My father used to always tell me a story about a grasshopper and an ant to drive home the importance of proper preparation preventing... well poor performance. The story was simple and contained only the two fore-mentioned characters. All summer long the ant slaved away in the hot sun to store away food and materials that he would need later that fall once the winter arrived and resources became scarce. Watching him work was the grasshopper that lived in the moment, simply content to lay back and let the sun wash over him as food was plentiful and life was good.
The ant throws out a caution to the grasshopper stating that he will be hurting for food once the winter comes and that he had better store some away now if he is to survive. Well as the story clearly unfolds the winter comes and the ant though not especially happy about the cold weather and bleak conditions has enough food and proper shelter to somewhat comfortably make-due. The contrast is of course the grasshopper who is sitting outside in the snow freezing, starving and eventually begging the ant for food due to his poor planning.
This story is simple yet it rings true for many, how many times do we wish we had thought something through a little better or took an extra moment to plan the minor details before arriving at the moment of truth. Anyone who has been camping and encountered a summer thunderstorm without the adequate equipment surely knows what I am talking about. If planning is so important, when then should a member of the active duty services begin planning for his or her departure from those services and subsequent transition back into the civilian world?
This may seem like an easy question, much the same way the story seemed like it was obvious enough, but is this question as straight forward as it may seem? Is the answer simply, as early as possible? Or is that too naïve a response given that many service members do not even know for sure what conditions and factors will be present that may either push them toward getting out or encourage them to remain in the military?
It has been my experience thus far those two years out is simply too far away for any level of planning beyond taking college prerequisites for credits which a service member would probably do regardless of whether they are getting out or staying in. Even a year out from an individual's End of Active Service seems like a large enough gaps to leave many Veterans wondering how they could 1. Pause work long enough to think about what to do next and 2. Know for sure whether they want to get out or remain in. For enlisted military often times the tipping point for a decision comes in the form of re-enlistment deadlines and closed out occupational specialties before they come from personal preference and well thought out planning.
Are we approaching one of the biggest transitions an individual can make with the mindset of the grasshopper who sits back and sees decisions as too much work until it's too late and then scrambling to throw a few ideas together prior to getting handed the DD214 and finding ourselves on the other side of the looking glass. How many members of our military have thought their "plan" was just as robust and in alignment with their happiness as the grasshopper did sitting in the sun and soaking up the "good times"? How many quickly found out as the winter months set in and the accessibility to resources became far scarcer that when tested their plan was little more than a few leaves in the cold winter breeze?
There is and can be a better way to approach this monumental transitional phase of a Veterans life, but it will require an equally impressive effort from both the services that the person is departing as well as the civilian sector that he or she is entering to properly guide, prepare and train him or her for the winter months ahead. They will need to know where to look for food now that the automatic payments on the 1st and the 15th have dried up and how to illicit the help of others like them to create powerful leverage and results from their experiences and skill sets gained in the military.
If you feel that perhaps you have been caught in "grasshopper" mode once or twice please visit Green Collar Vets and tell us about it so we may share your trials and tribulations with transitioning members of the military and hopefully show them the prudence of being a little more "ant-like" as they get ready to get out. We also offer army veteran jobs.
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