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17 November 2016 // Public Intel

This post will be the first of a series that will talk about transitioning back from the military to civilian life.

Talk to most veterans and they will fondly recall their first memories of boot camp. It does not matter which military branch they were in or when they served, that first transition into the military is both terrifying but also a defining moment of purpose and pride. This moment has become so iconic that Hollywood has turned the act of going through boot camp into a trope. The movie Full Metal Jacket focused half the film on boot camp, but movies like Tigerland and Stripes used boot camp as the moment when the main character of the movie became the hero of the story. Marine Corp boot camp is one of the most defining events in my life, next to those other important events like marriage and my first deployment.

However, like all beginnings, there also has to be an ending. Transitioning from the military has never been easy, the culture is too different from standard civilian culture and the military is very good at getting you to adapt. Generally, you have to rely on your family for support, which if you have a good family or especially a military family then your transition back into civilian life can be easier. Friends are another support method, and again only if you have friends who are a good influence and especially if they are veterans themselves.

There are programs for returning veterans, some hosted by the government like the VA or Department of Defense (DOD), or others hosted by organizations like the VFW or American Legion that can be helpful, but depending on location and work schedule they can be either limited or next to useless for returning veterans. One attempt is the National Resource Directory, which is a place where veterans can go to find resources to help them with transition issues like locating housing or employment.

One program that my family has used is military onesource. What this program offers is a simple telephone number for either the military member or dependent to call. While I was on deployment, my wife needed to have a tree trimmed in the alleyway of our backyard. Not a major issue but she did not know whom to call so she called military onesource and they provided her the contact information for a local tree trimming service. The DOD provides this program but the VA does not have a similar program.

There are many reasons why over 20 veterans take their lives every day, but a failure to transition back from the military into civilian life has to rate high among the reasons. The same amount of effort needs to be used into transitioning veterans back from the military as was spent on them in the first place.

In the next post, we are going to look at a couple TED talks I found that I think will shed some light on this problem.

-Public Intel