More than 400 Sailors stationed at Naval Station Mayport attended briefings on the benefits of Navy Credentialing Opportunities On-Line (COOL), Feb. 8-9.

Navy COOL provides active-duty and Reserve Sailors -- whether forward deployed, underway, or ashore -- a way to map their Navy education, training, experience, and competencies to civilian credentials and occupations. The Mayport visit was the first stop on their tour of major fleet concentration areas to educate Sailors about the program.

"The credentials offered through Navy COOL provide an opportunity for our Sailors to make themselves more marketable in the civilian world," said Naval Station Mayport Command Master Chief Bill Houlihan. "It's our responsibility to make sure that the Sailors who choose to transition out of the Navy have the best opportunity to succeed as civilians. I believe COOL goes a long way towards doing that."

The brief included a tour of the Navy COOL website, and explained the voucher submission process and credentialing eligibility requirements.

"I ended up looking at the app on my phone while I was there because I just had to see what programs were available to my rating," said Master-at-Arms 2nd Class Kevin Aycox. "The brief was quick and informative, and I feel like I'm much more educated about Navy COOL. I'm looking forward to sharing all of this knowledge with my junior Sailors so that they can take advantage of this opportunity."

Chief Navy Counselor Daniela Pradon, Naval Station Mayport's command career counselor, said she appreciated the large turnout for the event and hopes more Sailors will start to see the benefits of Navy COOL's services.

"There are so many different certifications that are being underused," said Pradon. "Their website and mobile app are both so easy to navigate, and the process for applying for credential funding is also very easy. Sailors should know that earning these credentials makes you a more competitive Sailor, and I appreciate the Navy COOL team coming out to show these Sailors how much this program can do for them."

With 1,875 funded credentialing opportunities available, every enlisted Sailor has at least one credential he or she can earn. More than 1,500 credentialing opportunities are mapped to officer designators.

The schedule for upcoming COOL brief opportunities is available at http://www.cool.navy.mil/usn/news/briefs.htm.

For more information on Navy COOL, visit https://www.cool.navy.mil/usn or contact a Navy COOL representative at navycool@navy.mil or (850) 452-6683.

For more information, visit www.navy.mil, www.facebook.com/usnavy, or www.twitter.com/usnavy.

For more news from Center for Information Warfare Training, visit http://www.navy.mil/.