I was recalled to active duty in June of 2005 to deploy to Iraq.  At the time as an account manager in San Diego, where I was given a nice send off, and an assurance that my job would be there when I returned.

However, when I returned from Iraq in the spring of 2006 after seeing combat all over the Syrian border, I was given my DD-214 the Semper Fi and the boot in the backside. I didn’t get my job back, they tossed me the proverbial bone and said I could work in sales and make the same salary as before in commissions. I politely told them to F-Off and resigned, my mistake.

I couldn’t find work anywhere in San Diego, and living in my mom’s house got old real quick. I ended up moving to Phoenix and I applied everywhere and  was denied because of my experiences in war.

I even applied for law enforcement positions. I was told by the recruiter  to wait a year before applying to allow myself to decompress, and that I go to the VA.

So off to the VA I went to start the necessary paperwork to clear myself, but was quickly diagnosed with PTSD and other combat-related injuries and given an cocktail of pills. Law enforcement agencies wouldn’t even consider me over all the other under qualified, inexperienced “sane” applicants.

Jobless and married I was getting desperate, because I was getting the “thank you for your service, your a great American, but we cant hire you for liability reasons,”  rejection, and it began affecting my marriage and drinking was a must.

I met another Marine, who worked for the State of Arizona, who offered me the opportunity to interview at the local Department of Transportation office. The management was very veteran friendly and hired me into customer service.

The pay was not great, but it was a job and it allowed me to get on my feet. After serving the state of Arizona for 12 months I went back into my former field and was hired at a fortune 500 communications company.

My story is very compressed, but it was very tough. I’m a proud veteran, and extremely proud to have served my country and my Corps in Iraq.

I needed to show consistency in the workforce, because going from job to job  wouldn’t benefit me in trying to get back on track.  My advice to my returning brothers from the desert: Consume booze, but don’t let it consume you, and definitely stay away from the drugs.

Semper Fi to all my uniformed brethren.

(Submitted by S. McElwin)

Why is this an issue?

(Submitted by J. Krushnick)

I retired from the army in 1993 as a Sergeant First Class and I’ve had about six different jobs since I retired.

I’ve also found that most of my managers, not all, were intimidated by my experience.

I was told to my face by one manager that I intimidated him and that he could not figure me out. When I asked why, he said because of my military experience and my ability to identify a problem, offer a solution, and then move on.

I’ve had co-workers say the same thing. There is very little leadership in the civilian world. And because of my military values, most of the civialians working around me get insecure.

I’ve been fired twice because I believe I was set up for failure. I’ve seen other veterans get frustrated in the civilain work environment as well.

All I can say is, do the best job you can and watch those around you.

(Submitted by R. Carpenter)

I completely agree with a lot of what has been said about the work ethic in the military. I have to say that I also hear a lot of bias in some of the comments I have read.

I served 20 years in the U.S. Air Force and found folks who would work their fingers to the bone working long exasperating hours with no expectations of any reward. I have also worked among some of the laziest slackers I have ever seen in my life.

I worked for and with many fellow servicemembers whose only purpose was to come to work everyday, suck up to whoever was in charge to get noticed and get promoted. The sad part is that there are many G.I’s that make rank and are in charge who don’t even know their own jobs or what is going on under their own noses.

These are the individuals that usually find a subordinate to do their jobs and taking the credit for it. This occurs a lot more than anyone would admit. Getting promoted and making rank is a good thing especially for retirement purposes, but after 20 years of dealing with this  –  to this day I have no reason to respect a person because of their rank.

Working in the civilian world I found a lot of employees that play the same game as in the military. The motto is: what’s in it for me? Who’s coat tail can I ride on to get where I’m trying to go. Same old same old. The difference I have found was that military personnel have fewer options as far as turning assignments down than civilians do.

Sometimes military personnel are placed in life or death situations whereas civilians are not. This situation makes it extra scary when your life depends on whether or not your boss knows what he/she is doing. I have personally been in the line of fire under these dangerous conditions.

I also worked for the federal government after getting out of the military and found myself working for supervisors and managers who not only have any idea of what they were doing, but only cared about who they had to suck up to get their next undeserving promotion.

It sickens me to see the American economy in the state that it’s in and knowing that there are so many government workers getting paid way more than they are worth and are only concerned about how much more they can get at the expense of the American public. I always felt so sad to see people putting more effort in kissing up and trying to play politics instead of putting that effort into the work they were hired to do.

When things go right, they are right there to take the glory. When things go wrong, they always find someone else to blame it on.

