One Veteran's Transition

     I know there are tons of articles referencing military transition; nonetheless, I wanted to write this article in an attempt of helping a few transitioning veterans. In truth, there is no a way to cover all aspects of the journey that each and every veteran will encounter, and these articles will reflect my individual challenges and lessons learned. Full disclosure, I am still looking for a job  myself so these articles reflect a work in progress and does not reflect the exact answer to each and every question or circumstance that a veteran may be undergoing in this transition. Albeit, I have been receiving lots of aid and assistance from several mentors and friends that have gone through this process, so I cannot claim that on this journey, I have been self-sufficient as this is far from the truth.

     This is intuitive but still has to be stated, and that is to do your best to begin preparing formally for the transition if you are able to as early as possible. With this being said, unless you are retiring you may not have this luxury. However, if you can start by signing up to your local station's transition workshop. This will be very helpful in exposing you to this process, and the questions asked by various speakers including those from the Department of Labor will make you think about your personal circumstances. Is it perfect no, but it is very beneficial and they do their best to cover what the majority of veterans will encounter. Moreover, take the workshops more than once if you have the time. I attended the transition workshops twice, one last year and the other three years prior.

     One question is to ask yourself what you want to do and if the profession you are interested in has any formal education requirements or certifications needed for entry. Talking to someone in that profession is helpful as well and if you can shadow someone in that profession even better. You want to ensure you are interested in the profession you will be pursing. For me personally, this was a difficult question since I had 24 years in the United States Air Force so I had a myriad of jobs ranging from operations manager, cyber security manager, paralegal, claims examiner, accident investigator, compliance manager, policy manager, human resource manager, and a few others. Some questions you will encounter are easy to ask yourself, but the difficulty comes when answering the questions.

     More information will follow as there is a lot to cover on this topic of military transition and my intention is to break it up into at least 5 small articles on this subject. In closing out this particular article, stay positive, I know you are going through a lot of emotions and stress while you are going through this transition and looking for a job so stay close to family and friends as they will be a big help. Working out is beneficial along with a healthy diet to complement that positive thinking.