My family came from Jamaica. I watched them struggle, and I was the first person in my family to go to college. Before I joined the Marine Corps in 2014, my picture of the world was about as wide as the drive between home and school. Eight and a half years later I had the privilege to train alongside Lithuanians, Moroccans, Japanese Marines, Filipino Marines, and English Royal Marines. The military gave me access to the wider world that nobody in my family had had that kind of access to.

When we get out, many of us file all of that overseas experience under memories, but it’s not just a memory. It's a skill you built and an ability you still have. The perspective you picked up overseas is worth real money in a civilian career, and there are pathways back out into the world using benefits you already earned. 

What the Military Gave Me

In the Marine Corps, I met people from all walks of life and from every corner of the country. There were Marines from Wisconsin, Montana, California, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and places I may never have been exposed to otherwise. The military has a unique way of bringing together people with completely different backgrounds and giving them a common mission.

That exposure can extend far beyond the United States. Through deployments, exercises, and coalition training, service members in the Marine Corps can have opportunities to work alongside military partners around the world from Japanese Marines and the United Kingdom’s Royal Marines to Filipino Marines, the Royal Moroccan Navy, the Lithuanian Army, and many others.

That’s one of the things I value most about military service. It exposes you to people, cultures, and perspectives you may never encounter otherwise and teaches you how to work with all of them toward a common goal. If you don't have the kind of money it takes to travel the world, the military is one of the few institutions that will send you abroad and pay you while you're there.

 

 

Overseas Experience Changed How I Think

Sometimes we can develop notions about a place based off of television or social media. Then you go train with those people, sweat through the same miserable week they're sweating through, and you realize that everybody has greatness in them.

That got me out of a shell I didn't know I was in, and it's the reason I want to take my family to Lithuania and Morocco, to introduce them to people they would never meet otherwise.

Access Is a Skill

Reading somebody who doesn't share your frame of reference is a strong professional skill that allows you to see things from a different point of reference. I used it in my first civilian job managing electrical, mechanical, and structural engineers on buildings in Washington, D.C., where none of those three disciplines naturally see a problem the same way. I use it now training the people who work under me, because every one of them gets on the phone with Veteran families who have their own history and their own way of explaining what they need.

If you deployed, worked with a coalition partner, or just spent four years in a unit full of people from places you'd never been, you have this. You've operated with people whose first language wasn't yours and gotten a mission done anyway.

Structure

Transitioning out is scary if you don't have a plan. A lot of guys I served with went straight to police or firefighting, and I understand why. There's structure, there's a mission, and you're helping people.

However, some of us take that route because we don't know other options exist, or we've already decided we're not qualified for other things. I did that to myself with school. I thought I wanted a business degree, and someone asked me why not engineering. I said I'm not good at math and not that smart. He told me that the best thing about life is that you learn. If you push yourself to learn, you'll figure it out.

The same logic applies to going overseas. Many Veterans have no idea how many doors are already open.

Three Paths Back Overseas

Use Your Education Benefits Abroad

You can study outside the United States on the GI Bill by enrolling in a foreign school, or staying enrolled at a U.S. school while taking courses abroad that count toward your degree. Both can work, and VA lays out the rules and the approval requirements for each. The program has to be VA-approved, so check before you fall in love with a city.

The Federal Route

Federal service offers Veterans several significant hiring advantages, and many of those opportunities are located overseas. OPM runs special hiring authorities including the Veterans Recruitment Appointment, the authority for Veterans rated 30% or more disabled, and the Veterans Employment Opportunities Act, which lets you compete for jobs that would otherwise only be open to current federal employees.

The Department of Defense Education Activity runs schools for military families in Europe and the Pacific, and DoDEA gives hiring preference to former service members who qualify for Veterans' preference. If you have a degree and a teaching certification, that's a way to live in Germany or Japan with a paycheck and federal benefits.

Know How Your Care Works Overseas

The VA's Foreign Medical Program pays for care, medications, and durable medical equipment abroad for service-connected conditions, and for conditions the VA determines are making a service-connected condition worse. You don't need authorization first and you can see the provider you choose.

It only covers your service-connected conditions, not general health coverage, so most people living abroad still have local insurance. Register before you leave, using your U.S. address if you don't have a foreign one yet.

Go Back On Your Own Terms

In the military we say get comfortable being uncomfortable. I use that line a lot and it applies to travel too. The discomfort of a country where you don't speak the language and don't know the rules is a lot of the value of going.

You may have already proven you can do it with a pack on and someone else picking the destination. Doing it as a civilian, with your family, on a trip you chose, is easier than what you already did. 

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FAQs

Can I use my GI Bill to study outside the United States?

Yes, if the program is approved by the VA. You can enroll in an approved foreign school, or stay at your U.S. school and take courses abroad that apply to your degree. What VA pays for differs between those two situations.

Does the VA cover my health care if I move abroad?

Partially. The Foreign Medical Program covers service-connected conditions and conditions that worsen them, plus care tied to Veteran Readiness and Employment, but it isn't general health insurance for living overseas.

How do I find federal jobs stationed overseas?

Search USAJOBS with an overseas location filter, and check DoDEA if you're a teacher, since some of their positions are posted through their own system.

Is my military experience worth anything to civilian employers outside defense?

Yes, managing across cultures, briefing people above your pay grade, and holding a team together under pressure are the same competencies companies pay consultants to teach.