♪ (upbeat music) Folks who have served, they are groomed and trained to the highest levels of intensity for a purpose that's incredibly narrow.

And that, a combat arms profession, doesn't exist in the civilian sector.

- [Narrator] The transition from military to civilian life is full of challenges and veterans across the country are finding their own solutions when it comes to work, jobs and careers.

- It took me about six months to kind of settle into a plan.

- I still use the skills I had from the military, just to be like, somebody who can assert themselves in a way that is authoritative.

- [Narrator] We go behind the scenes of Veterans Coming Home, a series of short stories that feature the voices of American veterans.

- I've decided to tell my story, what my experiences were.

- I wanted to make sure that I was able to be the navigator of my life.

- [Narrator] Learn how documentary filmmakers, vets and PBS stations came together.

We traveled all over the country and we interviewed 50 veterans about their experiences.

- [Narrator] Veterans Coming Home.

Next on LOCAL, U.S.A. (upbeat music) - [Narrator] Funding for LOCAL, U.S.A. was provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Additional funding was provided by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Wyncote Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

- The most difficult part of getting out of the army was the fact that I was going from a defender of the country to being like, now I'm a guy who does spreadsheets, right?

- I really was struggling and I didn't know why.

- When it's over, it's like okay how do I adult?

- We produce a national series that involves interviewing veterans from across the country about some of the challenges that they faced when they transitioned back to being civilians.

And we worked with more than a dozen PBS stations of who told stories about people and programs in their local communities.

- How do you prepare yourself for those unexpected circumstances and still execute your mission?

That's resilience.

- If you have to be able to really drill down on who you are and how you can contribute to others.

- I didn't want someone to navigate my life.

And that's what entrepreneurship brought me.

- Now I'm teaching a comedy class for veterans and I love it.

- I'm living the dream that I set out for myself, the goals that I set out for myself.

- Knowing that I could heal myself, I don't believe anyone is lost.

- We're all on the journey.

All on a journey man.

(light music) - We traveled all over the country and we interviewed 50 veterans about their experiences.

- We wanted to create a snapshot of what typical veteran transition experiences look like.

We wanna have a nice mix of people from across the country.

- I remember that we didn't interview her in the end.

- Yes.

- Because she was so far.

- And we basically made a big matrix of all the people that we had talked to and what some of the key themes that their stories really embodied.

- I think we picked a really really good like, wide range of people.

- When I first asked you if you would shoot this project, I remember you kind of hinted that you had some mixed feelings about it.

- The first Veterans Coming Home season we did, I really didn't, like my wife even told me, you know, like that kind of, I was not emotionally prepared for that experience.

A lot of times I'm talking to people who have had similar experiences, that can sometimes be painful experiences and it's emotionally and mentally taxing.

- You think most civilians have any sense of how hard it is?

- Civilians might think it's hard in the Hollywood sense, but the hard part really comes in sacrificing your freedoms.

My own transition out of the military was like, crash landing into my parents' living room.

And I think if you're a young person in the military it's hard to even know what the first steps are.

The military is a life changing experience, it's something that you should glean from, but like, once it's over, you gotta keep moving forward.

If you're living in those days, the glory days, you know, then you're not giving yourself any room to grow.

You have to start deactivating that stuff that you've learned and start initiating new ways of thinking.

- Folks who've served, they are groomed and trained to the highest levels of intensity, for a purpose that's incredibly narrow.

And that, a combat arms profession doesn't exist in the civilian sector.

And so there's this second guessing, there is this existential questioning of who am I in my career?

Who am I now?

- In the military you show up, right place, right time, right uniform, do your job, go home and you get ready to hit repeat.

Once you get out of the military, it's like, well, what do I do?

Do I pursue a career similar to what I did in the military?

Do I pursue education?

Do I need more education to pursue that career?

Do I move, do I stay?

And then if you don't have a good support system, it can be kind of overwhelming and daunting.

- They prep you a little bit to get out.

But not, it's bull--, it's just like some PowerPoint slides on resume building and you know, if you're in the Infantry you take a test and it applies your military skills to a civilian job and as an infantryman it would tells us we could be a cop, or a truck driver, or like some low skill manual labor job.

So like, they don't give you any confidence getting out.

- [Interviewer] So how did you get from there to here?

Well I had to pick like what school I wanted to transfer to.

So I had to talk to my guidance counselor and I was like what about Berkeley?

And he kind of scoffed at me and said it was really hard to get into.

And I was like, okay.

All right, mother--.

And then I like, just internally, like, was gonna prove him wrong.

