Servicemembers Seamless Transition Into Civilian Life

Servicemembers' seamless transition into civilian life : the heroes return : hearing before the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, U.S. House of Representatives, One Hundred Tenth Congress, first session, March 8, 2007.

Military Veteran Reintegration: Approach, Management, and Assessment of Military Veterans Transitioning to Civilian Life offers a toolkit for researchers and practitioners on best practices for easing the reintegration of military veterans returning to civilian society. It lays out how transition occurs, identifies factors that promote or impede transition, and operationalizes outcomes associated with transition success. Bringing together experts from around the world to address the most important aspects of military transition, the book looks at what has been shown to work and what has not, while also offering a roadmap for best-results moving forward. Contains evidence-based interventions for military veteran-to-civilian transition Features international experts from North America, Europe and Asia Includes how to measure transition outcomes Outlines recovery programs for the injured and sick Identifies factors that promote or impede successful transition

Graduating high school and entering college, the workforce, or the military may all be understood as examples of major life transitions. Such transitions may be experienced in different ways, may be easy or difficult, and may or may not be successful. One life transition infrequently studied is the military-to-civilian transition that service members experience. The current study focused on the transition period service members experience upon reentry to civilian life after they have separated from the service. A successful transition was assessed in two ways: the ease to which the service member adjusted to civilian life and their satisfaction with life immediately after discharge from the military. This study incorporates both positive and negative effects of serving on the service members' perception of the ease and success of their transition to civilian life and their satisfaction with life. Personality traits were assessed to determine if individual differences also predicted success during the transition period and satisfaction with life. Participants were 595 United States military service members who had separated from the service less than 10 years prior to the time of data collection. The results of the current study indicate that positively experienced deployments, positive discharge training experience, more frequent contact with other veterans, the kind (positive or negative) of situation returned to, and post-traumatic stress symptoms significantly predicted service members perceived ease of adjustment to and satisfaction with civilian life. Extraversion and negative emotionality similarly predicted these same outcomes. No significant gender differences were observed. These findings suggest a potential avenue future researchers and policy makers might take to better help service members adjust to civilian life. One avenue may be to create an intervention of a standardized discharge training experience all service members receive when separating from the service. This training should treat adjustment back into civilian life as multifaceted and involve the service member and those individuals who make up their social support system.

Make a smooth transition into civilian life after your military journey! Have you thought about how life would be as a civilian after your deployment? Are you wondering how to make a smooth transition now that your time in the military is coming to an end? Are you worried about how to cope with the mental health challenges caused by your service? Make a Smooth Transition after the Military shows you how you can have a successful civilian life after a difficult deployment and other challenges you encountered during your long tours and your time in service. U.S. Air Force retiree Roseline Salazar explains you how you can create a normal life for yourself, even after a long-term military career. After reading, you will know how to: Decide what you want to do in this next phase of your life Create your own custom success plan Understand your mental health and how to find help if you need it Face any challenges or scenarios with minimal difficulty Move on without regrets Realize your worth and start planning for your bright future Paint a picture of what you would like your dream life to be Moving back to civilian life doesn't have to be stressful or intimidating. Make the switch as smooth as possible with Make a Smooth Transition after the Military

Provides strategies and tips for military veterans and their families to make a smooth transition back into civilian life.