Stories

Rachel Treweeke always wanted an overseas assignment while serving in the U.S. Army. After graduating from the United States Military Academy, she served as a combat engineer, spending most of her military career in Missouri, Texas, and Georgia. In 2023, Captain Treweeke started thinking about what she would do after she finished her military service. Following common career transition advice, she scrolled through LinkedIn to get ideas of what jobs were out there. She came across a post by Will Hierholzer, a KBR Skillbridge recruiter who had also served in the military before coming to work at KBR. 

SkillBridge is a military career transition program to help retired or separated service members find civilian employment. The program allows soldiers, airmen, sailors, Marines, and guardians to sign up for corporate internships six months before they leave the service. During that time, the service member receives their base pay and housing allowance, which provides a risk-free way to try out a new career while transitioning from active duty. The program also helps companies match up with service members to fill key positions on mission-critical projects around the globe. 

“We typically look for SkillBridge candidates who are a 70% match with the job skills required for the position,” said Will Hierholzer, KBR SkillBridge recruiter. “Most SkillBridge internships last 3-4 months when you factor in terminal leave for service members. We’ve found that we can get most candidates to 100% skill matches with key positions by the time they finish their internships. That often allows KBR to offer full-time positions to service members as they finish the program.” 

Treweeke applied for KBR’s SkillBridge internship and started working for KBR’s Readiness & Sustainment (R&S) business unit. She did a few rotational assignments during the internship to get a broad view of what KBR does and how the company operates. Still, she spent most of her internship supporting engineering work within R&S. She finished her internship at one of KBR’s programs supporting the U.S. Air Force in Türkiye.   

“I had the opportunity to work alongside Michael Scott, KBR’s lead engineer in Türkiye,” said Treweeke. “Throughout the internship, I worked closely with Jenny Moreno, who manages engineering for R&S. I enjoyed the exposure to design and engineering work across different projects and felt at home on a military installation. And, of course, I enjoyed the travel opportunities in Türkiye.” 

“We were initially impressed with Rachel’s skill at seeking out challenges and quickly turning around engineered solutions,” said Michael Scott, who offered her a full-time position at the end of her internship in July 2024. “Her work ethic and transformational leadership style made Rachel an ideal SkillBridge hire.”

Jenny Moreno added, “Rachel’s qualifications are exceptional; her engineering education combined with her military experience is a perfect fit for KBR R&S. During the internship, Rachel demonstrated she is a highly motivated individual eager to acquire new knowledge and skills. All these traits combined are hard to find! I anticipate a great career for her at KBR.”

To learn more about KBR’s SkillBridge program and other opportunities with KBR, visit careers.kbr.com/us/military.