Tactical Transition Tips Round 111 of the Transition Drill Podcast offers practical guidance and career readiness for veterans and first responders, organized based on how far out your exit is. In this episode, how your attachment to where you live can shape, limit, or expand your civilian opportunities.

Some of you are clinging to where you live like it’s oxygen. Some of you are desperate to get out, like the place is on fire. Either way, it’s easy to tell yourself your answer is “just practical.”

But geography isn’t neutral. Where you live quietly decides what jobs exist around you, what your income ceiling looks like, who you can realistically network with, what licensing or certification hurdles you’ll face, and how much pressure lands on your spouse and kids if you change the plan. Labor markets aren’t evenly distributed. Opportunities cluster. Some roles flat out don’t exist everywhere. And even when the job exists, the pay might not match the cost of living.

This episode is about geographic rigidity in transition. Staying can be a smart foundation. It can also be a comfortable trap. Moving can be liberation. It can also be chaos. The point isn’t “stay” or “go.” The point is whether you’re making a strategic decision, or an emotional one, before you ever submit an application.

Transition group tips

Close Range Group (less than a year from transition): Research geographic factors before you apply. You’re going to want to blast out applications, but you need real data first, like cost of living, local demand for your skills, and whether your certifications or status transfer to that state.

Medium Range Group (a few years from transition): Create optionality before you need it. Build credentials that travel and grow a network in the region you might want, including conferences or training events, so you’re not starting cold later.

Long Range Group (a decade or more from transition): Don’t build a life you can’t leave. Keep your footprint light, avoid getting overextended, and protect your ability to say “yes” to an opportunity anywhere so you stay a free agent instead of getting pinned to one place.

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This Mindset Debrief episode is a short-form reflection on personal accountability, discipline, and self-leadership for people navigating pressure, responsibility, and growth. In this episode, we focus on: how tying your identity to your performance slowly erodes your sense of self.

If you’ve ever wondered who you’d be without your job title, your results, or your reputation as the one who fixes everything, this episode is for you. It starts with a simple pressure test: take away the role, the output, and the constant problem-solving, and see what’s left.

A lot of high performers don’t just do the work, they become the work. That’s role engulfment: when one role consumes your entire self-concept and everything else gets pushed aside.

The provider. The leader. The rock. The expert. The person who’s always “on.” And when you confuse what you do with who you are, uncertainty starts feeling like failure, not information.

This is where the performance trap shows up. If you’re constantly producing, leading, and fixing, it can feel like you’re disappearing the moment you stop. The episode pushes on that fear, and it separates presence from output. People don’t just need results, they need you to actually be there.

It also hits the guilt that shows up when you try to rest. When “doing nothing” feels wrong, recovery turns into weakness, and exhaustion starts getting treated like a badge. This episode reframes rest as a requirement for doing the work well, not a reward you earn after the work is done.

The thread that ties it together is accountability without control. Own standards and actions, but stop tying identity to outcomes you can’t fully control. The goal isn’t to quit your roles. It’s to stop letting them swallow you.

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Malcolm Copeland, Air Force Veteran, in Episode 235 of the Transition Drill Podcast, his story addresses a reality most veterans face. The military gives you structure, identity, and momentum, but it doesn’t guarantee relevance once you leave. His transition wasn’t about replacing one job with another. It was about reclaiming control and creating his own structure instead of relying on someone else’s. His story is a reminder that transition isn’t a single event at separation. It’s a shift in ownership.

Malcolm isn't just an Air Force veteran; he's a master of transition who's navigated the high-stakes world of elite military units and the complex landscape of civilian entrepreneurship. In this episode dive deep into his journey from a curious kid in Long Island to a crew chief for the a famous jet in Hollywood history.

