From Boots to Suits

From Boots to Suits Those transitioning from military to civilian life encounter personal, financial, and emotional challenges. The moment you board a plane, get on a bus, or drive off a military installation, the feeling hits you like a ton of bricks and you realize that your military life is over and a new journey is on the horizon. Service members separating from the military face personal struggles. The day to day routine in the military life goes with you into the civilian sector as well. The military is structured in a way that has you doing something at every second of the day and it is very difficult to adjust once you have been doing it that way for a long time. The military way of life is structured from beginning to end. You know where you have to be, when you have to be there, what you will wear and what you will do every day. Unless there is an emergency, your daily routine is pretty much set. For example, in the military you wake up at 0500 to get ready for formation for accountability, then it’s PT (physical training) for 1 and a half hours. Throughout the day it is like this, so time management is at its best, so when the veteran transitions to civilian life it may or may not be easy. Many of the personal challenges former military personal expect are unanticipated. Those separating from the service endure financial difficulties. The fact that military members expect to find the “right” job or that “100,000” dollar job is just not realistic. Nearly two-thirds of new veterans say they faced a difficult transition to civilian life, partly because of the bleak economic environment but also because they seem to be speaking a different language than the business leaders who might hire them. People who spend part of their career risking their lives on behalf of the United States — most recently in the Middle East — return home only to be told their military skills don’t translate into the private sector workforce. Others say they realize