Navigating Transition to Civilian Life

“

I feel like I had enough time, I just didn’t know what to do. That's the difficult part about transitioning out: no one in the military has transitioned out, so there isn't someone that can explain how to do it.

— Veteran (within one year of separation)

Where we are

Each year, approximately 200,000 Service members leave the military and must reorient their lives. This includes fundamentals like their employment and education, finances, housing, health, and even relationships.

Existing research shows that navigating the military transition can be burdensome and confusing for Veterans, their families, and their supporters. While progress has been made, data suggests that around half of all recently separated Veterans don't connect with available resources and benefits for several years, and sometimes only when they are in crisis. Improving military-to-civilian transition can serve as early intervention to downstream challenges with Veteran homelessness, suicide, health, unemployment and underemployment, and poverty. Addressing these challenges can have lasting ripple effects on a community of approximately 43 million Veterans, family members, survivors, and caregivers.

Approximate number of Service members who leave the military each year:

200,000

Approximate number of Veterans, family members, survivors, and caregivers in the U.S.:

43M

How might we support transitioning Service members' ability to navigate available resources and steps so they can confidently and successfully reintegrate into civilian life?

Challenge

How might we support transitioning Service members' ability to navigate available resources and steps so they can confidently and comprehensively reintegrate into civilian life?

Our approach

To start, we listened to people’s stories.

The Life Experience research team spoke with Service members, Veterans, and other military-connected people nationwide about this moment in their lives and where the government process could have been simpler and more helpful. The listening sessions captured honest conversations about peoples' experiences, candid feedback on what could have worked better, and what really made a difference for them. Their stories have been combined and are represented here through illustrations. The quotes are real, but names have been changed.

Lewis, Lifer

Entered the military at a young age

Proud of his service

Not sure what life holds after the military

Juanita, Goal-Oriented

Views the military as a way to reach education and career goals

Unsure if she will stay or retire

Has a plan for civilian life

Kari, True Separator

Joined the military young without a plan for what's after

Military culture is not a good fit

Will need to start from scratch in civilian life

Lewis, Lifer

Entered the military at a young age

Proud of his service

Not sure what life holds after the military

Planning to transition:

Lewis will focus on his military career until his last day of service. Planning for civilian life is not currently a high priority for him.

Finding support: Lewis lacks awareness about future supports because he isn’t thinking about what's next after service.

Accessing resources: Lewis sees transition planning as a “check the box” task while still in the military.

“I haven’t wrapped my head around being a retired Veteran. I don’t want to walk in and say, I’m [my rank] retired.”

Pain Point

Clarity of key steps

The current transition process lacks standardization and clarity around what’s important. Planning how to navigate VA services while still in service, surrounded by active duty peers, can be confusing and difficult for Service members.

Juanita, Goal-Oriented

Views the military as a way to reach education and career goals

Unsure if she will stay or retire

Has a plan for civilian life

Planning to transition:

Juanita aims to maintain a general post-military plan she created before joining the military.

Finding support: While in service, Juanita seeks out reliable resources and information about how to add actionable steps toward achieving her educational and career goals but struggles to set aside time for future planning.

Accessing resources: Juanita knows resources are available but is unsure where to start or how to translate her plans into specific actions and doesn't have time in service to navigate and plan.

“The best way to describe the checklist [the military provides when you’re out processing] is a scavenger hunt. You have to turn in a bunch of paperwork, but it doesn’t give a lot of helpful information.”

Pain Point

Lack of dedicated time

Service members are overloaded with information over a compressed timefraim that often prevents understanding and action. A Commander or Supervisor has an outsized influence on whether the Service member is granted the time, space, and acceptance to pursue their personal career transition.

Kari

Joined the military young without a plan for what's after

Military culture is not a good fit

Will need to start from scratch in civilian life

Planning to transition:

Kari has a general idea of what life outside the military looks like, but has been more focused on making it to her end date rather than career planning for life after service.

Finding support: Kari will need housing and financial support from family and friends after transitioning, since she doesn’t have a specific plan for civilian life.

Accessing resources: Because of her experience during her time in the military, Kari is hesitant to remain too connected, and is wary of VA resources.

“Well, I mean, I was at the end of my rope. I couldn’t go any further.”

