The process of transitioning out of the military can present its own unique set of challenges. While the armed services train soldiers well in technical and leadership skills and do provide soldiers with many useful resources as they exit, there are some things that military service does not prepare you for when re-entering civilian life.

Here are five tips to help make the transition a bit easier:

How to connect to a new communityWith its relocation and MWR departments, the military does a lot to help soldiers and their families adjust to a new base, posting and locale. Once out of the service, though, you may find connecting to a new community quite daunting. Apart from become involved with the school your children attend and joining a new religious organization, there are other ways to immediately connect to a new community.

Tapping into your interests, hobbies and sports can reveal others who are like-minded and share your passions. You can also choose to get involved by volunteering with a not-for-profit organization or taking a class at the local community college or at a hobby or home improvement store. Many cities also offer a Newcomer’s Group to welcome recent additions to their new home. Check out the meetings and events calendar in your newspaper or ask at the local library to find out when they meet. It’s a great way to meet people who may know a lot about the city, who can perhaps point you towards other resources and groups and who want to welcome strangers. Finally, civic organizations and special interest groups offer a further way to involve yourself in a new community and build long-term relationships that can help with your career as well as your social life.

How to write a resumeInstead of a resume, the military uses a Field Service Record to detail qualifications, training and experience. This poses several challenges to you in civilian life. First, you may never have had to write a resume. Second, the information contained in the service record is dictated by military regulations. It may include things not applicable to a resume while neglecting to mention other useful and marketable skill sets. Finally, they are written in military language that is difficult to translate into civilian speak.

In addition to learning how to write a good resume, you must also learn how to remain marketable in today’s business climate. Military planners often look ahead to determine future needs and train soldiers accordingly. Also, few soldiers are concerned about getting laid off in a downsizing. You didn’t have to be ready with a current resume and a strong network of contacts. In the competitive civilian world, individuals must keep informed about where their chosen industry is heading and gain or refresh skill sets ahead of when they are needed to ensure their future employability.

Although soldiers pride themselves on being resourceful and self-reliant, this is one area in which it’s best to obtain professional help. On many bases, there is a department that provides soldiers with specialized help in creating a good civilian resume and there are numerous outside sources of help as well.

How to select your family’s support teamMedical and dental care and basic life insurance is provided to all active military members and their dependants and soldiers. Similarly, soldiers have access to basic legal services through the Judge Advocate General (JAG) office.

Once out of the military, these support services are no longer available and you may have no idea how to locate, interview and select medical health providers, life insurance, lawyers and financial planners. It’s important to learn about these different services, determine what your family’s needs are and thoroughly research the providers before choosing your support team. Many resources are available, particularly on the Internet, to help you. Several even list important questions to ask during the interview process as well as the customer service record of various providers.

How to succeed in the civilian business world One of the first things that soldiers encounter is the competitive nature of the civilian business environment. Most find the dog-eat-dog mindset of their new civilian co-workers and supervisors bewildering and disappointing. After participating collaboratively in military service where you are trained from boot camp on to look out for and depend on the other members of your team, you may quickly discover that civilian workers are often lone wolves when it comes to careers. Where you might expect camaraderie and support, you might find anything from caution to backstabbing, from poor morale to ruthlessness. While this is not true of every work environment, you need to understand that this behavior grows out of a competitive employment climate marked by downsizing, industry shifts and turnover.

In the military, you are given an assignment for a specific length of time at a standard pay grade with a predictable salary and are provided with the clothing, equipment, and training necessary to carry out the mission objective. Ordinarily, you don’t face such issues as researching a company prior to a job interview, negotiating salary and benefits packages, selecting and purchasing a civilian work wardrobe, keeping skills and a resume updated frequently, being ready for downsizing, creating and maintaining a network and giving a resignation notice without burning any bridges.

Working with a transition coach or other similar resource can help to process the experience and ease the pains of necessary change.

How to start your own businessPerhaps because former military members find the civilian business environment so alien, some decide to become their own bosses and start their own businesses. Unfortunately, many aspiring small business owners do not take the time to fully research and plan how to start and run a business and lose whatever savings they have managed to accumulate. Starting your own business requires a clear vision, full commitment, plenty of work, and realistic planning.

Fortunately, there are many resources available. Start with a local Chamber of Commerce or Small Business Development Center (part of the SBA). These organizations can help or point you in the direction of further assistance.

