Boots to Loafers, Finding Your New True North

Every military service member will experience three phases as he moves from a military career to a life outside the gate: transition, transformation, and integration. The foundation of “Boots” is built upon these three concepts. They provide the structure for the advice and guidelines I want to convey to you. You may experience each of these to different degrees depending on your wishes, circumstances, goals, and surrounding environment. These three stages will vary from individual to individual, and they will be shaped by one’s attitude and inner strength as well as his ability to manage the hurdles of life.

From the first day you set foot into boot camp, no matter what service you have been in, until the final days of predeployment training exercises or redeployment, you are taught to always pay attention to every detail in every situation. Our military knows how to turn you on and get you fired up for a mission. Transitioning out of boots will require the same focus on details and the energy to get fired up for your next mission, getting a job.

More than a decade of war in God knows where in the world and many of America’s treasure, our young men and women, will come home and be lost when it comes to preparing for their next fight—finding a job! Many will leave the military voluntarily; more than 1.5 million will leave in the next 5-years. Boots gives them a helping hand, a guide, their new field manual that I never had when I retired from the US Army and entered corporate America. Let me help them find their new true north.