What are some of the struggles that Veterans face once leaving the military?

Struggles that Veterans face when leaving the military.
- Culture shock. Military culture and civilian culture are significantly different.
- Expectation Management. Some veterans have unrealistic expectations during and after transition. These expectations are on a variety of things to include but not limited to: negotiating power during hiring process (more than they think), salary band they are competitive for (less than they think), support structure in civilian world (less), etc.
- Freshman 20. Most veterans quit doing PT after leaving the military yet retain their previous eating habits which results in gaining weight in the first year after leaving the military.
- Civilian knowledge and understanding. Most civilians have no clue what the military is/does or what its members have experienced. Many civilians seem to view veterans as damaged goods that need to be treated with kid gloves or we will "go postal".
- Job Transition. The military usually is a sustained commitment even if we change jobs/locations every year. We view transitioning civilian jobs frequently as disloyal. This is NOT how the private sector views transitions.

What "leadership" is defined as in large civilian companies. Contrary to what we've been taught, some "leaders" are more worried about their personal "perfect attendance" award then they are about their subordinates and the actual job they are supposed to be doing. Can't tell you the number of situations I've been in and/or observed where the "leader" doesn't have a clue how to lead, how to deal with subordinates, how to care for subordinates and their careers. I miss having the equivalent of strong NCOs in the workplace. People you can seek out for guidance and advice.

There are a lot of different articles concerning this topic all over RallyPoint. Some were started by me some by others but it's always a good topic to discuss for several reasons.

First, these type of discussions get lost in all the craziness of RallyPoint. Second, its important that Veterans are reminded that what they are going through is normal. Lastly, it's good to see some newer faces talk about what they are facing and then we can see how we can help each other out.

A lot of the members of RallyPoint already know my story of what I went through in the early stages of my transition. Divorce, alcoholism, issues with the VBA, issues fitting in, dark thoughts, etc. Yet out of all that, through the help of some amazing people, I'm here today and trying to pay it forward.

Not everyone has to take the path I took. Not everyone will want to take a path that leads them to starting a nonprofit organization and all that "fun". The one thing we must remember though is that our issues, while different in some aspects are the same across the board and are totally normal. If you are like me and find yourself asking for a new table at a restaurant because you can't see the exit, that is normal. Or if you are driving down the street and your first response to seeing something in the road is "that might kill me"; you are not allow. Being nervous to enter crowed locations or scanning your surroundings, that is normal.

People must remember that we, the Post 9/11 Veteran, have been involved in this nation's longest continuous combat operation in our history. Some of us have been deployed over 1,000 days; some might be over 2,000 by the time it's all said and done. Our brains had to re-wire themselves in order for us to adapt to those surrounding. That is something you just can't switch off or on depending on the situation. For us, the less than 1% of the entire nation's population that serves, that switch remains on.

Yet, it's not all negative. We have strengths and skills that put us in the top 1% of our peers. We have the opportunity to take the skills that kept us alive and use them not just in the corporate world but to help our communities as well. We are leaders, thought-makers, success multipliers. We aren't trying to parade ourselves around like "heroes" because while we did somethings that people are very thankful for, very few us I think are okay with that label of "hero".

So while we sit back and answer this question keep in mind that you are writing for that one person who will log in on here feeling as though they are alone and see that the issue(s) they are facing are faced by so many others. Regardless of rank, gender, branch, male/female, race or whatever other factor of grouping you want to place people in, the issues we face are NORMAL and it is up to us to help police each other and to be there with willingness to help whomever may call out for it.