Career Intermission Pilot Program offers Soldiers a break

Staff Sgt. Jessica Cotton had a tough choice to make. Should she reenlist in the Army or hang up her uniform and go be a lawyer?

But the drill sergeant on Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, who has been in the Army for eight years, didn't have to choose between the Army or law school. She chose both with help from the Career Intermission Pilot Program.

The program allows up to 20 enlisted Soldiers and 20 officers each year to take a break from service for up to three years, said Albert S. Eggerton, with the Career Intermission Pilot Program, G-1. During that time, they will be in the Individual Ready Reserve, or IRR.

The program is designed for "our best people who have a future in the Army and have future career success on the horizon but are facing challenges in their own personal life or in their professional development lives that the Army can't meet," Eggerton said.

The program allows the Army to retain service members who otherwise might have left, he said. The program is selective, Eggerton said, noting the Army is looking for enlisted members and officers who have the greatest need for this benefit.

 http://www.army.mil/article/152125/Career_Intermission_Pilot_Program_offers_Soldiers_a_break/