In addition to the military separation assessment, you may benefit from the military separation in-depth checklist, which guides you through the transition process. To help you figure out what adjustments you need to make as a civilian in order to fit into the lifestyle of the military, USAA has created the Military Separation Assessment.
Veterans can access instant access to career-building resources, including job-building resources, increased visibility to prospective employers, career fairs, and job listings.is a portal connecting members of the military community–active duty, national guard, reserve, veterans, family members, caregivers–with the resources they need when they are making the transition to civilian life. Many programs for members of the service deliver the much-needed resources and support veterans need to navigate this challenging transition, and they help to ensure that they are able to continue their lives in a healthy manner.
The greater stress service members feel when transitioning from military service to civilian life, the greater their likelihood of using alcohol or substances It is important that veterans receive the support they need, particularly when returning home. With stress of returning to civilian life, which can be coupled with mental health issues, substance misuse is a risk for veterans at this time. Service time may also bring with it physical and mental health complications, making transitions for newly discharged veterans all the more difficult.
For those leaving the military with a physical or mental health condition, the transition may be even harder. Alcohol and other drug use can create significant difficulties in military-to-civilian transitions. Transitioning to civilian life can be an overwhelming experience for many service members. Military service can be fulfilling, but also exhausting; transitioning to civilian life can also be stressful.
Military service is a experience unlike any other, and military life is vastly different from life as a civilian in a number of ways. As you can see with all of these considerations, the transition from the military into civilian life is not as simple as it may appear. A successful transition depends on how, or even whether, the veterans military experience transfers into skills for civilian employment.
Whether an individual measures his service in years or decades, making the transition from active-duty service to civilian life presents a number of challenges. Post-service members frequently switch jobs multiple times, and may struggle with new financial obligations such as rent and healthcare coverage. Post-9/11 veterans who were married during their time in service also find it harder to adjust to life post-military.
The model predicted that a veteran who served during the post-9/11 era was 15 percentage points less likely than veterans from other eras to find it easier to adjust to life after the military (62% vs. 77%). College-educated veterans are also predicted to have somewhat easier times readjusting to life after the military compared to those who only had a high school degree. According to one study, veterans who are commissioned officers and who are graduates of a university are more likely than enlisted service members and those with only a high school degree to have a smoother adjustment to their life after the military.
Veterans who said they had a strong sense of mission during service also had less difficulty adjusting to civilian life compared with those who did not have a strong sense of their duties or assignments. At the same time, higher levels of religiosity, measured by frequent attendance at religious services, significantly increases the likelihood that a veteran of 9/11 would find it easier to readjust to civilian life. Recent veterans who attend services at least weekly are 24 percentage points more likely than those who never attend services to say it was easy for them to return to civilian life (67% vs. 43%).
In the VetAdvisor study, conducted with the Institute on Veterans and Military Families, 43% of veterans who responded had been at their first civilian job for 12 months or less; over 80% had been at their first civilian job for less than two years. Nearly 70% of veterans reported finding work as their biggest transitional issue.5 According to Tom Tarantino, the Chief Policy Advisor at Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, expectations of those leaving the military are higher than realities. According to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs (VA), about 200,000 service members leave the military each year.1 One study by Pew Research found that 27 percent reported difficulty transitioning back.2 That figure rises to 44 percent for veterans of wars served during the 10-year period after 9/11.
There are emotional challenges, too, for service members and their families, says Ingrid Bruns, USAAs Director of Personal Finance and Military Life Counseling. The more that people are educated about these challenges, the more we can help our veterans transition back to the civilian lifestyle that our veterans deserve.
Educating ourselves about the difficulties our veterans are facing as they transition is the first step in helping them. It is important that we — as friends, family, employers, and community at large — understand why things are so hard for our war veterans, and how we — as friends — can help.
When asked about things new veterans need to know for an easier transition from the military into civilian life, Adam Naryka Pressed Use your resources, lean on your communitys camaraderie. Adam Naryka, a Marine Corps Veteran and Military & Segment Strategy Leader with U.S. Bank, shares his tips and insights on making the transition from military to civilian life smoother, more successful.
Grab a seat, stay for a bit, and we will walk through everything you need to know, starting with an honest, real assessment on whether it is really time to leave the military, either. Let us get back to that, with a new degree program or a new place of employment that is chosen for when you are leaving the military. Choose your career in civilian life and be sure that you are educated and trained in what you should know when you get out of the military. The skills you gain while you are in the military are valuable to the civilian workforce, but you need some translation to understand the value of your strengths to the civilian workforce.
Transitioning from something as familiar as your military life to something new and different can be difficult, but there are things you can do to make sure that you succeed. Envision where you want to work and what you want to do when you are out of the military. Whether you served in war or peacetime, your experiences with military service–both positive and negative–have made you a different person from who you were before you went into it, and they can alter how you see things and how you interact with people.
