Transitioning from military or first responder service into civilian life can bring new challenges, opportunities and questions about what comes next. Purpose Beyond the Uniform is an original APOD series exploring real experiences, practical insights and personal stories to help members navigate life beyond service and discover new pathways with confidence.
In Chapter 4, APOD’s Support & Engagement Manager and Army veteran, Wesley explores the importance of understanding your own story before sharing it with an employer, and how reflecting on his 12 years of service helped him recognise his value beyond rank, role and uniform.
“Before I could learn how to tell an employer my story, I first had to understand it myself.”
Learning to tell your story is an important part of finding your purpose beyond the uniform. For me, it gave me an opportunity to really understand what my career meant to me and more importantly, who I had become along the way. Instead of focusing only on the day-to-day tasks I had performed, I started looking at the experiences, skills and moments that had shaped me over my 12 years of service.
I started simply. I wrote down my career chronologically, from the day I joined right through to discharge. I thought about the major events, roles and experiences along the way and what I had actually done during each of them in that time period. Slowly, what started as a list began to form a story.
What surprised me was how much this process helped with more than just identifying my skills. It gave me an opportunity to sit back and look at my career objectively, almost like journaling. For the first time in a long time, I could see the bigger picture rather than focusing on everything I felt I had lost when I left.
I began to realise that I wasn’t defined by the uniform, my rank or the individual tasks I had performed. What mattered were the things I’d learnt along the way like the way I approached problems, worked with others, led people and found purpose in serving something bigger than myself.
The uniform had helped shape me, but it wasn’t the entirety of who I was.
Once I understood that, I realised I wasn’t rebuilding myself after service. I was simply starting down a new pathway and taking everything I’d learnt over those 12 years with me.
Learning to tell my story ultimately helped me answer a question I’d been struggling with since discharge. Who was Wes beyond the uniform?
Once I started understanding the answer to that question, explaining my value and experience to others became a whole lot easier.
Until next time,
Remember this….
The uniform was part of your story.
It was never the whole story.
Wes.
The story continues in Chapter Five, coming soon.
