Thanks for sharing Sgt Joe LaBranche
The Cultural Isolation Affect on Military Transitions
Anyone who has ever transitoned from the military to the civilian world realizes that there is a cultural gap between the two realms which makes those initial "networking" attempts challenging when one takes off the uniform. It feels like going into the middle of a crowded party where you don't know anyone - and where there might be a slight language barrier - and trying to introduce yourself to strangers. However, there are lots of choices we can make while in uniform to increase our span of interaction with civilians and mitigate the degree to which this cultural gap in transition.
Because our military bases offer such great benefits to us, far too many military members unwittingly isolate themselves by choosing to live their entire families' existence in the comfort zone of the base. In many cases, if you live on the base, your kids go to school on the base, you do your shopping on the base, your kids play their sports and extracurriculars on the base, you go to church on the base, and you even go to your "date nights" at the E/O Club. This all seems natural, easy and cost-effective but with each week living the "Branch Davidian Compound Lifestyle" you miss out on the opportunity to meet hundreds of civilians that you would just naturally meet through school, sports, scouts, gym, church or elsewhere just going about your business. After 20-30 years of the "Compound Lifestyle", the transition becomes very challenging for the entire family because they are leaving a cocoon of support while you are struggling to network with civilians for the first time, and you know very few folks out of uniform. It exacerbates what would already be a challenging situation.