Never in a million years would I have thought I'd be here.

Like, growing up George Bush Texas and Indiana, and being in the Infantry.

Never in a million years would I have thought I'd be going to Berkeley.

- I was a 26 year old freshman in college and that was an experience all in itself.

I remember calling my mom like the first day of campus, I'd made like a little map of where all my classes were so I didn't get lost, like I totally Army NCO'd the -- out of this, right?

And called her in the middle of like, an hour and a half break that I had and I said, you know, like, what do I do?

There's nothing to do.

My day has been so structured.

And she sort of said, well most people go sit on the Quad or they go grab lunch or they do this sort of thing and I finally sort of confessed to her like, this is really hard, like, I've never sort of been on my own like this before.

I've always had leadership and a schedule and someone telling me where to go and what to do.

And she started laughing at me and she said, "Meg, you survived Iraq twice, you can do this.

"And also, you're not coming home."

And then she hung up the phone on me, which was really, really supportive and awesome.

- I had a master's degree and a career before I joined the Marine Corp and I got slammed in the face by the transition.

It's really difficult.

Companies are really well-meaning and veterans really wanna give it their best shot, most of us but it's hard.

And a lot of veterans leave within the first year, just from bad fit.

You're told people are tripping over themselves to hire you.

All they want are veterans.

And the major problem with that is that patriotism is not, it's not a business strategy.

It's a great marketing strategy.

It's a phenomenal value for a company to have but it's not a business strategy.

And that's something that I think, private sector needed to hear.

You're not hiring a veteran because you think they're a hero and you think that they have a great work ethic.

You're hiring a veteran because they're gonna make a difference in your bottom line.

They just happen to be a veteran.

- I transitioned right into a recession.

Nobody planned that.

I was five months pregnant, leaving a bad relationship.

Also I had my daughter, she was six years old.

And leaving that bad relationship on top of this recession thing that was going on, I found myself homeless.

I mean I literally had my clothes in a garbage bag.

That's all I had, I had nothing.

I felt super ashamed.

I didn't tell my mom and didn't tell my family.

Didn't tell my friends.

- [Interviewer] You didn't ask your family for help?

- No, I was too proud.

There's no way.

I was too proud.

And I knew that, look I did all these amazing things when I was active duty and that was my motivation to get out of it.

(light music) - There's this dichotomy, they're warriors but they're wounded.

I think that that gets spread across the civilian public as a stereotype that veterans come back heroes but are some how damaged.

My first job the coworker responsible for training turned to me and said, "I know that all of this information "can be a little overwhelming "but if you feel the need to blow up or explode, "you can take a ten minute walk around the building."

At first I thought that was a little strange and a hour goes by and he starts telling me about his buddies from high school that joined the Marine Corp and came back.

And how screwed up they were when they came back.

And then I realized that in that moment he had probably been projecting his friends' experiences onto me and I by extension must be screwed up.

I decided to invite some of my coworkers to lunch and to tell my story, tell them what my experiences were.

Let them ask their questions.

And by getting in front of that I was able to dispel misconceptions that they had built up and they were able to welcome me in as just a normal guy and a welcomed part of the team.

- I got an offer to come out to guide school with the Sierra Club Outdoors, Military Outdoor program.

I did that.

I loved guide school.

So at this point I'm just building that skill set and being a guide you know.

Like my real passion out here is to like run gnarly white water (laughing).

You know, it's that adrenaline thing.

Why was I in the Infantry (laughing) you know.

You know, when you out yourself on the line out there and perform well, there's no better feeling.

I still use skills I had from the military just to be like somebody who can assert themselves in a way that is authoritative.

I don't have a problem that a lot of new guides have.

Where it's like, nobody in my boat was listening to me.

That does not happen to me (laughing) ever.

My customers listen to me on the river.

And it's not because I'm being mean to them.

It's because I exude a confident level of energy that I know is a direct result of my service as a NCO in the Infantry.

Basically, you know.

- I wanted to make sure that I was able to be the navigator of my life.

I didn't want someone to navigate my life.

And that's what entrepreneurship brought me.

And what worked for me was a program at Syracuse actually.

Entrepreneurial BootCamp for Veterans.

It was just amazing getting that opportunity to meet other business owners that were not actually veterans.

But, donated their time to sit with us and talk about their experience and even take a look at my business plan.

When you're in the military, we're resilient.

And I would say remember that.

Never forget it.

- The most important value to learn is take that courage and that mission success and that connection with their group.

Apply that immediately into whatever matters are plaguing their own lives or the lives of veterans or the lives of Americans.

Jake Wood was a Marine sniper.