Military and civilian have more in common than most are willing to admit.

There are going to be quite a few people who read this and won’t like what I have said and may even rebut it, which is their right (that’s what I shed my blood for in the desert so you can have that right). I for one will tell the real truth. Whether you are military or civilian and regardless of what you feel about what I have written, you know the real truth inside.

(Submitted by K.Kincaid)

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. At the 12-year mark, I began paying off all credit card debt, I payed an additional payment towards the principal of my mortgage each month and 80 percent of my year-end tax refund. I payed off both vehicles and built up my savings. All this, and more over the course of eight years. To be honest, I had no clear career path in mind. However, I did want to be in a situation where I was forced to take a job just to get by.

After retirement I went to school full time, and although I was successful I knew this was not for me. I took a position as a defense contractor and was successful, but was disappointed with the work ethics of my peers.

By the age of 40 I decided to work for myself. I started a lawn care business, — low overhead, minimal initial investment — and the only thing standing between me and success was me. I started with two lawns the first month. By the end of the first year I was averaging five lawns a day six days a week.

At the end of the second year we began transitioning from individual lawns to commercial properties. By the end of the third year I had 80 percent commercial to 20 percent individual lawn ratio. We then began to explore the possibility of Government Contracts. In my fourth year in business we bid on three contracts and was awarded all three. We have had them for six years and I  will retire at the age of 50 this year.

We invested in rentals in Florida and here in Georgia, we invested in raw land, but most of we did not get carried away with our success. No big boy toys and such. I was tempted to regail you with the long work days, the hot weather, seven day work weeks for months at a time, no vacations, and employee turnover but that would not help you in your endeavors.

I will leave you with this, if you are still in the service get you finances in order well before you retire.  And, if you wish to pursue success rely on you and you alone.

(Submitted by K. Goodermuth)

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.

I thought I was a good Sailor, however, I did have a couple run ins with the legal department after I had been back in for about a year.  I even changed my way of thinking and how I presented myself, but it didn’t help all the much. I had all my quals for my shop in my squadron and I was a shift supervisor for awhile but, it seemed like it always came back to that legal issue. I guess it goes back to that saying “It only takes one screw-up to kill a hundred atta-boys.”

I had eight months left on my enlistment when I was due to transfer. I couldn’t get the orders I wanted even when I offered to re-enlist for them, which isn’t that unusual. I ended up taking orders to a squadron literally right across the street, and when I got to my new command of course the only scuttlebutt that made it there about me was  bad.

No big deal. I worked hard and got past that and proved myself but, it seems like it wasn’t enough or I hadn’t been there long enough. So, like most anyone is my situation, I looked for job opportunities on the outside.

I found myself with a chance to start a business of my own but that eventually fell through. I’m going to school now for a couple of associate degrees, I have a great woman and great kids by my side everyday. Through this all though I feel like the only reason I got out was because I thought the grass was greener on the other side.

I miss the culture and the togetherness of the Navy, and lately I feel that I screwed up by getting out. But if I didn’t get out I  wouldn’t have met the woman I’m with and would’ve missed out with not knowing her or my kids.

My advice is don’t be naive and think you can go home again.  Talk to the people you know back home before you get out make sure when they give you advice of what you should do with your career. Take into account where they’re at in life.

(Submitted by T. Cook)

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.

I’m seperating really soon, and I still feel unsure that getting out what I should be doing right now, but I am unable to get orders, and I really hate this base. I’ve tried everything to adjust, but every attempt seem to fail. I don’t feel that I will be happy if I continue, especially since  I almost seperated back in 2005.

Any suggestions out there that may prove helpful?

(Submitted by A. Johnson)

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.

I did accept a GS4 job and my experience was that if you showed any initiative you were given all the work to do and the other people in the office simply walked the halls.

It seemed that the “hall-walkers”  got promoted to higher paying positions, and I was overlooked because I questioned the system.

I wasn’t willing to sell my soul for a position that would cause me to owe something to a hall-walker while they reaped the monetary and promotional rewards. Hard lesson to learn but I sleep well at night and owe no one anything.  I’m poor but have a clean conscience.

(Submitted by Robert Peters)

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.

Let me tell you my USMC experience on my resume got me a really big break, as the Director of Ops for this one company was a USMC vet also. I am very proud to have served, but I am equally glad I got out.

I needed to make my own decisions, earn my own victorys, and create my own destiny.

God bless our troops and Semper Fi!

(Submitted by Mr. J. Camel)