Army Recruits 200th Participant in Partnership for Youth Success Program

By J.D. LeipoldJanuary 30, 2007

Army Recruits 200th Participant in Partnership for Youth Success Program
(Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Jan. 30, 2007) - The Army signed on Raytheon Corporation as its 200th partner in its Partnership for Youth Success program today at the Pentagon.

Secretary of the Army Francis J. Harvey penned his signature to the formal agreement along with Keith Peden, Raytheon's senior vice president for human resources.

PaYS is a strategic partnership program between the Army and a cross-section of U.S. companies and the public sector that guarantees new Army enlistees an opportunity following their enlistments to work for one of the 127 corporations or 73 public-sector organizations presently participating in the program.

"We want to offer our Soldiers every opportunity to achieve a lifetime of success. Working with partners like Raytheon, who know the value of employing Soldiers, brings us further toward that goal," said Harvey.

"Raytheon is honored to work with the Army to transition talent from the military to industry," said Peden. "This program will help provide Raytheon with qualified professionals while providing opportunity to those who deserve it most - our military."

Developed by Army Recruiting Command in 2000, PaYS seeks to attract and train young people who want to first serve in the Army, but who also want the opportunity to secure their future success outside the Army upon completion of their military obligation.

Recruits sign a statement of understanding with a specific PaYS partner when enlisting and agree to learn technical skills required by the Army as well as by the PaYS partner. PaYS partners in turn sign memorandums of agreement which obligate them to interview Soldiers for the jobs selected and trained for when they joined the Army.

PaYS is presently only open to new active-duty and reserve-component Army recruits, but PaYS Program Manager Robert A. Qualls at ARC in Fort Knox, Ky., said plans over the next year are to open the program up to more Soldiers.

"Initially PaYS was only for regular Army recruits, but in 2002 we expanded it to the Army Reserve," Qualls said. "Next year PaYS will be available to college students who are in the Reserve Officer Training Corps. We're also working with Army G1 to offer the program to prior-service Soldiers when they enlist in the Army for another term."

Harvey summed up his fifth PaYS signing ceremony referring to PaYS as a win, win, win program.

"It's a win for our Soldiers who have the opportunity for a good job that will utilize their skills after their terms of service. It's a win certainly for the civilian organizations which are going to gain high-quality individuals with outstanding leadership and technical skills, and who are disciplined and motivated," he said. "And, of course it's a win for the Army because it helps us recruit the all-volunteer force to help defend our country."

For more information on PaYS visit <a href="http://www.armypays.com"target=_blank> www.armypays.com</a>.