He leaves the service.

He recognizes right after Haiti that he and some fellow Marines and some fellow service members, could make a difference after the earthquake in Haiti.

Literally post on it on Facebook.

Gets a few of his friends, gets on a plane and within two days he's practically running one of the local hospitals.

And that gave birth to Team Rubicon.

Seven years later we've got 80000 plus volunteers of veterans and first responders and kick ass civilians, who kick disaster in its teeth.

And this was nothing more from two guys sitting around presumably in saying, I see something, let's change it.

The most important value to have is the ability to see where there's a need and say how can I help solve that need.

And the courage and the gusto and the bravado to say, we're gonna be the people who do it.

(soft piano music) -I think the challenge of starting a new career when you leave the military is a lot more complicated than most people realize Even a lot of people who are in the military don't necessarily realize how difficult it's gonna be to settle into a job that they find really satisfying in the civilian world.

- Cinematography is very similar to my job in the military and so it's my favorite thing to do.

And to watch someone like Garret who's you know, also in the exact same line of work in the military.

And you know I learned a lot watching him interview other veterans.

I experienced some pretty intense combat as a Machine Gunner in Afghanistan.

Now a lot of the things that I learned, I find myself incorporating it into like my daily routine.

Like building structure into my life.

Like, the discipline, that's kind of a word that I think was thrown around when I was growing up.

Now I kind of understand what that means.

For me it wasn't a strange transition coming back into Veterans Coming Home.

It's almost kind of a closure on that period of my life.

- Here in Hampton Roads we have you know, one of the largest veteran population in the country.

To be able to create a story on somebody who was in charge of 30000 people on the East Coast at one time you know.

It's a little intimidating.

Also to kinda show this upper tier of military which you don't often get a chance to kinda learn about.

But Rear Admiral who you know was there from the birth of a ship to see it go out on it's first mission.

And wasn't necessarily ready to get out of the Navy.

She kind of reached a plateau.

- I had no plan even though I knew you know, once you make flag you serve at the discretion of the Navy and when they don't need you anymore, you are released from your requirement to serve.

I knew all that.

Fortunately for me I'm a collaborative reader so I was kind of shepherding things along and respecting people for what they able to bring and what they wanna bring.

- So now she's kind of thrust into this situation where for the first time you know, probably in her life, she's kinda free in a way.

But maybe not in a good way and I think we see that often in our veteran population as they're trying to you know, gain entry back into the civilian world.

- People get so much meaning and purpose out of their careers in the military and often really profoundly miss that when they leave.

- And so the question then becomes, What are you interested in?

It took me about six months to kind of settle into a plan.

This is my thing.

Sea level rise and wetlands restoration.

That's where I think I can add value and I hope that I do and I'll continue to.

- When you're somebody like Ann Phillips you just don't, you know take a year off and lay on the couch and watch Jeopardy.

She's kinda of the person that is going to you know just achieve.

- Admiral Phillips you talked about the fact that, we can take care of this issue but not if we wait to get started.

I wonder if you'd elaborate on that.

- As we know the waters are rising.

Believe me ladies and gentlemen, all the work we're doing on bringing jobs to this region, retaining the military.

We don't get the sea level rise thing straightened out, all that stuff is wasted.

(clapping) (soft guitar music) I drove ships for 31 years.

That was my dream to get into The Destroyer Navy.

I later was able to command a Destroyer Squadron.

I was the first woman to have that opportunity.

My last command was Expeditionary Strike Group Two which was all the amphibious forces on the East Coast of the United States.

I wasn't planning to get out and I wasn't ready to get out.

That is the way this works.

Sooner or later you don't get to serve anymore whether you want to or not.

Someone said to me, "What's important to you?"

That was a compelling question and it made me think about what was I going to do.

(light music) Whenever we had significant rain in the base where I was assigned would be cut in half.

For us to share information with each other, we're having to drive outside the fence line.

I didn't spend a lot of time thinking, "Ah, that darn sea level rise, it's coming to get us."

But, that kind of gave me some exposure to that world.

Once I retired I was asked to participate in a pilot project here in Hampton Roads, looking at the impact of sea level rise on the region and coming up with community solutions to that impact.

The more I learned the more I realized we have, really an existential challenge here and not only does it impact this region but it also is a threat to our national security.

And we have an opportunity to do something about it.

But we have to start to act now.

I love that kind of a challenge.

It's a lot like running a ship in the Navy.

And it ties in to things that I love.

The environment, the outdoors, wetlands.

So then I found my compelling issue.

