BOSTON — The U.S. Army and Ag-Pro Companies have entered a partnership agreement that gives former soldiers priority job consideration after leaving the Army.

Ag-Pro officials and Army officers met recently at Ag-Pro’s corporate office in Boston to officially sign off on the agreement.

The agreement applies to men and woman upon leaving the Army, said Kim Walden, Ag-Pro recruitment official.

The U.S. Army Partnership for Youth Success (PaYS) with Ag-Pro is designed to provided a smooth transition from the military to the private business sector for individuals from Southwest Georgia.

The PaYS Program is a strategic partnership between the Army and a cross-section of private industry, academia and state and local public institutes that guarantees soldiers five job interviews and possible employment after Army service.

The PaYS program helps soldiers prepare for a career after the Army by connecting them with employers who understand the skills, discipline and work ethic military service members bring to a business.

The recent Ag-Pro/PaYS event included the ceremonial Army swearing-in of Cairo resident Cole Phillips and Clayton Burch, a Donalsonville resident.

The young soldiers were sworn in during the summer in a ceremony where COVID-19 prohibited attendance by family members.

The virus prevented Burch’s mother, Noel Burch Stout, a Donalsonville resident, from attending the previous ceremony, but she was present for the swearing-in ceremony at Ag-Pro.

“It was very hard not to be able to be there,” Stout said, in reference to the previous swearing-in.

Senior reporter Patti Dozier can be reached at (229) 226-2400, ext. 1820