communication systems and information flow from command to battalion.
“I enjoy working with radios and antennas,” Praet said, talking about his work in the Army. “I was trying to find something in the civilian sector that’s similar to my job now.”
As a future tower technician, Praet said there are many parallels between his work in the Signal Corps and his future profession.
“Making cables, working long hours, troubleshooting radios, antennas and connections that will all be similar,” Praet said.
After he completes his eighth and final year of military service—which has included a tour of Iraq and Afghanistan—Praet will move on to the world of telecom. In preparation for his entrance into the civilian world, Praet finished the W4W training program earlier this month and has a job offer with MasTec awaiting once he is discharged.
In order to complete the W4W training, Praet received permission to temporarily leave Germany, where he is currently stationed, and stay for two weeks at the W4W training facility in Carrollton, Texas. Praet said he enjoyed the training program and was surprised by the large amount of information that was thrown at trainees in the relatively short training period.
“The program was very fun and knowledgeable,” Praet said. “There was a lot more stuff in it than I expected, but I’m happy that I learned a lot of the technical side of things as well as safety.”
Praet said he wants to further his education in the telecom industry and earn a degree in RF technology sometime in the future. Pending the approval of a work release, Praet will begin his job as a tower technician with MasTec at one of the company’s North Carolina offices.
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