To the Veterans, have you been impressed or disappointed with how your military experience transformed over into the civilian sector?

I left active duty over 18 years ago at this point. It was horrifying to see how the vast experience I had, and experience with a vast array of test equipment left me qualified for so few jobs because of civilian hiring practices which overly relied on civilian academic credentials which my Marine Corps training never quite lined up with. I could do much more than most of my competition for various positions but didn't have civil credentials which were at the time out of my reach due to all of the movement and deployment I had in my Military career.
Anyone who is still in should run to their Community College of the (insert branch of Service) office and start ensuring your Military Schools and Experience are being logged for Credit hours and trying to finish off a B.A or B.S. right NOW(or whatever the current program for doing this is, I know it changed like, well, something that changed often when I was in).
Even after consulting the D.O.T. manual for job equivalencies(which according to hiring managers I was able to talk to was the gold standard at the time for creating a civilian readable, military experience equivalency) it was hard to meet the exacting job listings and calling for overly qualified candidates to fill technical but less than professional paying positions.

Perseverance was the key then. I found a job in Electronic Scale Service (everything from Laboratory balances to Meat Wrappers and Labeling Systems to Industrial Hoppers and Control Systems to Motor Truck Scales and everything in between)(mostly because my family needed to eat), and kept looking for the future job while expanding my skill set in that industry. While it was a great and varied job with lots to learn and an interesting industry, the pay scale and it's long term potential for growth simply didn't match the work and skill set required.

The long term job showed up as a newspaper job posting and I jumped on it as fast as I could type a custom resume. My Military experience and training paid off and I've completed my 16th year with this employer, moving up 2 positions and making an above average wage for my area. Even so, It's a niche position and is only good as long as this niche exists, if it holds on for 10 more years(likely, but not certain) it's off to double-dipping land and hopefully some part-time consulting gigs to keep a hand in.
Still learning new things and obtaining new certifications because that is both fun and what the Industry requires. But I still haven't finished a Bachelors, and the Civilian world places way to much emphasis on that particular credential for far to many jobs that should not require it.

When I left there was no real transition program. Also other than police not many people looking for a SCOUT (11D) . The only good thing is that I had gotten my advance degree on active duty.

Both. While serving I was not aware of how superior my experience was in the military was to what our civilian counterparts were experiencing. When I entered the civilian work force, I was shocked by how companies have run their organizations…I don’t want to say that the military is better, but there is no other way to say it?
Now here is my disappointment, the civilian sector either does not realize the value of veterans or is aware and are threatened by our skill set. Some of the things I have witnessed, organization claim to have veterans hiring preferences (Civilian and Government) but the people with hiring authority either are not aware of their own policy or do not follow it, and there is no additional enforcement by their superiors. Also, senior leaders leaving the military and thinking civilian will understand where they have come from and care, and they do not. I have also seen veterans coming out of the military and not realize what they have done…IF you are a motor transport operator and think you are just a truck driver, you are wrong but if you present yourself simply as a truck driver, that is how they are going to look at you.