I retired from the Army, after 20 years service, in January 1996. My MOS was 11BP, and I was fully aware that the skills learned during my service would not readily transition into the civilian workforce. The way I approached the transition was to first and foremost ensure that my finances were in order. I ensured that I was as close to debt free, as possible, upon retirement. (more…)

I was in the Navy for a total of  eight years and five months. My first enlistment was four years five months and I got out because of the way I was treated by my command during my divorce.

I went back in 15 months after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.  When I was back in, I had no trouble adjusting back to Navy life, I believe it actually helped me to be out for a short time. I was able to talk to the junior Sailors and let them know about life in and out of the Navy. (more…)

I’ve been in the Air Force for 10 very interesting years and landed at my third base, which isn’t in the best location considering that I’m originally from the south. (more…)

I retired in 1982, 20 years of military experience and three and a half years of college. I had no assistance so there was no transition available for members leaving service at that period in time. I was on my own. I wanted to get in government service thinking my expertise could open doors, but I ran into the “good ole boy” network and refused to accept a GS2 or GS3 job with all my skills. (more…)

I enlisted and did four years in the Marines as an MP, and got out.

I went directly to college and got a BA degree in construction management. I figured they could build everything overseas except our buildings. I worked my way up from foreman to superintendent, to estimator, to project manager, to senior project manager.

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Having served in two services — USAF and USN — for a total of a 15 year career during the Cold War was something that made me very proud. Yet, for many years I barely admitted to serving because of how others treated veterans, or for some of the foolish things people would say to me such as, “Gee! You couldn’t stick it out for five more years!” or “You are not a disabled veteran — it’s not like you went to a war and got shot!”

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I want to say to everyone that you’ll face an up hill battle when you transition, no matter what you do. 

I retired from the Army after 21 years of service. During my last two years in the Army, I tried looking for work with the government. I applied for a lot of different jobs: nuclear materials courier, post office, TSA, merchant marines, the list goes on. 

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I have seen and heard so many negative transitioning stories on here and I wanted to post something positive. 

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I retired from the Army in 1998 after serving as an enlisted Soldier and officer. The key for me was to take the skills I learned in the Army and convert them to the “real world” as many of us call it. 

I had a couple of job offers and took the one that I thought would allow me to “de-​​green” myself. The military teaches you a lot of great things that can be used in the civilian world. You just have to figure out how to re-​​package them. 

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