Boots to Loafers: Finding Your New True North - Softcover

THE best military transition Field Manual. A no nonsense process for any transitioning military member that is based on real experiences. This book is a true guide for what you need to know, not what an ACAP or TAP instructor has in their script Every military service member will experience three phases as he moves from a military career to a life outside the gate: transition, transformation, and integration. The foundation of "Boots" is built upon these three concepts. They provide the structure for the advice and guidelines I want to convey to you. You may experience each of these to different degrees depending on your wishes, circumstances, goals, and surrounding environment. These three stages will vary from individual to individual, and they will be shaped by one’s attitude and inner strength as well as his ability to manage the hurdles of life. From the first day you set foot into boot camp, no matter what service you have been in, until the final days of predeployment training exercises or redeployment, you are taught to always pay attention to every detail in every situation. Our military knows how to turn you on and get you fired up for a mission. Transitioning out of boots will require the same focus on details and the energy to get fired up for your next mission, getting a job. More than a decade of war in God knows where in the world and many of America’s treasure, our young men and women, will come home and be lost when it comes to preparing for their next fight—finding a job! Many will leave the military voluntarily; more than 1.5 million will leave in the next 5-years. Boots gives them a helping hand, a guide, their new field manual that I never had when I retired from the US Army and entered corporate America. Let me help them find their new true north.

JOHN W. PHILLIPS has had a distinguished career in both military and civilian service. John is a retired US Army Field Artillery officer and Comptroller with 20+ years of service in Corps Artillery, Division Artillery, Army Headquarters and Forces Command, the largest command and the generating force provider for combatant commanders - at home and abroad. He has served in Europe, throughout the Middle East and the United States. He has been awarded the Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal, and the Air Assault Badge among other awards and decorations.. John has worked in corporate finance, program and project management, and sales roles for The Coca-Cola Company located in Atlanta, Georgia. In his spare time, John spends his time in either the mountains of North Georgia fly fishing, in the British Virgin Islands sailing with his wife or out west camping, rafting or canoeing with his best friends. John holds a BS in Finance from University of Central Florida and an MBA from Syracuse University. John lives in the foothills of the North Georgia Mountains outside the Atlanta area with his wife.