Retirees, Veterans: how did you feel when you were first discharged from your branch of the military.

The first time I got because of a problem pregnancy....but being on bed rest just about killed me....I wanted to get up and do something, ANYTHING! The second time around, I had married another soldier one week before getting out, so I just slid from Soldier to Spouse. I took to helping the troops and families by becoming President of the Family Support Group and teaching Army Family Team building. That kept my mind off of things for while.

I spent the last several years of my time in knowing that I was not going to re-enlist and spent my last two months on terminal leave, so other then feeling a lot less stressed, I don't feel that much different. However, until recently I kept having recurring dreams about somehow being back on a ship or at a base and being told I'm missing watch.

Now that I'm actually starting to have success at finding employment, that anxiety is going away.

Having been a military instructor for a major portion of the last five years until retirement where every hour of my day was accounted for on a training schedule, I was relieved not to have to be tied to any time requirements, most especially an alarm clock.

I felt like I didn't belong in the civilians world.

I was transferred from active to reserve status in order to return to Boston College. But my transition from the Marine Corps life back to campus life was made easy with the help of my classmates who were also former Marines. We called ourselves "The BC Jarheads" & helped each other with college life, i.e don't salute the ROTC Cadets, don't call the Jesuits "Sir"..& don't jump to attention when your name is called in class and say "Sir, Yes Sir"...

SPC Margaret Higgins
Like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKSNpPQlJs8

I "transitioned" twice, officially anyway. The first time was in 2004 when the IRAD occurred...that one stunk. We had just come off a nine month deployment and six months in the yards, scheduled to ship out on another deployment as soon as we completed certs. At that time, I had NO long term plans outside of the military, no real savings, and a very unrealistic idea of what I'd be facing in civil life. Within a couple months, I was literally "digging ditches" and working on a construction crew during the middle of winter. I stated SELRES and manged to convince a Two Star to help me find a path back in...that led to a couple years of working with the Army with a "promise" of getting back into the Fleet on the other end. When that didn't pan out, I spent another few years with the Reserves trying to get back on AD, but ultimately took my DD214 and went for "Civilian Life Part II" which was still a back-breaking road, but in the end, worked out alright enough.

When protesting at a street corner against the endless wars. I was heckled. Wrong, our soldiers do not fight for Our Rights and Freedoms. Our Rights and Freedoms are fought for and won by those daring to exercise them - suffrage, the right to eat at the lunch counter, ride at the front of the bus, to marry, carry a gun. Soldiers are endentured servants of the government, their muscle. And the government does the bidding of those who finance their election - corporations. Now after exercising your Rights do you feel proud, justified, or ashamed and alone.

I was happy. I had misplaced my Monday socks so I was worried about being out of uniform. It all worked out though.

Lost, although I was happy to retire, it was very difficult to adjust.