Overview
The transition from the military to the civilian life may not be a walk in the park. The individuals often face countless challenges that need their attentions. If not well attended to, these individual end up leading a frustrated life after their military career. In the military field, the soldiers are used to no nonsense life. Life in the military is full of commands, rules, regulation, orders and war lifestyle which have to be followed to the later ( Cole, 2017). On the other hand, the civil life is more of walk on the red carpet. However, there is a need for a new job, cooperation, understanding and many other issues which the civilian are used to that are not in the military. Therefore, transition needs some guidance for the militaries to get used to the civilians life.
During the transition period, soldiers are exposed to countless challenges asserted by Gray et al. (2017). Firstly, they face a challenging task reconnecting with their family members and re-establishing to take charge of the family. Also, they have issues with fully re-joining the community and cooperating with the community members. These are inclusive of issues such as finding new jobs in the community and many other social lives. Alternatively, they face challenges in cooperating in their new places of work. They have to learn to acquire new communication skills and others which will see them through the new life in the workplaces. Moreover, they find it difficult to take charge of issue of the provision to the family. These include necessities and other fundamental requirements. Lastly, they face challenges of adjusting to the pace of work. Having all these issues in mind, veterans should be guided and help to settle to the usual life to overcome the challenges during the military- civilian life transitions.
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The Veterans Need Help During Transition from Military Life to Civilians’
Firstly, the veterans should get support from the states during the transition period ( Pease et al ., 2016). The military department is one of the most important departments in the entire USA. They have the security of the states in their hands. For this reason, such individuals should be given due help after taking good care of the nation. The government should take it upon themselves to identify the military that are nearing retirements. These individuals should be involved in a transitional life program by the government before they officially retire. The government should ensure that the individuals are involved in short course before they retire that involves them actively in basic life skills which are used in the civilian’s life. These can be inclusive and not limited to polite communication strategies, cooperate with other civilians in the society, how to assume the role of the family leaders. Others are how to associate with other individuals in the community and socialize well with them. These are essential skills which will help them have an easy way to settle to civilians’ life.
Alternatively, before retiring from the military, the soldiers should undergo proper counseling. The government should run these programs as a form of thanking the soldiers for giving their lives to protect the nation throughout their entire career. The counseling programs should be turned towards enhancing basic skills to cooperate in the civilian life and counseling session for the traumatic issues such as stress. The military environment is full of stressors, injuries, and war. It is therefore not in reasonable to assume that an individual is healthy. One may be healthy physically. However, they may be suffering mentally from what they experience, saw or did during the military life. To help them overcome such stress, they should have counseling programs which are tuned to address such issues. This will help them adjust comfortably to normal life ( Castro et al., 2015).
One area where the veterans find challenging after their military career is the adjusting to the family role. The family role in this case, means providing the family with necessary basic needs, cooperating with family members, adjusting to the family niche which is inclusive of the members, clothing housing and many others. In the military, the soldiers are provided with almost all the necessity they are in need of. They are provided with uniforms, choices on what to eat and others. At the same time, they have limited choices in the military field. For this reason, the overwhelming choices in the civilian world to some extent confuse them. The soldiers need help to readjust to this life. Therefore, they should be helped to haunt jobs in the civilian’s worlds and to take control of the family finical issues. They also need help and support from their family to help in the financial control and budgeting since in the military field; the veterans don’t have to think of the budget. Also, they needs need family support to help them cooperate and adapt to their new life. They need their support in cooperation, to help them learn the un-commanding language, and even to help them relieve the stressful life they lead in the military life ( Castro et al., 2015).
The veterans, after leaving their military career, always have a difficult life in the civilian’s nature; however, their worst nightmare also comes after getting a new job in the civilian’s world. They find it difficult with what they are told, the kind of task they are given in their new place of work, the language use, and the communication strategies and many others issue. Helping these individuals need programs in the organization which is tuned to help them learn new strategies of communication. They also need to acquire new skills of handling their task. They need training and rehabilitation as well as developments in their new career to be able to cooperate well with others. One issue which should be made clear to them is the jobs security. Most of them have a notion of job insecurity since they are always confident that they have limited skills in their new place of work they should be reassured that through training and development, they will be able to catch up with their fellows. Also at the place of work, they should attend social programs which will impart in them ways of accepting other individual cultures and not to treat everyone as an enemy especially those who happen to have been outsourced from the country deemed as an enemy. They should attend diversity programs to help them understand the diverse nature of the organization and the respect for others. They should also be given due training in the workplaces ethics. These are inclusive of client’s confidentiality, workplaces ethics, and many others. Such programs are critical since they will help the valerian get used to the civil life especially in their new places of work ( Walker, 2015).
