WOHL: The earlier you start preparing for your transition, the better odds of a successful transition.

NARRATOR: In this episode, Tosca and Kevin discuss the challenges faced by veterans transitioning from military to civilian life.

WOHL: In the military, I was a "68 Victor," which is technically a respiratory care specialist. My previous military occupational specialty code was "11 Bravo," which is an infantry rifleman.

WILLIS: I am a pharmacy specialist. It's what they call it in the Army, which is "68 Quebec." I've done that for 10 years in the Army now. I'm a reservist, so I'm still serving. I'm also a respiratory therapist for the Army. I deployed as a pharmacy tech from 2012 to 2013 in Kuwait.

We both deployed to Kuwait, but it was at different times.

WOHL: I was there 2016 to 2017.

WILLIS: We were stationed at the same camp — Camp Arifjan. He did a lot of cool respiratory things there. I served the base, providing medication.

WOHL: I got to travel around a little more. I would go to a host nation's hospitals, both the government-run hospitals and the private hospitals. We would assess their facilities to see if their level of care would be suitable for coalition soldiers if we had a patient or a procedure that we weren't able to provide at our combat support hospital.

WILLIS: You've been out of the active duty military for just a few months now.

WOHL: The transition process exiting the military usually begins 15 to 18 months from your actual date of separation. One of the things I realized is I had no idea how to interview for a job because I had not interviewed for a job in a decade. During the transition program, you spend some time going over how to correlate your military experience, past awards, evaluations and job description into a resume that a civilian employer would be able to recognize and see the experience that you gained during the term of your service.

I'm sure the challenges that you face are a little different than mine since the bulk of your experience has been in the reserves.

WILLIS: For reservists, we're constantly dealing with the challenges of transition. You get comfortable in a certain environment and then you're back, doing something different. Civilian and military life is very different. What you're doing every day, what you're wearing, how to treat the people around you, and deference to their rank and everything. When you're on military time and then you come back to being a civilian, it's like you're just trying to reorient and get used to it again.

WOHL: The process that you have to go through when separating does set you up pretty well. You are able to access what we call a joint services transcript, which allows you to receive college credits and experience based on the job you perform in the military. We each had two jobs in the military. I had two of those transcripts to draw from.

They also provide you with classes on things that people may take for granted — how to apply for college, how to determine if a college is accredited, how to see if a campus is a right fit for you, what benefits you may be able to receive through your state's Veterans Affairs, and your benefits earned from service such as the GI Bill.

There also are a couple of other programs that the Army has to assist with transitioning you to the civilian world. One of my favorites is Army COOL (Creating Opportunities On-Line). It's a search engine that you can access. You type in your job and it will pull up a list of all the civilian credentials that are pertinent to your role in the Army. The Army will reimburse you to get those credentials. For me as a respiratory therapist, there are five or six professional credentials that the Army will reimburse.

WILLIS: My challenge has definitely between always having one foot in the military world and one foot in the civilian world. There are a lot of demands on your time. It's hard getting civilian employers to understand that it takes time away from our civilian jobs to be promoted in the military. There are schools we have to go. They take a matter of weeks or months. That can be challenging — having civilian employers understand that.

As far as transitioning to civilian life, Mayo's been really amazing. Our recruiter was especially awesome in orienting us to the Mayo culture and how to interview. She took the time to tweak our resumes. I've never had that at any place that I've tried to work. I love the culture here. I love how veteran-friendly this organization is.

WOHL: I grew up here prior to joining the military. I was aware of Mayo Clinic. When I made the decision to get out, I contacted the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs. They have a liaison who deals with veteran employment. He put me in touch with a person he knew here in Human Resources at Mayo. She offered some advice on resumes and cover letters. We did some mock interviews over the phone. It helped me out because I'd never done a panel interview before. I hadn't interviewed anywhere in a decade. That was pretty great to have all that assistance.

WILLIS: One thing I would say to veterans out there looking for work is that if you reach out to Mayo — which you might not have considered because you don't have a medical background — reach out to their recruiting staff and have that conversation.

It's a learning hospital, and Mayo has programs to train people. For medical military, I think Mayo is on everyone's radar. When you think about pioneers of medical science, it's Mayo for sure. I wanted to be a part of that.

Everything is done for the patient's best interest. That's similar to the military focus where the mission is the priority. Here at Mayo, the patient is the priority.

It's definitely a dream come true to get a job here.

WOHL: Is there anything you miss about being in the military on a full-time basis?

WILLIS: The structure and the organization. It's comfortable to know what you're doing, when you're doing it, how to talk to the people around you. I think it's challenging in civilian workplaces how you kind of have to stumble around and figure it out. I think the more structure that can be provided — like clarity on what you're supposed to be doing — is going to be helpful for veterans.

WOHL: For my primary job with the Army, I was trained in a college environment. I went through classroom work, lectures, homework, studying and clinical training in an actual hospital. That part wasn't too terribly different from my colleagues, other than the fact that I had to get up at 4:30 a.m. to do an hour or so of physical training in the morning prior to all that.

WILLIS: We're used to an environment where we expect to be mentally and physically challenged.

WOHL: You got a task accomplished and even though everything is done for the day at 1 p.m., they're going to find something else for you to do because that's the way it is. I did spend a fair amount of time waiting for follow-up on an assignment or an additional task. Here, one of my favorite parts is I know exactly what I'm going to do from day to day. I know when 5 p.m. rolls around, that's when the work's done.

WILLIS: That is comforting. I have to say that you feel valued for your time, which is not something that you're used to in a military setting. It can be challenging. It could be just long days and hard work all the time, and time away from your family. Just a lot of time sacrifices. I think Mayo really cares about its employees — you as an individual, your health and your family. It's an amazing organization.

NARRATOR: Transitions of any kind have challenges. Consider your role in ensuring our veterans have a successful transition out of the military and into civilian life.