I Quit! (Transition from the Army series part 1)

About one year ago, my wife and I decided it was time for a change in our life. Tired of dad being gone all the time and having little choice in our career path, we knew that our time in the active duty was complete. I've learned a lot over the past year as I transitioned and started trying to find a new job. Numerous people have asked me about the experience, and I realized that after answering the 12th or so email with a long list of "dos" and "don'ts", I should probably write it all down in one centralized location that would be easily sharable. Then I realized, "Oh yeah, I've got a blog for exactly that sort of thing!" So I'm going to write a series of posts concerning why I'm leaving, what I've learned as I have exited, how I went about finding my next Big Thing, and what I recommend others do. Despite the enormous amount of support available to transitioning veterans, it is still an extremely difficult process. Made even more taxing because of all the resources and good intentions being thrown at veterans - you can easily suffer from a deluge of choices that overwhelm even the sturdiest decision-maker. This is not the One True Path, it's just the one I walked down. If you gleam any valuable information from the this process, then I'll have successfully helped one person, and that will be my good deed for the day. Enjoy.

If you are perhaps still weighing the pros and cons of leaving the active duty, allow me to better explain why I choose to get out, in the hopes that it will provide some clarification and help your own decision making. There are 100s of good reasons to stay in and 100s of good reasons to get out. For the sake of efficiency, I've boiled my reasons down to 2 major themes that are easily explainable and digestible (an important skill, as your would-be employers WILL ask you why you're leaving!)

1) My definition of success changed. I joined the Army as a single guy, ready to deploy anywhere for any length of time. Now I'm a husband and a dad, so the variables that make up the equation for success have changed drastically. I no longer care about big explosions (though they are still friggin' sweet) as much as I care about reading books to my daughter at bedtime. You've got to control your life so you can achieve whatever that definition of success is, because no one is going to do it for you.

2) I grew frustrated with the military's personnel system. I wanted the flexibility and agility to go as high in an organization as I was capable of without having to follow a prescribed checklist. I grew tired of the risk aversion, the reduction to the lowest common denominator, and the "key development pipeline" that prescribed me my next 8 jobs, regardless of my own passions and interests. The military's massive bureaucracy requires a constant flow of personnel in and out of jobs and lacks the flexibility to allow you to stay in one position and become excellent at something, or conversely speed through positions on your way to the top.

There are plenty of other reasons I could have listed, but those were the 2 that motivated me the strongest. By explaining these two reasons to potential employers, I'm showing them a number of important attributes - I'm a long-term planner, place high value on organizational mobility and dynamic environments, dislike cookie-cutter solutions, and my family is of the utmost importance to me. Listing any more would just make me sound like a disgruntled employee. It's important that you have these reasons down to clear cut, bite-size answers. Rambling on and on about how horrible your boss was, or why you just want to get paid makes you seem like a malcontent and you're definitely not going to get called back for additional interviews. Be honest about your reasons - My experiences have taught me that most employers want to know the real reasons instead of one of those bland statements like "well, I achieved everything I wanted to in the military and now I'm focused on succeeding at other goals." Blech. Think about what the employer is going through - they want someone who is transparent enough to admit why they left a previous job instead of giving them some bullet point that a headhunter company coached the would-be employee on.

I don't want to encourage or discourage anyone from leaving the active duty. If you've already decided to get out, good for you, it's a tough call to make. If you're on the edge, then take a serious look at what your definition of success really is. Don't just go with the flow - it's far too easy to get caught up in the grind and not pick your head up and look at your long-term goals. If those involve staying in the active duty, awesome. If not, awesome. Either way, actually do the analysis! I have much to thank the Army for, so much so that I'm staying in the National Guard because I can't bare the thought of completely leaving the service (plus, Tricare for $300 a month doesn't hurt...) I leave with my head held high, proud of what I did, the man I became, and the wide, wonderful world that awaits me.