There are some military skills which are very useful in the civil life. Most veterans are well placed regarding mastering of such knowledge. An example of such expertise and knowledge are the military skills, first aid skills, and many others. These are skills much needed in the civilian world. For instance, the first aid knowledge when sharpened through training is fundamental especially in the rescue teams during disasters and catastrophes in the country. The veterans can explore such skills and get a job to enables them to settle quickly and smoothly in the civil and life. Alternatively, the soldier has military skills which they can use in the civilian life to get jobs as security personnel of prominent personnel in the country. They can also apply as security guards in big hotels, conference or at any places deemed necessary for securities. These are important jobs which are more or less alike with their military career jobs. This can help them to settle in the civilian’s life even much easier.
Also, the government should take it upon themselves to role all the cavils who are about to retire in short course which will help them acquire certificates to help them on the issue of job hunting in the civilians life. The government then should create a network of the military who had already retired and those retiring so that they could help adjusting to new life by those who had already undergone the same process. The ex- soldiers can help them create a network for job hunting for their fellows to help them settle quickly. At the same time, they can help their colleagues through counseling since they had already passed the same test. Moreover, the government should roll out the program which will enhance quick processing of the retirement benefits to the veterans. This is very important as they will use the package to help them with the family necessities as they are haunting jobs and struggling to settle in the society. They can also use the package to attend workshops such as transitional assistance programs. This will help them to explore careers in the civilian’s world. It will also help them with interview preparation for the new jobs and many others skills. The money will also help the veterans seek help from the doctors, mentors, psychiatric and many other medical issues.
Lastly, the government should take it upon themselves to ensure that programs are in place to help the soldiers attend medical programs which are tuned towards psychological counseling financed by the government. A military career is overwhelming with stressors. Often, the individual finds themselves involving in the dirty haunting of others and killing them mercilessly. Alternatively, these individuals often witness their fellow military friends killed by enemies. These memories tend to haunt them after hanging up their guns. For this reason, it is very vital for them to attend psychological counseling and therapies to help them overcome such situations. Others often have less capability to attend such programs due to financial issues; therefore, the government should come in and roll a program to cover for such bills. Moreover, the injured soldier should be treated by the government until they are fully rehabilitated. This will help them have a reasonable life after the military career (Ahern et al ., 2015).
Conclusion
The transition from the military life to the civilian’s life is often a challenge. Many veterans often confess to feeling pressure especially when they are out of the ordinary duty. They face issue with settling with their families, assuming the family responsibilities and getting a new job. These individual need help both from the government, the family and the entire community. They need the government to roll out programs which can help them settle much quicker. They need a family to help them understand the new life, and they also need the society to accept them back into the normal life.
References
Castro, C. A., Kintzle, S., & Hassan, A. M. (2015). The combat veteran paradox: Paradoxes and dilemmas encountered with reintegrating combat veterans and the agencies that support them. Traumatology , 21 (4), 299-310. doi:10.1037/trm0000049
Cole, R. F. (2017). Supporting Students in Military Families during Times of Transition: A Call for Awareness and Action. Professional School Counseling , 20 (1), 36-43.
Gray, A., Wilson, R., Jenkings, K. N., Harrison, D., & Martin, M. (2017). Information-sharing in services for military personnel in transition to civilian life. Public Money & Management , 37 (1), 15-22. doi:10.1080/09540962.2016.1249226
Masters J, Lippman SA, Ozer EJ, Moos R (2015). The Challenges of Afghanistan and Iraq Veterans’ Transition from Military to Civilian Life and Approaches to Reconnection. PloS one , 10 (7), e0128599.
Pease, J. L., Billera, M., & Gerard, G. (2016). Military Culture and the Transition to Civilian Life: Suicide Risk and Other Considerations. Social Work , 61 (1), 83-86. doi:10.1093/sw/swv050
Walker, F. (2015). Experiences of military transition. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships , 29 (4), 403-437.
