Schooling soldiers: Fayetteville Technical Community College offers a new construction trades course for local soldiers.

• Position: RESEARCH NORTH CAROLINA: FAYETTEVILLE TECHNICAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE

North Carolina's soldiers now have an opportunity to learn basic construction trades through Fayetteville Technical Community College.

The 252-hour pilot course provided the 249th Engineers Battalion of Fort Bragg with lectures and lab exercises in the technical aspects of building construction, material selection, welding, basic electrical welding, masonry and wood roof frame construction this past spring.

The success of this level-one training course has prompted consideration of a second course to be offered in the fall, says Adam Nowiski, department chair of Corporate and Continuing Education. Classes were held at the Fayetteville campus of Fayetteville Technical Community College inside the Center for Business and Industry.

"The customized training course provides soldiers with a broad range of training in different skills areas within the construction trades area," Nowiski says. "We provided training to nineteen soldiers during the spring course and look forward to continued opportunities to serve our military neighbors with specialized training to help them meet their training objectives. A second offering of the Construction Trades training program may be available as early as the fall."

> Concrete and Masonry Training Foundations

The masonry portion of the course covers all aspects of foundation building basics, including block pillars, brick and block wall construction and facades. Having had no prior experience, students are able to learn masonry construction basics. The training includes hands-on activities, class lectures and discussion on topics including mixing mortar, laying block, brick and building foundations and block pillars for structural support.

> Carpentry and Renovation

The carpentry and renovation portion provides soldiers with a general knowledge of tool and safety practices. They learn the basics of carpentry skills such as material analysis, measuring, cutting, squaring and angle cut layout for gable roof stick-built trusses.

During this course, there's a hands-on interaction involving a building project including framing, sheeting floors, wall construction, roof construction, window and door framing and mounting, drywall hanging and finishing and electrical with a focus on wiring buildings for plugs and lights. The wood framing phase focuses on wood construction techniques, building structure assessments techniques and selection of material.

> Basic Electrical Wiring

The course also provides an overview of...