JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Twenty-one military veterans gathered at the CSX Moncrief Yard on Tuesday for a hands-on training session in robotics and drone flight. <\/p>\n
The program, organized through a partnership between the Wounded Warrior Project and CSX, aims to help former service members build marketable technical skills to secure their financial futures.<\/p>\n
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/a><\/p>\n The event marks the continuation of a collaboration between WWP and CSX that has spanned more than five years, serving more than 200 veterans nationwide.<\/p>\n Kevin Rasch, regional director for the Wounded Warrior Project, emphasized that career training helps reduce financial strain for former service members. <\/p>\n \u201cWe know that the financial stressor of finding work is a mental stress issue that will be able to be a marketable skill or work as a drone pilot. To start opportunities for this is just something that is going to broaden your opportunity,\u201d Rasch said.<\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n Among the attendees was David Schneider, a 20-year Coast Guard veteran who completed his training and earned a drone license to launch a private business in St. Johns County. <\/p>\n \u201cBetween the two, CSX and the Wounded Warriors sponsoring this, I appreciate it because I wouldn\u2019t be able to see the different aspects and being on the way to owning my own business,\u201d Schneider said.<\/p>\n Schneider explained that commercial drone piloting also allows veterans to assist locals during emergency situations, including searches for lost pets and a recent search for a missing teenager in St. Johns County. <\/p>\n [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/a>] <\/p>\n \u201cNot only doing it for my business but also for finding animals or just the other day with the missing teen in St Johns,\u201d Schneider said.<\/p>\n Participants worked directly with high-end equipment during the demonstration, including specialized drones valued at more than $20,000. Brian Morgan, senior community investment analyst for CSX and a veteran himself, said the hands-on instruction provides meaningful career networking. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s based on saying much more than thank you to a veteran, it\u2019s getting them out there and getting them involved and networking with all this different technology,\u201d Morgan said.<\/p>\n Click here<\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here<\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here<\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/p>\n Action News Jax Top Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Twenty-one military veterans gathered at the CSX Moncrief Yard on Tuesday for a hands-on training…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":402056,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[982,159979,5889,159977,969,116,118,117,97863,159978,634,12856,116956,159976],"class_list":["post-402055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-action_news","tag-brian_morgan","tag-csx","tag-david_schneider","tag-jack","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-kajaja_hawkins","tag-kevin_rash","tag-local","tag-saint_johns_county","tag-wounded_warrior_project","tag-wounded_warriors_project"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402055"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402055\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/402056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}