Veterans Day is about honor, thanks, and recognition of all Veterans and their families. What better way is there to give thanks than to give them the skills and resources needed to help acclimate them back into civilian life?

There are many programs worldwide that are designed to do just that. Salesforce launched VetForce in 2014 to prepare veterans for a civilian career in IT, consulting, or sales. We recognize the skills, experience, and aptitude they've gained as a service member, and work closely with them to teach business skills and Salesforce training in an effort to fully prepare them for the civilian workforce.

Over the next five years, more than a million service members will leave active duty service, and Salesforce wants to help these men and women gain the skills necessary to launch cloud computing careers. Providing a structured, self-paced learning journey, participants receive free online and in-person Salesforce training, the opportunity to collaborate with a community of veterans—all while working towards achieving a Salesforce certification and getting connected to employment opportunities in our ecosystem of more than 1,200 Salesforce customers and partners.

As part of the Joining Forces initiative, Salesforce is one of more than 50 technology companies that have collectively pledged to train 60,000 and hire more than 11,000 veterans and military spouses by 2021.

Becoming Salesforce trained and certified can really help ease the path to a non-military career. But don't just take our word for it. Read for yourself how Salesforce has transformed life for these veterans and their families: 

TJ McElroy - I Was the First Totally Blind U.S. Veteran to Become Salesforce Certified 

Mark Lewis - From Royal Navy to Salesforce Certified Instructor

Military spouse Becka Miller - My Journey from School Secretary to Salesforce Consultant and Houston Pardot User Group Leader

More great stories can be found on the VetForce Community. 

Interested? Or know someone who would be? Here's what you need to know about how the VetForce program works:

1. Military service members, veterans, and spouses can sign up at veterans.force.com and their status will then be verified.
2. VetForce members can pick from one of four Salesforce learning journeys (Administrator, Developer, Analyst, or Sales).
3. Learners complete Trailhead trails to gain fundamental knowledge.
4. After required trails are completed, members are given an open seat in a classroom, virtual or in-person, to take the Salesforce University class that corresponds to their learning journey.
5. After successful class completion, VetForce members are given one voucher for their certification exam.
6. Once certified, the VetForce team then helps connects members to employers in the Salesforce ecosystem.

Follow us on Twitter (@Vetforce and @SalesforceU) and join us at veterans.force.com to learn more. If you're interested in hiring Salesforce-certified military talent, please send information about your open Admin, Developer, or Analyst positions to vetforce@salesforce.