Who supported you while you were making the transition from military life to civilian life?

2015-10-03T09:47:12-04:00

Response by Sgt Andrew Zapf made Oct 3 at 2015 9:50 AM

2015-10-03T09:50:11-04:00

Getting out of the marines was and still is super hard to adjust. My friends and family to answer your question. The best asset I have been using is networking on this site. It's only been 4 days or so since I joined. Reaching out to other veterans and learning and sharing through personal experience is the best thing I have found to date.

Response by SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL made Oct 3 at 2015 10:20 AM

2015-10-03T10:20:20-04:00

SPC Margaret Higgins First and foremost my family and close friends. Lastly, I enjoyed the Soldier For Life agencies on my transition.
https://soldierforlife.army.mil/

Response by Capt Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 3 at 2015 10:45 AM

2015-10-03T10:45:20-04:00

I got married on May 2. Got out of active duty May 31. Nuf said.

Response by Sgt Tom Cunnally made Oct 3 at 2015 10:57 AM

2015-10-03T10:57:10-04:00

Fellow veterans at BC who were also students making the transition from military life to campus life..

Response by SCPO Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 3 at 2015 11:21 AM

2015-10-03T11:21:25-04:00

The truth.......no one. It was eleven years after I'd come home from Vietnam (Nov '71) that an old family friend noticed the small VSM pin on my suit lapel and asked what it was. When I told him, he shook my hand and said Thank You. That was the first time.

Response by LTC Stephen F. made Oct 3 at 2015 12:11 PM

2015-10-03T12:11:54-04:00

My wife and my friends supported me during the transition from military to civilian life especially my wife :-)

Response by SPC Luis Mendez made Oct 3 at 2015 3:24 PM

2015-10-03T15:24:23-04:00

Parents, family, friends, neighbors, acquaintances, and many strangers.

Response by SSgt Terry P. made Oct 3 at 2015 9:30 PM

2015-10-03T21:30:33-04:00

SPC Margaret Higgins Out of the Marines in February and started commercial diving in April.Transition was fast.Lol

Response by SGT Jerrold Pesz made Oct 3 at 2015 9:46 PM

2015-10-03T21:46:42-04:00

I supported myself. I had been saving money for a couple of years to be ready.

Response by PO2 Peter Klein made Oct 4 at 2015 5:56 PM

2015-10-04T17:56:03-04:00

That would be me. Vietnam was mot talked about. Just had to "blend in" and get a job. Went back to school.

Response by SGT Rick Ash made Oct 5 at 2015 4:08 PM

2015-10-05T16:08:16-04:00

I supported myself. I had saved quite a bit of money my last six months. I got out 28 May, 1979 and had my dream job by 9 July. June was 30 days terminal leave. We have always been rather independent.

Response by Cpl Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 5 at 2015 11:32 PM

2015-10-05T23:32:48-04:00

I supported myself. I had a job before I EAS'd and took terminal leave to begin a new career.

Response by 1stSgt Eugene Harless made Dec 14 at 2015 3:36 AM

2015-12-14T03:36:56-05:00

I was already working before my Terminal Leave ended.

Response by Capt Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 14 at 2015 8:16 AM

2015-12-14T08:16:07-05:00

I had a new family, was unemployed for 2 months then started a new job 60 miles away. We moved and went on with our life.

It was a tough time because I entered the military right after High school and had to leave after nearly 15 years of service. The military was my life experience.

Response by Maj John Bell made Apr 8 at 2016 7:20 PM

2016-04-08T19:20:05-04:00

My wife. Everyone else said I was nuts for not going 20.

Response by SGT Tomas "Huey" Husted made Aug 29 at 2018 4:58 PM

2018-08-29T16:58:51-04:00

No one. My parents made me start self-support at 13 to include all aspects from clothes to meals to work. They didn't show for my HS graduation. I was recruited straight from HS to a machine shop making aircraft engine parts, no attaboys nothing. When I joined the Army I wrote with job info about promotions. No replies. When I left the state's I drove home a '72 Firebird 2nd year under new body style. They had a barn and I asked them to store it. When I got home no car. I asked where it was I got a very nonchalant we sold it and we spent the money. I probably went 15 years with out seeing or talking to my Dad. No remorse, he offered no reasoning. Support was nonexistent. I pulled myself through my whole life.

Response by SPC Lyle Montgomery made Sep 11 at 2021 3:02 PM

2021-09-11T15:02:19-04:00

My parents were very supportive along with my faith and the Catholic church. I was in the Army for 2 years, volunteered for the draft. I live near a major air force base near Omaha. People around here were pro military and treated vets good

Response by PVT Robert Bernhardt made Sep 12 at 2021 6:20 AM

2021-09-12T06:20:21-04:00

When I got discharged in ‘68 I was a handsome 23 yr old. It is a different time now from then. So the support I got after leaving the service as an artillery surveyor came mostly from hippie women. The first to do so I call an acid Gura, a non-church going Christian magician, a strawberry blonde from Texas. She did what seemed to me to be magical things and taught me many things I now call practical magic, the ability to shift physical reality at will. Once she felt I was on my feet she moved on with our child, her rejoining with a previous lover. After her a few other hippie women offered me various kinds of succor which I indulged in as long as they were willing to offer their gifts, so to speak. What usually ended those relationships was my determination not to be someone’s beast of burden by getting a routine job for hourly wages. I had learned from the Gura that the universe provides in very practical ways, making for no need to be tied down in routine, which was something those hippie women expected me to do, be tied down to routine. Even their love making became routine. So either they left me or I left them. Most often the leaving, no matter who left who, was agreed upon, but not always. I was a romantic, so married three time before my present wife of 36 happy years now, no end in sight. She worked at Stanford in a grant project when we met. She went on to get a PhD, during which time I entered the VA system for help with a deteriorating injury received in Vietnam. I was awarded 100% disability for the injury and PTSD. We now live a simple life within our means, not working for money, serving, in our day to day motion, those we encounter who need and want served.

Response by Janeen Rosenberg made Sep 12 at 2021 5:24 PM

2021-09-12T17:24:57-04:00

Me for I started the ACAP program in 1980

Response by SPC David Buttrey made Sep 13 at 2021 8:56 PM

2021-09-13T20:56:00-04:00

Unfortunately no one. I got out and was just winging it. Took some time to pull it off.

Response by SPC John Donovan made Sep 15 at 2021 2:01 AM

2021-09-15T02:01:21-04:00

My parents. They met me at the airport when nobody else was around except protesters chanting about the problems starting in Vietnam. The friends I had graduated high school with continued with their lives, most going into college and had no idea about what was going on.