It's almost as if the U.S. Army was training Nick Coddington from day one for his post-military career.

The former lieutenant colonel's 21-year military career took him all over the world, where he was doing everything from working with the United Nations, European Union and nongovernmental organizations in support of humanitarian and crisis relief operations to designing curriculum for the Iraqi Military Academy covering international relations, democracy and conflict resolution.

It makes for quite a background for a history teacher.

Coddington, now a high school history teacher at Charles Wright Academy in Tacoma, is one of the many success stories of the Troops to Teachers program.

The program helps eligible military personnel begin a new career as teachers, offering a $5,000 stipend toward teacher certification and a $5,000 bonus for teachers who fulfill the three-year commitment.

Since its creation in 1994, Washington state's Troops to Teachers program has placed more than 200 teachers in the state's public schools. Nationwide, more than 16,000 troops have transitioned to teaching through the program.

"In the military, it's your job to take care of your troops. It's the same thing in the classroom when it comes to taking care of your kids and parents," said Bob Jones, the program manager for the state of Washington and a former Army officer, teacher and school administrator.

Many of the leadership qualities learned in the military transition well to the classroom, Jones said.

In addition to commanding a strong classroom presence, Jones said many teachers coming out of the program also bring to the table a wide breadth of life experience.

"We've been overseas, we've traveled a lot," he said. "We can give a much different perspective of the world."

Coddington, a West Point graduate, has done just that in his classroom. The 48-year-old has brought in guest speakers ranging from various Medal of Honor winners to the soldier who cut the lock off the gates at Buchenwald in 1945. He also routinely borrows artifacts from the Fort Lewis Museum to incorporate into lessons.

"They let me do great things here," Coddington said of the freedom the school's administration gives him when it comes to lesson planning. "I have the perfect world here."

According to statistics, 75 percent of teachers who come from the Troops to Teachers program also stay at their school five years or longer compared to higher turnover rate with new teachers coming straight from college, Jones said.

Coddington believes the military is partially responsible for that resiliency.

"Military people bring a tough work ethic and the ability to find solution for problems," said Coddington, who is one of a select number of teacher advisors for the program. "We don't reach a burnout point. (Military members) don't give up, they find ways to make it work."

And even though Coddington himself didn't formally get into the teaching business until he was 43 years old, he felt like he'd been doing it his entire military career.

"In the Army, everybody teaches every day if you're a good officer," he said.