"It's been a great way to get real on-the-job training while learning all the ins and outs of foreign military sales," said David Hadley, a graduate student at the University of Alabama-Huntsville.
Hadley is a member of UAH's Students Working at the Army in Parallel program which allows students to work in government positions while completing their degrees. While pursing his master's of business administration, he works in foreign military sales at the AMCOM Security Assistance Management Directorate.
"At UAH the material they teach isn't out of a textbook. They relate everything to the real world and how things are done in practice," Hadley said. So when he heard about the program, he felt it would be a great opportunity to get a "foot in the door" and to apply more real-life experience to his classes.
"I always thought it would be good to work for the government," said Hadley, a Cullman native who earned his bachelor's at Athens State and will finish his master's next year. "I'd like to continue working out here on Redstone and see where it leads me."
He is among a number of SWAP participants at the Security Assistance Management Directorate.
"It's been a great program for us," SAMD director Dr. Tom Pieplow said. "It's a true win-win program because we want to make sure that they would be a good fit to work with us and they can see if it is a good fit for them by getting exposure to what they will be doing."
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