But what I realized was, all that intellectual energy I'd been putting into the Navy, I could put that into something else.

And what do you know, I was trainable.

I could learn new skills.

It completely changed my life, my perspective, my confidence.

(upbeat music) We cut, we cleared and now we're replanting with what is supposed to be here.

And you can see it's doing pretty well.

This is Distichlis, this went in last summer.

This is Spartina Alternate Flora, that was already here.

This is mud , oh sorry.

It has been a journey of exploration.

I was very fortunate to be directed towards a group called The Lafayette Wetlands Partnership.

So that got me involved in this neighborhood and in that context we decided we would restore something we call the Midfield Wetlands Walk.

It has become a project to make it a better retainer of water for species that should be there to evolve as we see rising waters in the Hampton Roads region.

(upbeat music) How do you prepare yourself for those unexpected circumstances and still execute your mission?

That's resilience.

So it doesn't matter if it applies to a ship, or to a town, or to a street or your home , your life, your family, your job.

That's a big part of this.

So, here I am being resilient in my field of dreams.

This is Spartina Patens.

(mumbles) meadow hay.

That's a bee.

Back to the cutting.

(light music) - One really interesting pattern that emerged is that entrepreneurship is a really popular means to success in careers for veterans.

Veterans are more likely than civilians to start their own business.

And it makes sense because if you think about it, a lot of the skills that you learn in the military are the kind of skills you need to be a successful entrepreneur.

(peaceful piano music) - WUSF was involved in Veterans Coming Home.

And we were spotlighting veteran entrepreneurs.

This fabulous person named Felicia Pecora, got to learn a to about here and her business organization, her entrepreneurship.

- Can you tell me a little bit more about her business and what she set out to do and how it's worked out for her.

- Felicia Pecora started a business called Doer Academy, and that is focused on preventing any dangerous situations that might occur in a workplace or a school or a home.

And I think she really drew upon her experiences as a veteran.

- What's that say?

- Um, - What's that say?

- D-A-I-N-R-E - I don't think-- - She's been in the military, she can draw upon that experience and is well poised to communicate and show you how to prevent tragedies and dangerous occurrences from happening.

More people are gonna be talking about her contributions and what she can do for public spaces where you need safety.

We would like to talk about the positive stories that are coming out about veterans who've come home and are starting a business.

We want that positivity to be part of the narrative.

- She went from this idea of, is there anything we can do.

There's nothing we can do.

To, we can win this.

That moment, not only did it, I think change her life, it changed mine because I decided right then and there, that's what I'm gonna do for the rest of my life.

(relaxed music) - I called her balling.

I was crying and I said, "we've gotta help these babies.

"I don't know how to keep them safe.

"Like its a scary world and I don't know that we're doing everything we need to do."

And she's like, "Let me help you."

(relaxed music) - I've got 24 years of experience in safety and physical safety.

I eventually offered, hey why don't I come and talk to your teachers about the event, what you guys can do to prepare.

To mitigate the risk.

I gave them permission to even grab children and run.

You don't always have to lock down.

You can hide it's okay and if the attacker comes and there's nowhere to go, yes, yes you can fight them.

When we did the training it was just a collective sigh of relief.

The vision I have for the Doer Academy is that any student, any Doer student can be self sufficient about their own safety.

So that anywhere they go, any space is safer because they're there.

(upbeat music) I heard about a program, a entrepreneurship program through Veterans Florida.

So I went to this class, this course, and met amazing teachers with extreme entrepreneurial experience.

And this completely unfocused, directionless idea I had that maybe I'll teach something.

Really became focused and they really helped me see the realities of starting a business.

They really gave me tools and skills to put a business together and have it be sustainable over a period of time.

(upbeat music) It's given me exposure that I never could have dreamed of.

And partnerships.

Other veterans, the businesses that they're doing, we're able to do partnerships.

I don't think I would have thought about having other experts in other fields come in, if it hadn't been for this experience with other vets.

Where one is strong, many are much stronger.

(upbeat music) It's more than just safety.

To really add texture to it and to make it more meaningful, you really have to understand the psychological aspect.

If all you have is a hammer everything looks like a nail.

We're giving you other tools because not everything is a nail.

The demand that I have seen is way beyond anything I could have imagined.

And the need for this kind of training is beyond what I could have hoped for.

- [Narrator] Find stories from Vets Coming Home online at the Vets Coming Home Facebook page or log on to worldchannel.org.

Send us a comment across social media using #VetsComingHome or #worldchannel (upbeat music) Funding for LOCAL, U.S.A. was provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Additional funding was provided by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Wyncote Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.