COMING HOME
RETURNING TROOPS STRUGGLE TO ADJUST TO NEW REALITY AS CIVILIANS ENTERING WORKFORCE
Steve Huffman collects figurines. On one cabinet in his basement, Captain America can be found punching out the Red Skull. Close by, another small figurine waits for a new paint job to transform it into Captain Canuck.
Amid the eclectic collection, all organized with military precision, is a small scrapbook titled Warrant Officer Steve Huffman. Inside is a picture from 1997, when Huffman and his Canadian Forces communications team deployed to Winnipeg during the floods.
Almost all of the soldiers in the photo are now out of the military. But it wasn’t until late 2011 that Huffman joined them, putting behind 25 years of service, including two tours of duty in Afghanistan.
“I haven’t had a lot of problems” since leaving the forces, he says sheepishly, as if he’s ruined a good story. “I didn’t have any set goal in mind when I retired. Financially, I knew I’d be in good shape.”
Huffman is among many who have had a relatively smooth transition into civilian life since Canada’s war in Afghanistan wound down.
But not everyone has been, or will be, so lucky. Many veterans have never been part of a civilian workplace, says Guy Parent, Canada’s veterans’ ombudsman, meaning they won’t easily slip into a life without the military.
“They actually started at a young age — 18, 19 — and were assimilated by the Canadian Forces,” he says.
“When they get out of the forces, healthy or unhealthy, injured or uninjured, they have to face this integration into civilian society, which is completely different than military culture.”
Despite being well-positioned financially because of their years of service, many veterans will face myriad psychological issues that will affect their work as they form a new civilian identity.
Approximately 5,000 members are currently “released” annually from the Canadian Forces. About 39,000 Canadian soldiers served in Afghanistan, with 4,181 now receiving benefits from Veterans Affairs as a direct result of their service in Afghanistan.
Those who have the hardest time transitioning to civilian life are usually young, have fewer years of service and haven’t planned for a life after the military.
Another group is reservists, who leave their jobs to serve overseas and are expected to somehow simply melt back into their old lives.
Half the soldiers in the military today have a high school education or less, which doesn’t always help in the job search. Despite career transition programs offered through Veterans Affairs, many lack jobhunting skills. “Most of the time, that doesn’t help them enough,” says Audrey Prenzel, a private career counsellor in Trenton, Ont.
Veterans Affairs’ Career Transition Program teaches soldiers how to write a resume and translate their military credentials into civilian language.
But according to Veterans Affairs statistics, just 251 Afghanistan veterans had taken part in career counselling or job-search assistance as of last September. Fifty-six completed the program by either landing a job or sticking with the military, and 86 dropped out or moved to vocational rehabilitation, which helps physically injured veterans prepare for a career that fits their abilities.
About one in three exsoldiers actively looks for work upon release, and of those, almost 90 per cent will find it, according to Veterans Affairs research.
Few studies have broken this down precisely, but anecdotal evidence suggests many join militarylike organizations, such as police and security firms.
Veterans Affairs research shows that many who take part in the department’s career transition program find jobs in skilled trades: information technology, aviation, even addiction counselling.
In one study, Tim Black, a psychologist at the University of Victoria, found that veterans felt a successful transition required at least two years of planning, and civilian connections. In corporate Canada, it’s not always what you know, but who you know that lands you a job.
“Your network would effectively be everybody who was in the military,” says Mark Walden, a veteran who, along with David Mack, oversees an RBC program designed to hire veterans.
Mack earned his MBA in 2009 from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont. Yet he had a hard time parlaying the degree and years of military experience into a job, until another veteran vouched for him.
“The biggest hurdle for them is selling themselves in a job interview,” says Tim Laidler, an Afghanistan veteran who now provides career help to ex-soldiers. “In the military, you don’t do that. You don’t stand up and be the tall poppy.”
Part of the problem is that some of the experience listed on a veteran’s resume doesn’t translate well into civilian-speak.
Some military jobs, such as engineering, have more easily transferable skills than other jobs, such as working in the infantry.
“I didn’t have a lot of skills that were easily recognized by employers. When people think of army guys, they think of Platoon or Black Hawk Down,” says Kevin O’grady, a reservist from Vancouver who obtained a business degree after a 2008 tour in Afghanistan.
“A lot of people don’t see the people skills you end up with or the event management skills, organizational skills, (and) ability to deal with stress.”
Not all veterans need to find work right away.
In the year after release from the military, veterans see a spike in income: a combination of their military pension, severance and any disability pay.
A Veterans Affairs study found that, on average, a veteran will earn about $44,000 annually in the 10 years after release. Add the average $14,000 pension to that, and some veterans don’t need to earn much more to maintain their standard of living.
Robert Leroux found himself in the same situation. The 26-year veteran earned about $68,000 as a sergeant in his last year in the military. He earns more today, combining his civilian salary from Correctional Services Canada, military pension and disability payments.
He doesn’t find daily life easy, however. He has a hard time with the informal way a civilian workplace operates, far different from the highly structured hierarchy of the military.
Also hampering his work life is post-traumatic stress disorder which will affect about 2,750 Afghanistan veterans. At least 6,500 will suffer from a diagnosed mental health problem, according to an October 2011 research paper.
“I’ll probably be suffering from Alzheimer’s or ALS sometime in the future. My short-term memory sucks,” Leroux says.
PTSD impedes the ability to work, and veterans say they may not always receive an understanding ear from civilian employers.
“People don’t have a lexicon to know what that means,” says Laidler, who has PTSD symptoms from his eight-month tour of Afghanistan in 2008. “I don’t hold people responsible — it’s just the way it is.”
Not surprisingly, veterans with PTSD and physical disabilities from the Afghanistan mission will probably earn less than those veterans without a physical or mental health concern. Veterans in rehabilitation for physical or mental health problems suffered in Afghanistan earn about 58 per cent of their pre-release income in the civilian workforce, on average about $38,400.
Veterans Affairs research shows that the unemployment rate for veterans roughly mirrors the rate in the general population.
The key to keeping that rate low is helping veterans “drop their (emotional and psychological) baggage,” Black says.
Black and Laidler are part of the Veterans Transition Program at the University of British Columbia and University of Victoria.
The group therapy sessions last 10 days, spread over three months, and include up to 10 soldiers in each group.
The program will go national this year with groups in Atlantic Canada — which has a disproportionate number of veterans — as well as in Edmonton and Central Canada. Combined, there will be seven such programs by the end of 2012.