Edinburgh Napier University

  In 2014, the Veterans' Transition Review anticipated that 22,5301 military personnel left the service in 2013; 14,520 from the Army, 4,010 from the Royal Navy and 4,000 from the RAF. ) Each one of these service men and women will go through a transition period into civilian life. Each transition is supported differently depending on available services, time served, branch of service, and whether or not they are married or single. Research relating to the military to civilian transition is largely focused on employment, mental health and housing. There is a gap in the research that addresses the lived experiences of veterans and their families. This study will address that gap by looking at the issue from a sociological perspective, from within the experiences of seemingly ‘successful’ transitions, and by studying the transition from a familial perspective rather than from only the veterans' eyes. The design of the study will include ten veteran and family case studies, of veterans who haven’t used acute services. The definition of acute services includes mental health and forensic services. Veterans and one family member nominated by the veteran will be interviewed about how they view their time on 'civvi street', their experiences of/or as 'successful' veterans, the type of support utilised during this period to enable a 'successful' transition and insights into their daily lives outside of the military. The study will uncover processes behind the apparent 'successful' transition with the aim of developing a more nuanced understanding of how veterans and their families adjust to civilian life over time. The study aims to reveal veterans' transitions not generally seen by practitioners in order to add insight for policy makers and professionals with a duty of care to veterans and their families.