Mike Smith:
Chaplain Douglas, I’ve enjoyed having you on the program this week to talk about the opportunities in the Army National Guard for homeschool graduates. How have homeschoolers done in the National Guard so far?

Chaplain Paul Douglas:
Well, Mr. Smith, what’s occurring now, there is a pilot study that’s being conducted component-wide that’s trying to assess exactly how homeschoolers do in the military. A lot of those metrics and measurements won’t be available until 2011, so we won’t really know until then, but our experience in the Guard, by and large, has been that homeschoolers are intuitive, they have excellent teamworking skills, they have great intellectual capacity. These are the kind of people we’re looking for to be on the Guard team.

College is an option that’s available for all homeschoolers through the Army National Guard. All of our programs are designed, Mr. Smith, in such a way as to give homeschoolers access to federal tuition assistance and other great benefits, to help them get a college degree. We want to see homeschoolers succeed in the Guard. We want homeschool officers, we want homeschool soldiers. We’ve got some great enlistment options available for them, and we want homeschoolers in the Army National Guard. That’s why we created the Army National Guard Homeschool Path to Honor. On 1-800-Go-Guard, just click on the icon, it’ll take you to all the options.

Mike:
Thank you for joining us this week, Chaplain Douglas. We salute the men and women who serve and protect our country. And until next time, I’m Mike Smith.