Veterans Never Finish Their Transition

I don't consider myself special or unique. I'm similar to over 17 million veterans living in the United States. Around 250,000 servicemen and women seperate from the military every year and transition into the civilian world. But when is that transition over? From my observations, it is never over. But, sometimes we can forget.

For the last 7 wonderful years, I've worked for Hire Heroes USA and held several different roles, all with the mission to empower veterans and military spouses in their transitions. Now, I manage the Alumni Program assisting to empower those same veterans and spouses with development opportunities for professional and personal growth. Some might think these people have transitioned out of the military into the civilian/federal employment world successfully. Last night I had the pleasure to attend a veterans gala and I was reminded your transition is never finished.

As we ate dinner, I observed a conversation between an older veteran and a soldier still enlisted. I listened as he provided transition advice, words of wisdom, gratitude and general encouragement. I watched as awards were handed out and without fail, almost every award winner spoke on military transition. There is now and entire industry to provide transition assistance, but when do you finish? When do you graduate? When do you retire? When do you get that checkmark of transition completion? We don't. But, sometimes we forget.

To be honest, the last three years working from home (with a toddler) has been it's own transition. You miss coworkers, you miss being inspired by others, you miss collaboration and events, but I don't miss Atlanta traffic. Working from home almost puts you in your own bubble. You keep your head down, focused on tasks at hand and sometimes you forget your veteran status, sometimes you forget you're in transition, sometimes you forget you are 1 of over 17 million in the United States. As I watched multiple generations of veterans, completely different from one another, different industries, different transition points, different in everything except that common military experience, I remembered. I remembered I am special, because of that community we have and because I am one of the lucky ones to be transitioning. There is a reason why so many of us hold onto that community and proudly wear that veteran status on our chest, it is because we never finish our transition out of the military. It is always a part of us, even for someone like myself, who only served 4 years out of high school, separated over 10 years ago, went to college, started a family and career.

If you are still reading this rant, I'd like to leave you with a few pieces of my advice. Don't ever consider yourself done with your transition. The same values you learned in the military will help you achieve honor and success in the civilian world. Find your purpose and never quit striving to be better. Because even though we might forget sometimes, there are over 17 million of us out there that are a proud and supportive community that have your back.