Integra Realty Resources can celebrateVeterans Day with a little extra gusto (if it can get thefloats and marching bands through the cubicles). San Francisco director Michelle van de Pol recently hired army veteran Steve Soder as an analyst through the VA's On-the-Job and Apprenticeship Training program. She tells us it's an ideal fit for the CRE industry. Steve, who got his degree after serving in Iraq, wasn't sure what field he wanted to work in, and Michelle took notice of his broad skill set and a maturity that you don't often get out of fresh college grads: "He's not afraid of interaction and figuring out things on your own." In fact, he figured out the GI Bill would pay for the numerous courses necessary to become alicensed real estate appraiser.

Michelle, with son Liam, tells us licensingrequires 200hours of course work covering basic appraisal principles and procedures, ethics and guidelines, income capitalization, highest and best use analysis, stats and valuation modeling, to name just a few, along with 2,500documented hours of experience. Classes can be costly, and shehas funding forjust one class per year, so it generally takes trainees five years to be licensed. Steve's GI Bill benefits allowed him to take a greater number of classes, while garnering real-world experience working in the IRR office. Michelle's office covers the nine-county Bay Area.

Sequestration means government spending cuts, notspending cats? Probably shouldn't have invested in that catnip factory. Julie@bisnow.com.