Life After The Military.

A couple of months ago, I was watching a movie called, The Lucky One. What stuck with me the most was after the guy came back home from the military, he had some difficulties adjusting to civilian life again. In the end, it turned out good for the guy. In real life, after a person is released from the military, the adjustment might not always be smooth sailing. It all depends on what the individual has gone through when they were deployed, and it is another story if the individual was wounded. There are two major adjustments that a person must go through when re-entering civilian life.

There is an emotional adjustment and physical adjustment. In reality, it is like a person has to get used to not being a soldier and go back to being a civilian. For example, my daughter joined the army reserves and from there she became active duty. There were various training she had to go through. What made it not so hard was that others around her were going through the same training and adjustments she was going through. She was a civilian along with others being trained to be a soldier.

While she was in the military, she got married, had kids, and lived on base. Even though, she was married and had kids as an active duty solider, she still had responsibilities and training she had to do. One of the things that was required was she had to get up early in the morning to go to PT (physical training) with their unit before she even went to work, and this was on a daily basis. After so many years of service and training, she decided to leave the military and go back to civilian life again. Consequently, she had a tough time adjusting because the same comrades that had her back supporting and helping her, no longer had that support. She had her family and other friends that she had before she joined the military but only a few individuals stayed in touch with her once she got out of the military.

For many years, she had been trained emotionally and physically to be a soldier. Now she is asked to lay all that aside and be a civilian again. I am sure this adjustment does not happen overnight. What helped my daughter was knowing that family and friends were in her corner to support her and help her to ease back into civilian life. Next, there is a physical adjustment. Many times, soldiers will come home wounded from the battle.

There are physical wounds but there are emotional wounds also depending on the extent of the injuries. This means that the individual not only has to adjust emotionally but there is also a physical adjustment which can be a slow process. For example, when it comes to emotional adjustment one might have to adjust to being back home with family again. For example, loud noises could cause flashbacks for a person adjusting to civilian life especially if they did lots of fighting on the frontlines.

Certain things such as loud noises, sudden bangs, and certain smells can cause a person to have flashbacks at times as if they are still fighting on the frontlines all over again. When it comes to life after the military and adjusting to civilian life once again, there will always be a part of the military that stays with a person. It makes the adjustment a lot easier when the individual knows that there is family, support groups, and professional counseling to help them.