PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING
December 2016
915
SECTOR
INSIGHT:
.
mil
E
ducation
and
P
rofessional
D
evelopment
in
the
G
eospatial
I
nformation
S
cience
and
T
echnology
C
ommunity
T
here are many initiatives that focus on job place-
ment for military veterans. Skills such as pro-
fessionalism, leadership, management, planning,
and oral presentations are a few of the reoccurring
strengths identified in military service members. Even so,
many of these initiatives require additional schooling or job
training as members transition to civilian life. Often we hear
that the skills the military provides are highly sought after in
the civilian sector. So, is the Photogrammetry and Remote
Sensing community leveraging the skills and experiences of
military veterans?
Military service members have a unique set of skills that
are developed starting day one of their military training.
Discipline, work ethic, respect, integrity, and professional-
ism are traits that all services seek to instill in their service
members. Moreover, many of these service members go into
specialty fields that add to their technical skill set. Skills
ranging from information technology, topographic engineer-
ing, imagery analysis, space operations, and satellite commu-
nications are just a few specialty areas that seem to directly
apply to our field or would certainly be a good background
for a secondary career in our community. Service members,
who are not trained with such an obvious specialty expertise
within the realm of remote sensing or photogrammetry, often
have a security clearance and an understanding of the intel-
ligence and defense community’s needs that can be leveraged
as team members of a group.
So, what do these transitioning service men and women need
to become more marketable within our field? Do they need a
specific education background? Would internship opportuni-
ties make them more marketable or employable?
As a professor at the United States Military Academy at
West Point teaching in the Geospatial Information Sciences
(GIS) program, I have a unique perspective. The program is
United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation (US-GIF)
certified and is a recognized center of excellence by the Na-
tional Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA). The GIS spe-
cific courses offered to our undergraduate cadets includes:
Geospatial Information Systems, Advanced Geospatial In-
formation Systems, Cartography, Remote Sensing, Advanced
By
William Wright
Is the Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing Community Leveraging the Experience of
Military Veterans?
Remote Sensing, Photogrammetry, Surveying, and Military
Geospatial Operations. Additionally, cadets take many oth-
er courses rounding out their education including courses in
human, physical, and military geography. The GIS program
graduates approximately 20 cadets each year and each grad-
uate has a service obligation of 5 years in the Army upon
graduation.
The GIS educational background provides specific skills that
many of our graduates will use in their careers. In fact, when
asked, the relevance of the major to their career is one of the
key motivations in selecting GIS as their major. Upon grad-
uation, our graduates have a top-notch degree from a highly
respected college and years of experience conducting analysis
of both the physical and cultural aspects within a specific re-
gion and are particularly adept at incorporating data from
numerous different sensors into their analysis. These mili-
tary officers have demonstrated excellence at solving spatial
problems, as well as, knowing the capabilities of GIS. In a
few cases, our officers serve in specialty fields such as engi-
neers, military intelligence, or space operations that continue
to develop their expertise within our discipline. Surprisingly,
many of these officers who enter the transition window, who
opt to exit military service, do not pursue a job within the
geospatial information science community.
There are many ways in which we could grow the number
of veterans that decide to pursue a career in our field after
their service. First, colleges that provide educational op-
portunities should establish a footprint at military base ed-
ucation centers. Colleges could provide undergraduate or/
and graduate level courses as well as certificate programs.
Also, colleges could advertise at these education centers by
providing literature about online programs. Secondly, geo-
spatial programs at universities and colleges should consider
recruiting academic majors from Reserve Officer Training
Corps (ROTC) programs (where they exist) if they are not
Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing
Vol. 82, No. 12, December 2016, pp. 915–916.
0099-1112/16/915–916
© 2016 American Society for Photogrammetry
and Remote Sensing
doi: 10.14358/PERS.82.12.916
