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The Civilian Workplace Communication Playbook: How Veterans Can Adapt Without Losing Their Edge
How military communication styles translate to civilian workplaces — email etiquette, meeting dynamics, feedback culture, and when to adjust your approach.
kate frese
Aug 245 min read


How to Write Your First Civilian Performance Review (When You've Only Ever Written Evals)
You know how to quantify performance. Civilian reviews just use a completely different language — here's the translation.
kate frese
May 262 min read


5 LinkedIn Mistakes Veterans Make (That Civilians Never Would)
No photo. Rank-heavy title. Zero summary. Congratulations — you've made yourself invisible to the people who want to hire you.
kate frese
May 253 min read


The Security Clearance Transition Guide: What Stays, What Lapses, and What It's Worth on the Open Market
Your clearance is worth money in the civilian world. Most veterans don't know how much — or how fast the clock starts ticking.
kate frese
May 252 min read


7 Military Transition Mistakes That Create Unnecessary Stress (and What to Do Instead)
Transition stress often is not caused by one big problem — it is caused by small avoidable mistakes stacking up. Here are 7 common ones and what to do instead.
kate frese
May 62 min read


Veteran Job Offer Negotiation: Myths vs Facts
The offer letter is not the finish line—it's the start of the conversation. A calm, practical myth-vs-fact guide to help veterans negotiate job offers with clarity and confidence.
kate frese
Apr 293 min read


5 VA Benefits Myths That Could Be Slowing Your Transition
Note: General information only; not medical advice, diagnosis, treatment guidance, or individualized claim strategy. Intro Transitioning out of the Navy (or any branch) can feel like stepping into a fog of opinions. VA benefits conversations are especially noisy—well-meaning friends, social media threads, and “one weird trick” posts. This is general information meant to help you spot common misconceptions and prepare better questions for your next step. Myth #1: “I have to fi
kate frese
Apr 252 min read
From Concept to Launch: How We Built Transition HQ in 4 Days
Four days. That's how long it took to build the first version of Transition HQ — the comprehensive transition support platform now helping Navy sailors navigate one of life's most challenging journeys. But the real development time? That was 12+ years in the making. This is the story of how personal experience, veteran determination, and modern technology came together to create something that didn't exist when we needed it most: a complete digital command center for milita
kate frese
Apr 245 min read


Veteran Networking Questions That Open Doors
Most networking advice fails because it starts with: "Pitch yourself." For many veterans transitioning to civilian life, that approach feels unnatural—and it often backfires. The good news is you do not need a perfect elevator pitch to build real professional relationships. You need a repeatable way to have better conversations. This post is general information designed to help veterans prepare stronger networking questions, avoid common mistakes, and walk into conversations
kate frese
Apr 233 min read
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