From two deployments to a very quiet classroom

In the Army I always knew what my job was that day. Six weeks after I got out, I did not know what to do at 9am.

Everyone told me my leadership experience would translate. It did, eventually. But first I had to learn that civilians do not say what they mean, that nobody would give me an order, and that "what do you want to do?" is a genuinely terrifying question when you have not been asked it in twelve years.

Teaching found me by accident, through a substitute list. The first week a fifteen-year-old told me to sit down and I nearly laughed.

If you are getting out: get one structure back into your week before you leave, not after.