What are the top 5 challenges veterans face when transitioning out of the military?

Nick Petros — Thu, 02 Jun 2016 16:01:23 -0400

This will help us with a few projects at RP. I appreciate your input in advance!

Response by TSgt Craig Crews made Jun 2 at 2016 4:07 PM

TSgt Craig Crews — Thu, 02 Jun 2016 16:07:36 -0400

1. Translating their Military job to a desired Civilian job.
2. Negotiating a decent salary and leave.
3. Having a list of good contacts for mentoring and help in their transition
4. Adjusting to working in a Civilian environment if they get a job outside the Defense arena
5. Figuring out where to live in relationship to the Job market in their new environment

Response by SSG Pete Fleming made Jun 2 at 2016 4:08 PM

SSG Pete Fleming — Thu, 02 Jun 2016 16:08:28 -0400

The cultural shock. the lack of support. the lack of being able to relate or being related to. the freedom. the isolation.

Response by CPT Joseph K Murdock made Jun 2 at 2016 4:17 PM

CPT Joseph K Murdock — Thu, 02 Jun 2016 16:17:41 -0400

My guesses are: Money, jobs, adequate medical care, depression, risk to the family disintegrating.

Response by LTC Kevin B. made Jun 2 at 2016 4:22 PM

LTC Kevin B. — Thu, 02 Jun 2016 16:22:19 -0400

My biggest challenge was fighting through the military stereotypes.

Response by COL John McClellan made Jun 2 at 2016 4:46 PM

COL John McClellan — Thu, 02 Jun 2016 16:46:39 -0400

I'll take a shot at this one: civilian culture shock; job hunt / new employment; health care / VA; new friends / relationships; and maybe re-establishing meaning or purpose in life - comparable to the "mission" of serving everyday in the military...

Response by SGT Joshua Strup made Jun 2 at 2016 6:14 PM

SGT Joshua Strup — Thu, 02 Jun 2016 18:14:24 -0400

1. The loss of brotherhood
2. Dealing with the VA
3. Civilian stereotypes of the military
4. Finding an employer that recognizes skills learned in the military
5. Did I mention the VA?

Response by MSG Pat Colby made Jun 2 at 2016 6:59 PM

MSG Pat Colby — Thu, 02 Jun 2016 18:59:24 -0400

1. Deciding all by yourself if today is a "Shave Day" or not.
2. Leaving your hat on when entering a building.
3. Putting your hands in your pockets.
4. Not having to search someones uniform to figure out if you have to salute.
5. Walking to someone's Left and mysteriously NOT spontaneously combusting.
6. Completely dismissing requested numbers and adding one more thing just because you can get away with it.

Response by COL Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 2 at 2016 7:41 PM

COL Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 02 Jun 2016 19:41:38 -0400

1. Finances. This is usually a 'culture shock' moment. Most rarely earn an equivalent pay after leaving military service. Equivalent includes pay capable of matching base pay, separate rations (food), uniform allowance, housing allowance and all the other forms of compensation (real cash and reduced costs).
2. Employment. Many never get a job as interesting, challenging, demanding, and as rewarding as their military assignments. As a result, it is tough to find the same level of excitement or reward in a post-military job.
3. Marriage/family (see 1 and 2 above). Families transition, not just service members. The same stresses felt by the service member are often magnified by spouse and children. They have to move as well, find new jobs, new schools, new friends, etc. When we add challenges 1 and 2 to the mix, it can ruin many a relationship.
4. Health (mental and physical). Most forget to maintain themselves after they leave the military and begin to feel the effects of serving in uniform. When we add the challenges of 1 thru 4, the mental and physical stress can result in ill health and/or depression, which can persuade one to contemplate suicide.
5. Connectedness to others. The military is a team/family organization. However, most find post-military life to be individual focused and disconnected. Social connections, normal within a unit and distaff are tougher to find, create and maintain.

Response by SPC Luther Guise made Jun 2 at 2016 7:47 PM

SPC Luther Guise — Thu, 02 Jun 2016 19:47:50 -0400

Not to over work the obstacle... Civilians are lazy and aren't used to the army ant

Response by SSG Jeff Beltran made Jun 2 at 2016 7:51 PM

SSG Jeff Beltran — Thu, 02 Jun 2016 19:51:13 -0400

The 5 Challenges that we have faced since retiring have been the following:
(1) Waiting for the final Service Related Disability results from the VA, which we got.
(2) Deciding on continuing my education in the future.
(3) Deciding on a part-time job vs enjoying my retirement.
(4) Making our decision to relocate closer to our kids. (Still in debate) Pros/Cons
(5) Praying for more wisdom in our next chapter of our lives and being blessed with plenty of good options. With these options come a few challenges and changes to our lifestyle.

