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Program attempts to help returned service members make the transition to civilian workplaces.
By James Wells
For former Australian Defence Force personnel, the transition from military to civilian life is often strenuous and difficult. Aside from the physical and mental scars veterans may carry with them from service, adjusting to the civilian workplace environment is onerous in itself.
Many ex-services personnel experience a culture shock when adjusting to civilian life, potentially exasperating pre-existing mental conditions, as they may feel cut off socially and experience a loss of role, identity and purpose.
Veteran advocacy group Young Diggers says this is caused by the unique culture of the military workplace, which is different to civilian work environments.
Now, a unique pilot program from the University of Sydney is set to support veterans hoping to make the adjustment to a civilian workplace.
The Skills Training and Reintegration Initiative for Veterans’ Education( STRIVE) is the first of its kind in Australia. It’ s free for ex-service members who have been discharged from military service in the past five years and will run at USYD’ s Centre for Continuing Education.
Professor Michael Biercuk, a quantum physicist, co-founded the program. Biercuk says he saw the need for it when he worked alongside US military personnel as a civilian contractor during the Iraq War.
“ From my perspective as a non-veteran, I looked at the differences between the civilian workplace and the military workplace, taking input from those working on both, and saw that there were challenges associated with translating existing skills into a slightly different language,” Biercuk explains.“ Some specific examples: the military is fond of jargon and acronyms, so you’ ll frequently get emails from military personnel that are full of abbreviations, unintelligible unless you’ re in that workforce. And if you’ ve only experienced that particular work culture it’ s difficult to understand that [ such communication ] is not necessarily acceptable or understandable in a civilian workplace.”
Helping veterans go from a workplace based on a rigid chain of command where authority comes from a superior rank, to one where authority comes from persuading subordinates or superiors to get onside with an idea, is also a priority. Biercuk stresses that the adjustment is far from impossible, rather, it just means veterans need guidance in broadening their thinking and applying the skills they already have.
STRIVE will also focus on basic but essential skills ex-services personnel need, such as CV writing and developing a support network.
“ The kinds of topics we’ re looking to cover involve, for instance, practical things like CV writing for the civilian workplace and time management,” Biercuk says.“ But also analytic skills like writing persuasively, making arguments based on fact and logic and using information technology in the civilian workplace.
“ We’ ll also incorporate both networking and personal coaching from educational experts and returned service members who have successfully transitioned, with job placement [ in the future ] as well.”
STRIVE is a short-term pilot, but information gathered from those few weeks will be incorporated into a larger program, and it’ s hoped this will compensate for a lack of formal research and evidence in this area.
“ While I was working to set up this training program … people were asking for evidence to support the initiative to say why this was needed,” Biercuk explains.“ There isn’ t much, and it’ s largely because little information has been collected on the needs and challenges contemporary returning veterans face.
“ That leaves an absolutely perfect role for a university like Sydney to play in what we hope will be a signature academic initiative helping to understand these [ challenges ].”
Biercuk says Australia’ s deep connection and fascination with past ANZACs and their contributions can cause the needs of today’ s veterans to be overlooked.
“ Properly honouring our ANZACs requires more than staring admiringly at sepia-toned photographs, or buying commemorative merchandise,” he says.“ It requires us to take action and support the brave men and women sacrificing so much on our behalf right now.”
STRIVE is funded by the Centre for Continuing Education and supported by founding partner SoldierOn and chief patron Marie Bashir. n
STRIVE is seeking donations to keep the larger program free for veterans. Interested parties can give via https:// cce. sydney. edu. au / course / STRV
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