How Spouses Can Support an Active Duty Spouse Right Before Military Retirement

Military spouses can do much to alleviate the stress of their spouse's approaching retirement. When the time actually comes, there will be a lot of changes that come all at once and these can seem overwhelming. To help make the transition from the military to the civilian world easier, the military spouse should take part in the retirement process.

Ways that Military Spouses Can Support Their Active Duty Spouse Before Military Retirement: Attend Retirement Briefings

Each branch of the armed forces provides retiring military personnel with a lot of briefings in order to help make them aware of what needs to be done before they will be eligible to officially retire. But it goes further. Some of the other briefings give retiring military personnel practical assistance with composing and writing a résumé, job interview skills, advice on where to look for jobs and how their health benefits will alter. It is quite easy for military personnel to become bogged down in information. But if their spouse also attends, they can help by taking notes, asking the instructor questions that have not been covered and filling in the blanks.

Ways that Military Spouses Can Support Their Active Duty Spouse Before Military Retirement: Provide Driving Written Test Tuition

Military spouses will know that every time they moved to a different state with their active duty spouse, they had to comply with each state's law by obtaining a local driving licence. It can come as a big shock for retiring military personnel to suddenly find themselves in the same situation once they retire from the military. Military spouses who have been able to successfully obtain a local driving licence should take the time to tutor their spouse so that they can also receive a driving licence. Of course, if the couple plan to move back to their home state, the retiring military member will not have to worry about their requirement, if that is where they obtained their original licence from.

Ways that Military Spouses Can Support Their Active Duty Spouse Before Military Retirement: Mock Job Interviews

A great way to get used to the civilian world of job applications and job interviews is to stage mock job interviews. It might seem like a silly game with no real purpose. Military spouses who have had experience of working in the civilian world will have great insight into what job interviews consist of, questions that employers like to ask and how best to answer these questions. Some retiring military members have been in the military since they were 17 or 18 and have had very little exposure to job interviews.

Do not underestimate the positive influence that you can have on your spouse if you are a military spouse. The support that military spouses provide to their retiring spouses can help them to make a much smoother transition.