Introduction
The US military has one of the largest armies in the world and is the largest professional standing force. These people serve for many years, doing their duty to the country, often by being stationed thousands of miles away from home. Eventually, they are discharged and brought back into the civilian population, where they have to transition from military service and into a civilian career. Such a transition is often hard, as not all military skills are transferrable or even desirable to employees (Fahed-Sreih, 2020). This contributes to poverty and homelessness in veterans who failed to transition to civilian life. This paper aims to evaluate any possible ways of bridging the gap between service and career.
Barriers to Transition
The four major barriers to transition from military to civilian include mental health issues, skills transferability, educational challenges, and military identity and culture. Individuals who have been exposed to violence and war often have mental health issues, such as PTSD (Derefinko et al., 2018). These impairments are debilitating and can significantly lower the desirability of a candidate for employment. Substance abuse is often accompanying these problems, exacerbating them further. Skills transferability and military identity go hand in hand – the military frames individuals to act in a specific way and trains them in the use of specific skills, not all of which are transferrable into a normal working environment. Specialists usually have an easier time adjusting – repairing vehicles, flying planes, driving, and handling technology offers a plethora of skills to transfer (Ainspan et al., 2018). On the other hand, being a common soldier usually does not offer as many opportunities. Finally, veterans often do not have the benefits of a college education, preventing them from getting better-paying jobs.
Solutions
Although closing the gap may be difficult and there are many barriers along the way, a soldier must be able to recognize and utilize all resources available to them after service. The government and many non-profit organizations, such as the Veteran’s Organization, the Department of Veteran’s Affairs, etc., offer help finding mental health counseling and workshops for attitude transition (Dexter, 2020). One of the benefits of the military is also in the possibility of getting an education while serving or immediately after. Conducting an assessment of one’s hard and soft skills would benefit in framing the kind of career one is best suited for.
Conclusions
Transitioning from military life and to a civilian career is difficult. This presentation does not claim to have provided the best possible way of solving the problem. There are many personal and institutional issues on the way. Nevertheless, the first step must always be to analyze one’s situation and engage all the resources available to ensure success. Many organizations in the US alone are willing and eager to help veterans. Engaging with those might reveal issues on an institutional level that prevent ex-soldiers from finding meaning and support in a peaceful life. Further studying of this subject is required to achieve a fuller understanding of the issue.
References
Ainspan, N. D., Penk, W., & Kearney, L. K. (2018). Psychosocial approaches to improving the military-to-civilian transition process. Psychological Services, 15(2), 129-138.
Derefinko, K. J., Hallsell, T. A., Isaacs, M. B., Salgado Garcia, F. I., Colvin, L. W., Bursac, Z.,… & Klesges, R. C. (2018). Substance use and psychological distress before and after the military to civilian transition. Military Medicine, 183(5-6), e258-e265.
Dexter, J. C. (2020). Human resources challenges of military to civilian employment transitions. Career Development International, 25(5), 481-500.
Fahed-Sreih, J. (Ed.). (2020). Career development and job satisfaction. Intechopen.