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1014 articles to help with your military transition
Expert guides covering VA disability claims, C&P exam preparation, military-to-civilian career transitions, retirement planning, state veteran benefits, and more. Written for active duty service members, reservists, and retirees navigating life after the military. Browse by category or search for topics specific to your transition.
VA covers full maternity care — prenatal, delivery in a community hospital, postpartum, and 7 days of newborn care. Eligibility, the maternity care coordinator role, and what's not covered.
VA Military Sexual Trauma care is free regardless of disability rating, claim status, or VA enrollment. Vet Centers add another layer of confidential care including for OTH discharges.
VA IPV Assistance Program offers safety planning, mental health, legal connections, and confidential support — for veterans experiencing IPV and for veterans whose partners experience IPV.
Boots to Business is a free 2-day SBA-led entrepreneurship track inside TAP, available worldwide. Boots to Business Reboot serves veterans and spouses post-separation.
SDVOSB certification rules under 13 CFR 125: 51% veteran ownership, unconditional control, day-to-day management, highest officer rule. Common audit failures and how to avoid them.
SAM.gov is the federal government's vendor registration system. Required before you can sell to the federal government. Step-by-step guide and common pitfalls.
Free for every veteran
18 transition tools. Zero cost.
VA claims tracker, MOS translator, resume builder, career planner, budget tool — all in one place, all free. Join 140+ members already using MTT.
VBOCs offer free 1:1 business counseling, training, and mentoring to veteran-owned businesses and prospective veteran founders. ~30 centers nationwide, funded by the SBA.
TAP's Transition Spending Plan teaches you to compare military total compensation to civilian gross salary in apples-to-apples terms. Worksheet, math, and decisions.
TAP recommends 13 months of essential expenses in cash savings before separation. Why the number is 13 (not 6 or 12), what 'essential' means, and how to build the buffer.
VA Solid Start representatives call newly-separated veterans at 90, 180, and 365 days post-separation to connect them with benefits, mental health resources, and crisis services.
Vet Centers offer free, confidential, walk-in counseling for combat veterans, MST survivors, and qualifying loss. VAMCs are the standard medical care system. They're complementary.
The PACT Act of 2022 expanded VA care and compensation for veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange, Camp Lejeune, and other toxic substances. 21+ presumptive conditions and how to file.
Program of Comprehensive Assistance for Family Caregivers (PCAFC) pays a monthly stipend to family caregivers of severely disabled veterans, with expansion to all eras now phased in.
COMPACT Act of 2020 made VA-paid emergency mental health care available to any former service member in suicidal crisis — even those with OTH discharges. 30 days inpatient, 90 days outpatient.
SCRA protections expire on a schedule after separation: 30 days for some, 90 days for others, 1 year for many leases and mortgages. Use them before they're gone.
Regular Military Compensation (RMC) is base pay + BAH + BAS + tax advantages. Comparing to a civilian gross salary requires grossing up for healthcare, commissary, BAS equivalent, and tax differences.
The structure-loss crash, identity vacuum, and irritability spike that hit most veterans in the first three months after separation. What's normal, what's not, and what family can do.
Post-separation anger is almost universal. What's underneath it, why family bears the brunt, and how to respond without escalating or absorbing it.
When everyone outside the military becomes the enemy, family ends up on the wrong side of the wall. Why this pattern forms after separation, and how family can be the exception.
It's more common than people admit. What to expect, how to set the right structure without making them feel like a teenager again, and how to help without enabling stagnation.