Response by MSgt John McGowan made Jun 2 at 2016 8:10 PM

MSgt John McGowan — Thu, 02 Jun 2016 20:10:15 -0400

Nick. First some walk away and don't look back. One challenge is there is all of a sudden a complete change in life style. And the civilian world is so disorganized which is a shock. Family gathering I all way felt out of place. Another if you move away you lose about all your friends. A lot on anyone's plate.

Response by 1LT Tom Welch made Jun 2 at 2016 8:57 PM

1LT Tom Welch — Thu, 02 Jun 2016 20:57:24 -0400

for me it was
1 finding a job that paid as close to what i was getting when adding pay and benefits together
2 finding meaningful employment, i have had about 25 different jobs due to this one factor, now im self employed and making more that anybody i worked for, ever.
3 adjusting to the lazy civilian work force
4 never receiving credit for any suggestions that resulted in real improvements to the job
5 being lied to about various things along the way by employers

Response by PO2 Kevin LaCroix made Jun 2 at 2016 10:00 PM

PO2 Kevin LaCroix — Thu, 02 Jun 2016 22:00:28 -0400

I have been out for a while but here were my 5.
1. Getting an employer to value my skills.
2. Trying to associate with people that have know clue about what you really did.
3. Loss of unit comraderie.
4. Trying to maintain focus without a goal/objective.
5. Civilians.

Response by TSgt Jim Gregg made Jun 2 at 2016 10:24 PM

TSgt Jim Gregg — Thu, 02 Jun 2016 22:24:22 -0400

1. Understanding that experience is not equal to a college degree.
2. Supervisors and Managers look at the bottom line before personnel.
3. Acronyms need to be spelled out and translated for civilians.
4. Get a college degree, today's AA is equal to yesterday's HS diploma.
5. Join all veterans organizations as possible, they are good for networking.

Response by SCPO Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 2 at 2016 11:22 PM

SCPO Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 02 Jun 2016 23:22:45 -0400

My answer would be that anyone who transitions from military to civilian life and has not been paying attention for how many ever years or who has not been "greasing the slide," may be in for surprises that were completely unavoidable. Most of the "transitioning" is mental. Changes jobs or careers in the civilian world are just as abrupt, if there was no preparation for the swap.

Response by Col Rebecca Lorraine made Jun 2 at 2016 11:46 PM

Col Rebecca Lorraine — Thu, 02 Jun 2016 23:46:13 -0400

1. VA - making time for the appointments they schedule especially if you are medically retired with pretty serious health problems. I think you find one day someone has you and the next you are really alone. You may have no local support system. I would make sure you are around family and friends.
2. Long before you get out prepare. Research and question everything.
3. Plan your finances and know the minimum you need to make. Don't move your family till you find a job and be willing to go where the work is if possible.
4. Take care of yourself. Try to stay in a routine, work out, eat well, while you are job hunting don't sleep in too much.
5. Let go of anger, it is part of life to move on and takes courage to change careers.

Response by Capt Brandon Charters made Jun 3 at 2016 1:46 AM

Capt Brandon Charters — Fri, 03 Jun 2016 01:46:27 -0400

Finding a mentor within a civilian organization is a big challenge. Veterans will be able to relate to our career path the best, but you can't always find a veteran mentor in every company.