By Kate Hobbs

When most people think about offshore banking, they think about the wealthiest people in the world or the world of spies and international crime! For years, these banks have mostly been associated with the super wealthy or criminals who are trying to hide their money. But the truth is that offshore banking is something that is perfectly legal – in fact, a lot of ordinary people do it, as well. In very basic terms, offshore banking simply refers to the practice of opening a bank account outside of your native country. Why do people do it? Mainly because of the tax benefits but there are other advantages to these accounts, as well. There are also a few disadvantages to these accounts.

A World Of Benefits

The Bahamas, along with places like Austria and the Cayman Islands are among the top places for offshore accounts. Apart from the tax breaks, people may opt for offshore accounts in the Bahamas for a number of other reasons. For one thing, these accounts offer the depositor greater privacy, thanks to the Swiss Banking Act of 1934. If the depositor lives in a politically or economically unstable country, storing money in offshore accounts can be a real life-saver. If for any reason they need to flee their homes to another country, they will still have their money safe in the bank. Unstable countries may also resort to freezing bank accounts and offshore accounts bypasses that risk.

When compared to interest rates in your home country, chances are that you will get better rates with an offshore account. This is because most offshore banks have much lower overheads and no government intervention – hence they can offer higher interest rates to their clients. Apart from this, offshore accounts entitle the depositor to a number of services they may not be able to get with a domestic bank. This includes better loan rates and the ability to keep your banking details anonymous.

The Downside

Offshore bank accounts in the Bahamas do have their drawbacks, however. For instance, actual physical contact is reduced to an absolute minimum. Thanks to the internet and other global technology, you can easily run your account via phone or email. However, it can be hard to access information immediately – many offshore banks are working on ways to minimize this problem.

Given the world of benefits that these offshore accounts give you, it’s only natural that they be on the expensive side. Opening up an offshore account and maintaining it costs considerably more than keeping an ordinary domestic account. Apart from that, there is still a stigma attached to offshore banking. It’s true that in the past, these banks have been used by the mafia and illegal organizations. There have also been recent concerns that offshore banks have been holding money for different terrorist outfits. Offshore accounts are perfectly legal and are used by numerous well-respected dignitaries from all around the world.

If you have the funds to open and maintain an offshore account, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t! While it might be expensive, the tax benefits and other perks certainly make such an account worth the effort!

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Submitted by: Jennifer A. Gardner

Whether single or not, all parents leave long lasting impressions on their child’s life. This is particularly true for single parents. Death, divorce or whatever is the cause of this singularity, it likely leaves deep impressions on the emerging personality of the child. What actually matters is the way the single parent responds to the task of single parenthood. In whichever manner the single parent has dealt with the parenting challenge, there are deep effects on the child’s character and individuality as compared to the children of parents living together.

Being a child to a single parent is a complex situation. Children look up and follow their parents. If the parents are confident and stable, their children feel secure and confident. The sense of belonging to a single parent who is either living as an unmarried heterosexual couple or a homosexual couple or without a partner at all has a disturbing effect on the child’s personality. Although the laws and norms of societies have changed, unlawful children are made fun of. They are called bastards, illegal and at some places natural born children. As it is a social taboo, it always haunts the child that his mother was never married to his father or at times the fathers refuse to recognize these children as theirs. They are singled out by others at school and playgrounds and made fun of. All these effect the child’s personality and self confidence. As a result of which they become reluctant to attend school and socialize. These are part of difficulties that children of lone parents have to go through.

Bringing up children as a single father is a tough task. Being a father you have to go to work as well as look after your young ones which is very taxing. You can really fatigue. As a single father neither you nor your child has the liberty to share your thoughts with the mother. The children particularly feel comfortable to converse with their mother for many of their problems. A number of public schools also don’t consider single parents worthy for the task which adds to their worries.

Some of the societies don’t accept single parents who exercise this option by choice. In many areas it is considered illegal and morally corrupt. Others consider it a religious taboo particularly the Bible belt. As the society looks down upon them and socially isolates them they feel left out. This makes their life nerve-racking. It is not always easy to migrate from one place to other due to job and financial reasons.

From the above it appears that there is nothing positive in single parenting, how ever on the contrary there is some ray of hope also. Recently some work done at Cornell University about the implications of single parenthood, particularly single mothers on the academic and behavioral progress of children in early teens revealed no harmful effects. This is very encouraging for single mothers. At last it is now obvious that if they are considerate and looking after thier young ones with love and affection, the single status would not be a hurdle in bringing up confident, well mannered and contented children.

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