Planning the Means and Ends of Post-Service Life

• In Event: 545 - Section on Sociology of Culture Roundtable Session.
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 10. Identity and the Life Course

Abstract

Everyone who returns home from war will eventually become a veteran and most will face the challenge of finding a civilian job or pursuing higher education. This study examines veterans’ accounts of how they imagine and implement the process of returning to civilian life after serving in the U.S military. Building upon recent sociological research that seeks to clarify how beliefs impact behavior, we investigate how beliefs evolve and inform the numerous decisions involved in planning and enacting the return to civilian life. We conducted semi-structured, longitudinal interviews (pre-separation and post-separation) with 48 transitioning servicemembers to collect their accounts of: how and why they decided to leave, what they plan to do as civilians, and how they implement their plans for life after service. In this working paper, we focus on the factors that shape variation in the early planning and implementation processes, prior to veterans leaving active duty. Findings reveal variation in two primary facets of planning the return to civilian life: (1) the timing of articulating post-service goals and constructing a corresponding plan, and (2) maintaining coherence between plans and goals. We identify three planner types that represent these variations in the pre-separation transition: the detailed planner, the vague planner, and the wanderer. As we incorporate our follow-up interview data in the coming months, we will expand findings on respondents’ accounts of accomplishing (or not) their first post-military goal, while considering how planner type, social background, and expectations contribute to variation in goal accomplishment.

Authors

• Meredith A. Kleykamp, University of Maryland

• Sidra J. Montgomery, University of Maryland

• Alexis Pang, New York University

• Kristin Schrader, GBX Consultants, Inc.