Good morning. There is a federal program that lets a company train someone for up to six months while the government keeps paying that person's wages. Most trades shops have never heard of it. It just got considerably more important.
Top story — The military is about to start pointing people at somebody's shop
On 8 September the President signed Executive Order 14426, published three days later at 91 FR 58003. Most of it is records plumbing between the Department of War and the VA. Section 3 is the part that touches your hiring.
It gives the Secretary of War, working with Labor and the VA, 180 days — to 7 March 2027 — to rebuild the Transition Assistance Program so that every service member leaving active duty is, as far as practicable, either connected to specific, open jobs before they separate, or enrolled in career and technical education, a Labor-funded training program, or a registered apprenticeship. The order points specifically at 38 U.S.C. 4215, which gives veterans priority for those training slots "over nonveterans … notwithstanding any other provision of law."
Here is the catch, and it is written into the order itself at Section 4(c): it "is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law." Nobody can be made to send you anyone. What the order actually changes is routing — and routing goes to lists that already exist.
The list that already exists is SkillBridge. Per the program's own FAQ: it covers active-duty members in their last 180 days before discharge, a placement runs up to 180 days, and — the part owners tend not to believe — "the service member remains employed by the Department of War. The service member's parent service will continue to be responsible for all pay and benefits." You supply the work and the training. You do not supply the wages. You also cannot bill the government for anything they produce (31 U.S.C. 3729, FAR 31.201-2), and they owe you no job at the end.
To get on the list you need a memorandum of understanding approved by the Office of the Under Secretary of War for Personnel & Readiness. And applications are only accepted in two windows a year: 1 October to 1 December, and 1 February to 1 April. Renewals run continuously. New providers do not. There is also a gate that is easy to miss until it stops you: the program states that completing its Employer Provider Ethics Brief is an application requirement, so that course wants doing before the window, not during it.
Quick hits
A standard clause in your offer letter can disqualify you. SkillBridge's FAQ is blunt: "Service members should not sign a non-compete agreement to participate in a SkillBridge program. Any provider that asks or requires service members to sign a non-compete agreement may jeopardize their ability to participate as a SkillBridge provider." Two other conditions worth knowing before you apply: providers must agree to take a minimum number of candidates a year, scaled to company size, and providers do their own screening and selecting — the Pentagon does not send you a shortlist.
Labor now says it will register your apprenticeship in 30 days. Under Bulletin 2026-35, the Office of Apprenticeship has committed to a registration determination within 30 days of a sponsor's final submission of signed standards through its Standards Builder tool — part of a push, under Executive Order 14278 (90 FR 17525), toward a stated goal of one million active apprentices. Worth noting honestly: the "shot clock" page built to publish the monthly proof carried the commitment and no figures at all when we read it on 13 September.
From the other direction, filed the same week. Homeland Security has proposed deleting the up-to-60-day grace period at 8 CFR 214.1(l)(2) that currently lets certain nonimmigrant workers stay in status after a job ends (RIN 1615-AD22, published 11 September). Comments close 10 November 2026. If anyone on your book is on employer-tied status, the cushion between one job and the next is what is on the table.
The Tip — Pick one lane this week, not both
Both routes are paperwork, not phone calls, and both have a clock. If you want bodies in vans sooner, SkillBridge is the lane — and the application window runs 1 October to 1 December, so the decision is now, not in the new year. If what you actually want is a bench you built yourself, register an apprenticeship instead and let the 30-day determination run while you get on with the season. Before you do either, do the two things that take an afternoon and gate everything after them: pull your standard offer letter and strike the non-compete for this group — a clause you almost never enforce is not worth the program — and get the Employer Provider Ethics Brief done, because the application will not go anywhere without it. Then put one name against it. Both of these die quietly when they belong to everyone.
Tool watch — [Not sponsored]
apprenticeship.gov's Standards Builder is free and does the boring half: it writes your program standards in the exact format the Office of Apprenticeship wants, which is the submission that starts the 30-day clock. Its Partner Finder shows who is already a registered sponsor near you. On the other side, skillbridge.mil lists currently approved opportunities and where they are — which is also the quickest way to find out whether the shop across town got there first, and it is where the ethics brief and the application both live: apprenticeship.gov · skillbridge.mil.
That's the callout. See you next time.
The Callout — the business brief for the trades. We label every commercial placement: [Sponsor], [Affiliate], or [Not sponsored]. Today's Tool watch is our own honest read — no one paid for it, and both tools are free government services. 231J Ramparts Road, Te Anau 9600, New Zealand · Unsubscribe anytime.
Sources: Executive Order 14426 — Accelerating Access to Veterans' Benefits and Employment Opportunities, 91 FR 58003 · 38 U.S.C. 4215 — Priority of service for veterans in Department of Labor job training programs · DoW SkillBridge — program FAQ · DoW SkillBridge — industry provider enrollment notice · DOL Office of Apprenticeship — Program Registration Monthly "Shot Clock" · Executive Order 14278 — Preparing Americans for High-Paying Skilled Trade Jobs of the Future, 90 FR 17525 · DHS — Eliminating the Discretionary 60-Day Grace Period, RIN 1615-AD22