After serving for 22 years, Lt. Col. Ralph Charlip, USAF (Ret), has a new mission of helping servicemembers land federal jobs, as well as fighting to get veterans' preference for people.

Charlip started helping servicemembers apply for federal jobs while recruiting for his organization as the director of the Veterans Affairs Health Administration Center in Denver. After moving back to Washington, D.C., he began speaking at MOAA-hosted job fairs to offer tips about applying to federal jobs, which grew into helping servicemembers and veterans with their résumés.

Now Charlip works with MOAA to provide a free service to members who want help with federal résumé writing and the application process. The Air Force veteran has counseled more than 100 MOAA members so far about federal jobs.

Applying to these jobs is a different experience than applying to jobs in the private sector. The federal application process takes longer, and the applicant might not get the job until months later. Federal job résumés can be as long as five pages, whereas résumés for private-sector jobs are encouraged to be fewer than two pages, he said.

Another of Charlip's passions is trying to get veterans' preference in federal hiring for former U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Commissioned Corps officers. Members of USPHS are sent to disaster areas and are at risk for communicable diseases, while NOAA workers fly planes and run ships in all kinds of weather, he said.

"So while they're maybe not at risk of being shot at, they're at risk of being killed," he said.

Charlip fought for the issue when he was part of a working group with the Office of Personnel Management, but it wasn't successful. He continues to help bring awareness to the issue.

"For Congress to change the law, there's going to have to be voices raised about this," he said.