What Career Choices do Veterans Have After Service?

Coming home from a stint in the military can be an overwhelming experience for many veterans. They’re faced with a million questions and problems that they often don’t have the solutions to. One of the biggest they face is what should they do for a career now that their service is over? All too often, particularly in generations past, veterans were left to flounder on their own in the job market. Luckily those days are largely behind us and veterans coming home have a bevy of career options ahead of them.

Many have been able to use their VA benefits to help them go back to school and get their degrees. Veterans will likely be able to get some added benefits at certain schools other than those provided by the VA. Some schools, like AMC for example, provide special one on one help for veterans while they’re filling out the (often confusing) paperwork and applications for VA educational benefits.

When it comes to what they actually want to study in school, it’s only natural for many veterans to want to continue to help others in the next phase of their lives, making health care and alternative medicine ideal fields for them to go into. Two growing areas of employment that seems a natural fit for many veterans are massage and acupuncture.

For people who have risked their lives for the sake of others, a much calmer approach to the same thinking is often right on the money. While the skill sets between a soldier and a masseuse are very different in many ways, there are quite a few applicable skills that can be transferred over to a career in massage or acupuncture.

The leadership and management skills and the ability to persevere in the face of obstacles learned in service are perfect for those hoping to start their own practice. Dedication to helping those in need and empathy is at the core of both professions. Cooperation and having the skills to collaborate are enviable for employees in any field as well. As an added benefit for those who suffered injuries in service, big and small, knowledge about the human body and treatments for any ailments that may remain are a given in the fields of massage and acupuncture.

Perhaps more than anything, veterans look towards alternative medicine as a refreshingly calm antidote to the stress and chaos of service. We all know the negative impact stress has on the mind and body, so those looking for a complete 180 from that often find themselves gravitating towards careers that encourage and promote a calmer way of thinking and living.