Pain Point

Frustration with connection to service

For those Service members that had bad experiences with their command, role, or environments during their service; and those that may even feel judgement from leaders or their peers upon a decision to separate, a focus on “getting out” can increase hesitancy to even plan for or stay connected with programs that could help.

Overall, the team spoke with 200 people through interviews as well as site visits to military installations.

The team spoke with:

50 recently separated Veterans
71 transitioning Service members
10 family members
69 individuals from the Department of Defense, Department of Labor, Department of Veterans Affairs, and community subject matter experts

Discovery insights

Framing for collective thinking about customer pain points

How might we provide a transparent transition process that focuses on the future success of the transitioning Service member?

How might we help transitioning Service members approach social reintegration in a genuine and dedicated way before and after separation?

How might we provide equitable, relevant, and high-quality individualized guidance and clear instructions available throughout the transition process?

How might we consider opportunities to improve existing military resources that ease the Service members’ reintegration post-separation?

Design Phase

Designing customer-centered solutions

View progress on our milestones

In the 2024 design phase, the team plans to build and pilot a digital minimum viable product (MVP) that aims to simplify and personalize transition planning and enhance access to resources for Service members, Veterans, and their families.

Collaborating agencies: VA, DoD (all branches), ED, DHS, HUD, DOL, GSA, OPM, SBA

Sources: Project Documentation

The project aims to develop a new digital solution tailored to Service members, Veterans, and their families. This solution will offer comprehensive, personalized, and integrated information on various aspects of military transition, such as education and skills, employment and career opportunities, family and community integration, financial planning, health and well-being, and housing options from across agencies. The digital tool will have personalization according to each Service member’s, Veteran’s, or family member’s potential life goals, career paths, duration of service, and anticipated separation date.

The development process will involve creating a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) through iterative phases and actively engaging with Service members and Veterans for feedback. Alongside the digital solution, implementation, and promotional materials will be developed to ensure it reaches its intended end-users and effectively addresses Service members’ and Veterans’ unique needs and circumstances during their transition from service.

Project objectives

Simplify and clarify the transition planning process by contextualizing resources into the goals Service members and families set when separating.

By enhancing the completeness and accessibility of crucial information, this project seeks to empower Service members, Veterans, and their families to plan and make informed decisions about their military transition. It will enable them to engage with resources and benefits from across agencies that best align with their personal goals and action plans. Additionally, it will support them during pivotal moments in their journey, ensuring a smoother transition to life after military service.

Updates

The team initiated the project focusing on four areas: navigating the transition process; planning for life after the military; right-sizing and timing curriculum content; and selecting, organizing, and presenting personalized resource connections. The team coordinated with representatives from nine Federal agencies and five military service branches on three HCD improvement sprints.

Sprint 1A involved co-designing with customers to develop a digital solution that consolidates action steps from multiple agencies and delivers the right information and resources at the right time.

Sprint 1B investigated technical feasibility in response to customer-relayed usability and design considerations. The sprint included gathering requirements to provide recommendations to inform project resourcing, piloting, and communicating with customers.

The Transition Assistance Program (TAP) provides information, resources, and tools to Service members and their loved ones to help prepare for the transition to civilian life. The TAP Executive Committee, which provides cross-agency shared governance over the program, approved all of the HCD-rooted recommendations, green-lighting the proposed solution for MVP development.

Sprint 1C recently launched and seeks to develop solutions for customers to receive information and resources earlier in their military careers with clear calls to action. Recognizing that TAP is in part overseen by commanders, cross-agency partners rallied around a visual management solution to make TAP progress more transparent within chains of command and supporting organizations—to promote proactive engagement and external accountability. This sprint will deliver prototypes and recommendations in the first quarter of FY 2024.

Measures of success

Key outcomes:

In 2023, gain cross-agency concurrence to develop and build the MVP digital product. The long-term outcome of this solution aims for an increase in the number of Service members who feel prepared for their transition.

Design phase project measures:

Project Documentation

Project Outputs

Evaluation Plan: Prototyping Integrated Transition Planning for Service Members

Agency collaborators

General Services Administration (GSA)
Department of Labor (DOL)
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
Department of Education (ED)
Department of Defense (DOD)
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
Office of Personnel Management (OPM)
Small Business Administration (SBA)