WASHINGTON — Recent additions to the Post-9/11 GI Bill make it easier for former service members to take up new vocations. Marines and sailors who miss the sea have a little-known option: boatbuilding schools.
There are roughly 60 boatbuilding schools in the U.S. and a handful more in places like Canada, Norway and Australia. And because most of these schools offer military tuition assistance and GI bill benefits, it’s easier than at some other trade or technical schools for former service members to develop a marketable skill that could open the doors for new work.
As of Oct. 1, the Post-9/11 GI Bill covers vocational and apprenticeship training for unemployed and separating service members. That means veterans who don’t want to spend three or four years pursuing a college degree can still receive tuition aid to learn a new skill.
And they can do so quickly. At the Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding in Port Hadlock, Wash., a student can earn an associate degree of occupational studies in 12 months. The school provides programs in areas including the building of traditional large craft, contemporary wooden boats and traditional small craft programs.
Last year, 46 students received the degree from the school. Of those, Allen said seven or eight were veterans.
“Not only will our students be able to build boats,” said Laura Allen, student services administrator at the school,“but they can build high-end furniture, instruments, or go into almost any other type of craftsmanship.”
The school is unique in that it offers a traditional regional and local focus on boatbuilding, Allen said. The majority of the school’s service members are from the Marines or the Navy, but students come from every branch of the military.
“The school, and the vocation of boatbuilding in general, is such a subculture,” Allen said. “But it’s amazing how many people stumble upon our school just by finding it online or literally driving by our sign outside.”
At the Wooden Boat School, in Brooklin, Maine, students not only learn boatbuilding and woodworking, but also can dive into more than 100 courses offered at the school—classes like beach-cruising, island exploration, blacksmithing and coastal kayaking. Last year, the school enrolled more than 740 students from around the world. Students can earn a certificate of completion in short, one or two 40-hour weeks.
“The reason we have so many students is because of the short time span for our classes,” said Rich Hilsinger, director of the Wooden Boat School. “That has really worked in our favor.”
Of the 750 students enrolled last year, Hilsinger said, up to 70 of them were current or former military members.
Both Dross and Hilsinger think that the new benefits in the Post 9-11 GI Bill will cause the number of military enrollment to grow.
“Only time will tell,” Hilsinger said.