Civilian Employment Transition: A Case Study

This paper is about counselors who choose to work with veterans or those who suffer from PTSD. The topics that will be discussed are the specific job descriptions, the salary one could look to receive, the certification requirements, and the future of this ever growing field.

After years of admirable service, many veterans choose to make the transition back to civilian life. During their enlistments, they’ve learned invaluable skills that are highly sought after by employers. For these individuals, the experience was a powerful and empowering experience, but it’s time for a new chapter in their lives. Each year, more than a million veterans take advantage of resources that are provided specifically for current and former military personnel. Just as there are many reasons why these men and women decide to go back to school, there are many resources to aid veterans in the process.

The definition of reintegration has been defined as “the process of transitioning back into personal and organizational roles after deployment (Currie, Day, & Kelloway, 2011).” While reintegration may bring images of family homecomings and welcome home parties, it is not that simple for the returning veteran. According to a survey conducted by the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA), 40 percent of surveyed military members returning from deployment reported experienced a high level of difficulty reintegrating into civilian life (Sayer et al., 2010). Many difficulties can arise when returning home from deployment. Some of those barriers are examined here.

military who understand the difficulties of readjusting to civilian life after being conditioned into service. Although some have the support of family friends, it’s not always the case for those who undergo extended service for the United States. After serving a certain amount of time for the United States, it only seems fair that veterans should be able experience an easier transition and at least be provided with easier access to care for possible psychological trauma and other behavioral needs.

Veterans face many obstacles and barriers to overcome when transitioning back into civilian life. Macdermid & Riggs (2014) discusses how military deployment has many consequences for an individual and their families. According to Sayer, Frazier, Orazem, Murdoch, Gravely, Carlson, &Noorbalooci (2011) all military branches already require their troops to complete a reintegration program before discharge but these programs typically only

Keywords: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’, Office of Diversity and Inclusion, National Center for Veterans Analysis and Statistics, Pew Research Center, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Office of Personnel Management

I am currently employed as a Program Assistant within the Veteran Administration at the Vet Center. My duties and responsibilities entail greeting past and present members of the military as they enter the center. The Vet Center was initially created to welcome home Vietnam Veterans that arrived home and felt very stigmatized when they arrived. The Vet Center offers readjustment counseling today and in the past to those veterans. It also offers readjustment counseling to other combat veterans as well. In the center we offer counseling, outreach and referral services to these veterans and their families.

In 2001, the terrorist attacks of 9/11 significantly changed the need for military personnel in the United States of America. Since then, over 2.4 million soldiers have been deployed due to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, better known as Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) (U.S Department of Veteran Affairs, 2012). These wars changed the expectations in regards to “deployments” as we once knew them. Military deployments are temporary jobs away from home and family, which may or may not take place overseas (Allen & Staley, 2007). Military deployments today are seen more frequent, with longer durations spent deployed, and less recovery time in-between redeployments (Tanielian, & Jaycox, 2008). Almost

Transitioning from a military career to life as a civilian can be challenging. But, Matthew Ortiz found a welcoming environment at Georgia Power—a subsidiary of Southern Company—where he leveraged his military experience. Ortiz learned many skills in the military. “A few include teamwork, common sense, an open mind, as well as being coachable and paying attention to detail,” said Ortiz in a recent interview with Hispanic Career World Magazine. “These traits definitely prepared me for a rewarding career.”

Every day our veterans may face a struggle when they are transitioning from their military lifestyle back to the civilian lifestyle they left behind. These struggles do not come easily to the vets. Sometimes they may feel alone and think that their family and friends that surround them don’t understand all the things they have gone through within the military. Transitioning back into their civilian life can be hard and sometimes they are unable to cope with the civilian lifestyle as well as they thought they would. Imagine coming back home from the military and trying to re-adjust to the life you left behind; trying to fit back into society and noticing that you are an entirely different person than you were before you enlisted.

Consistent with figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) 2015), not to mention research on potential mechanisms of employment discrimination against veterans (Kleykamp 2009), Friedman’s article presented data suggesting that veterans’ employment rates mirror those of their nonveteran peers, except in a small number of age cohorts. Moreover, in segments of the veteran population in which unemployment rates differ from those in the nonveteran population, Friedman proposed that these variances resemble the same labor market phenomena that nonveterans would face if they were civilians in the midst of a career change. In sum, contrary to conventional wisdom, Friedman’s article provided good reason to believe that the labor market experiences of veterans appear to be quite similar to those of

Certainly, it is difficult for Veterans that are transitioning to civilian life. They face tremendous difficulties. Many Veterans return to school to start a brand new career. Some find it difficult to enter the career because of financial difficulties. Recently, PR Newswire released an article about Ken Goodrich. Ken Goodrich is the owner of Goettl Air Conditioning. He decided to lend a helping hand to former Veterans that were experiencing financial difficulties that made it difficult to enter their chosen career field. Goodrich started the Post 9/11 Veterans Tools Award, which is awarded to graduates of the air conditioning technology program at the College of Southern Nevada.

I experienced a lot, I learned how to fix multi-million dollar aircraft. I learned how to work with and supervision people from all over the United States, people of all sort of backgrounds and cultures. I learned how to work as part of a team to accomplish something that was bigger than all of us. I learned how to live on my own and how to budget my money. The military gave me and taught me a lot, but I'm not saying everything was perfect or easy.

Members of the Military Service Have A lot Of Responsibilities like Doctors, and Lawyers. Many are in the Navy, Airforce, Coast Guard, etc. Members are also sent to other countries to work with other nations as well. They also lead other troops to organize them in many different activities. They Work in engineering services to help maintain the personnel.

The transition from a military career into civil society initiates a series of adjustments for all service members, particularly Veterans. These include changes such as location, career, interpersonal relationships, family roles, support systems, social networks, and involvement in the wider community, and culture. In short, this transition process has wide reaching implications for post-service well-being and functioning. Despite this, little has been done to investigate and understand how transition occurs, identify factors that promote or impede transition, or operationalise outcomes associated with transition success. Many Veterans transitioning from the military to the