Response by SGT Alexander Hildenbrandt made Jun 3 at 2016 5:18 PM

SGT Alexander Hildenbrandt — Fri, 03 Jun 2016 17:18:44 -0400

1.) Savings - Social norms in the military lead to living outside the bounds of what would be considered responsible spending for most soldiers. This leads to bad habits and ultimately leaves most troops without a good sense of finances when they are ready to leave. This is not rank dependent although officers are the only ones who typically receive financial training. That also does not mean they listen.
2.) Confidence - There is a genuine lack of confidence in ones own abilities to survive on the outside and this only worsens with length of service. This trickles down into unknowns like resume knowledge or experience conversion but ultimately the military does nothing to build confidence in a soldier. They are often torn down by command or the ostracizing from the unit occurs when they start the migration out of service. Congratulations are given and ceremonies are held but that is only a single day. Its what follows that creates #3.
3.) Fear - If you said your not scared about getting out your lying or stupid. I have met both of these kinds of people and they exist. Fear of the unknown and not having an organization to take care of you. Even if you are running away from the Military at full speed there will always be a gut reaction to the unknown. What fear does is incapacitates you from making calculated decisions and also may keep you from taking the right path. if you look at the risks involved in joining the military and compared it to some of the riskiest jobs in the civilian world, nothing compares but you take a senior non commissioned officer or an officer who has served some years and ask them to interview for a start up company or ask if they ar going to own a business and they are only driven by fear because they dont know facts. The number one problem and reason why most soldiers fail is fear. Hands down.
4.) Direction with purpose & knowledge of outcome - You don't know what you don't know. Someone said it just don't know who. Military personnel don't have a dynamic view of what they are capable of what is available or how needed one skill may be over another because the military does not teach that. They have been in in a narrow mindset for so long that once the fog is lifted the vast ocean of options or perceived options is scary and leads to misdirection and failure or just not success. Often times soldiers will make incredibly short term decisions because they need to maintain what they have. Officers & senior NCO's are notorious for this problem. This leads to satisfaction in mediocrity and ultimately depression. By that most look back on their days in the military being the best years of their lives and not forwards. They feel like their life has ended and this can be the case for years. Some wonder why veteran suicide is so high. Its complicated. The only advice I can give is try to make the years after the military beat the years in the military in both adventure and outcome. Succeed in goals you dream of by working to achieve them every day. Sounds corny or eccentric but have you ever met a millionaire who hasn't had his or her quirks? LOL! The guy on TV a bit ago who lived on a meager budget in Thailand did it to travel and made money off of a blog he wrote on how to live in Thailand on $100 a month or something. Did what he wanted and Didn't have money. One of my acquaintances learned e marketing from you tube and made 10 million in second year and he was living off food-stamps and government housing after the military. Didn't have anything but a will to change and do something. Now he councils executives of major companies.
5.) Mindset conversion - A soldier has the mindset of using what he has to make a mission happen. That must change and it is hard. It doesn't happen over night and presents challenges in both daily life and professional career or business. This is the one thing that cannot be explained or can be explained but not understood unless you yourself have been their. Kind of like PTSD or Migraines. unless you have it you don't understand fully so you are not really equipped to help with the situation properly. Go from "Shootem in the face! Shootem in the face! Killem!" to Make my boss money so I can fulfill my responsibilities to family and maybe have some vacation time. This is a generalization because veterans who succeed in business don't have many problems except for the government trying to crush them. Then we revert back the the prior chant! LOL!

Have a great weekend!

Response by CPT David Gowel made Jun 3 at 2016 11:40 PM

CPT David Gowel — Fri, 03 Jun 2016 23:40:15 -0400

1. Learning to network effectively to find mentors.
2. Figuring out which mentor(s) to trust in helping them make their civilian career choices.
3. Deciding which career options to pursue and interview to achieve.
4. Practicing for interviews by rehearsing how to answer questions using a civilian professional vocabulary.
5. Negotiating compensation initially and then ongoing after they get a job.

Response by PO1 Glenn Colby made Jun 4 at 2016 12:51 AM

PO1 Glenn Colby — Sat, 04 Jun 2016 00:51:17 -0400

1. Only one check comes a month and it's not what it used to be.
2. Military friends move on without you.
3. Maintaining sanity when you become the stay at home parent with a toddler.
4. Learning your first name again.
5. Dealing with being the 38 and older college freshman in a class with a bunch of 18 year old entitled teenagers.

Response by MAJ Michael Pauling made Jun 4 at 2016 9:53 AM

MAJ Michael Pauling — Sat, 04 Jun 2016 09:53:29 -0400

1. Debt:Asset Ratio, lower debt means you have less pressure and more time to find a good fit in Civilian Employment.
2. A financial safety net that will ensure you will not fall down too hard when the active paycheck stops
3. Realistic expectations of employability need to be focused on Civilian Lens not military focus.
4. Don't take rejection of employment too hard as it will happen more than you would believe it would to you.
5. If offered a job not ideal but doable think about taking it to get your foot in the door. The challenge is that you may not be as important as you think you are in Civilian WOrld so humble pie is best when you swallow it and keep it down.

Response by SSG Jeff Beltran made Jun 25 at 2016 1:10 PM

SSG Jeff Beltran — Sat, 25 Jun 2016 13:10:01 -0400

(1) The stressor's of going back to school and looking for employment as a back up plan, while waiting for the VA Disability results.
(2) Getting into a new routine working on home projects and enjoying retirement.
(3) We are now blessed with 100% VA Service Connected Disability and do not have to worry about working or going back to school.
(4) Future decision on relocating, we decided to stay where we are at and purchase an RV in the future and do more traveling.
(5) We alleviated most of our challenges by saving, before we retired and waited for the end results of our VA Benefits and Retirement to kick in.