Today as I write this blog, it is November 10, 2016. Which as most of you know is the Marine Corps birthday, so Happy Birthday Marines! 8 years ago today I was on a plane to great lakes Illinois to start my basic training. When we landed at O’Hare we were instructed to sing happy birthday for the Marine Corps. Which made me feel all tingly inside due to the Gunnery Sargent making the Marines in Full Metal Jacket do the same thing. So that is a cool memory that I will always have with me, as well as my four years in the Navy as an Aviation Boatswains Mate Equipment onboard the USS Enterprise. For anyone who doesn’t know what that means, ABE’s are responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the launch and recovery equipment on aircraft carriers.

My job was mainly with the catapults. To this day it has and always will be the greatest job I ever had. This blog isn’t about me though, I just wanted to get a little introductory portion in here so that people who read this will know who is writing it. We are all different and we all come from different branches of service. So transitioning from the military to the civilian world is difficult for most and easy for some. With regards to my experience there has been ups and downs. I am in my final semester at Farmingdale State College, and let me tell you it is scary.

I do not have a job lined up yet, but with the degree I am obtaining I hope that the job hunt will be promising. It seems as though a good amount of veterans who transition out of the military are confused on what to do. Let’s be honest the “transitioning” portion of your exit from service really isn’t helpful. I was lucky that they showed me how to sign up for the GI bill. If they didn’t I think that the people at the college where I applied would guide me in the right direction. Other branches of service have different transitioning programs that I am not aware of, however I’m sure that they are just awful.

However, once you get to your college of choosing I have found that the people who work there for veterans are highly dedicated to helping you out. I feel a lot better about seeing civilians that want to help out vets, they are our voice to help get things done. Although, there are no guarantees with anything in life especially nowadays. Sometimes things will seem harder than they actually are, and easy things will seem to be more difficult. Being told what to do for a good portion of your life, and to have someone above you that tells you what to do makes life extremely easy. You don’t have to worry about making any decisions because they are made for you, and all you have to do is whatever they say.

Once you are on your own and can make your own decisions, it can be quite difficult. Don’t let this get you down though. There are people out there that will help you out in any way they can. Whether it is an advisor at the college or even a counselor. Or if you are brave enough to try the VA I say go for it, get whatever help you can get where you can get it from. Even when you get to college and start seeing how the world is without the military, you have to remember most of the people you are with are fresh out of high school. Most of them do not have much life experience as you do so my advice is just to be as patient as possible. Which may be hard at times but once you start to realize that none of these people were in the military, you’ll start to see why they act the way they do. Sometimes I’m still amazed at the things I see.

The world today is a crazy place, and it will keep getting crazier. With that said it is also a wonderful time to be alive. If you get anything from this blog I hope that it is one thing: help is always available, sometimes YOU need to ask the questions. Then someone will be there to help. But it always starts with what you want, and what you are willing to do to be successful after service.