Malcolm grew up in West Islip, New York, where he spent his days taking apart electronics just to see how they worked. That engineering mindset was his gift, but his life hit a major crossroads when he lost his father at just 13 years old. This unexpected loss pushed him to grow up fast and find a path that offered adventure and independence, so he enlisted in the Air Force at 17. He didn't just fix planes, he became an elite technician. From working on the block forties in South Korea to maintaining the CV-22 Ospreys that appeared in the first Transformers movie, Malcolm lived the high-tempo life of military maintenance.

His career reached a pinnacle when he joined the Thunderbirds. In that world, precision isn't just a goal, it's a requirement. He learned that teamwork and structure can make the impossible happen, like swapping an F-16 engine in half the standard time to ensure a show never gets canceled. But Malcolm's story doesn't end on the flight line. After 14 years of service, he took a unique risk by appearing on the first season of Married at First Sight. While the show wasn't a match, his honesty on screen led him to his soulmate; she was from Germany. He moved overseas, mastered the challenges of a blended family of eventually six children, and finished his engineering degree and MBA.

Today, back in the United States with his family, Malcolm's focused on the future of veteran entrepreneurship. He's the founder of Eighth Ascent, where he helps veterans launch business ideas in just 28 days. He's also a leading voice on how AI and automation will impact the workforce. He's helping veterans build businesses that are future-proof, ensuring they keep the purpose and passion they had in uniform. Malcolm’s life proves that with the right azimuth, you can navigate any transition and build a legacy that lasts.

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Tactical Transition Tips Round 110 of the Transition Drill Podcast offers practical guidance and career readiness for veterans and first responders, organized based on how far out your exit is. In this episode, learn how a guaranteed paycheck can shift your mindset from building your future to coasting toward it.

You’ve earned the right to think about your pension. You’ve put in years most people will never understand, and the idea of a guaranteed check waiting on the other side can feel like proof you did it right.

But that same calm can quietly take the edge off your preparation.

In this episode, it’s about the trap that shows up in small, normal decisions while you’re still serving: you stop pushing to build civilian skills, you delay the resume, you don’t study the market, and you start thinking, “I only need a little extra income.” It doesn’t feel like avoidance in the moment. It feels like patience. Then the interview comes, and someone asks what value you bring, and you realize you never practiced answering that question outside your current system.

This isn’t anti pension. It’s pro strategy. A pension is supposed to reduce catastrophic risk, not replace ambition. It’s a safety net, not a ceiling.

Transition tips by group:

Close Range Group (less than a year out): Don’t accept a low civilian salary because “you have a pension.” One sentence why: If you start your negotiations low because you feel financially safe, you can lock yourself into a lower earning trajectory for years.

Medium Range Group (a few years out): Build your lifestyle on today’s money and invest tomorrow’s. One sentence why: If you mentally spend your pension now and raise your lifestyle early, you lose flexibility, and flexibility is what protects you during transition.

Long Range Group (at least a decade away): Treat your pension like the ground floor of your financial building, not the penthouse. One sentence why: You’ve got time to stack income sources and financial skills now, so your pension becomes one piece of your plan, not the whole plan.

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#tacticaltransitiontips #militarytransition #firstresponders

This Mindset Debrief episode is a short-form reflection on personal accountability, discipline, and self-leadership for people navigating pressure, responsibility, and growth. In this episode, we focus on: Avoiding discomfort can disguise as being practical, but it holds you back

If you keep telling yourself you’re not afraid of discomfort, but you keep saying “now’s not the right time” or “I’ve got to be smart about this,” this episode puts a spotlight on what’s really getting avoided. It’s usually not the work. It’s the feeling that comes with the work: awkwardness, being exposed, looking unprepared, being wrong.

You’ll hear how avoiding uncomfortable feelings can feel like control in the moment, but it’s a trade. Short-term emotional relief gets purchased with limited long-term improvement, and the cost shows up later. A line from Amy Morin frames it simply: avoidance offers immediate relief, but it can create long-term consequences.

The episode breaks down how avoidance can shrink your world over time. You say no more often. Hesitation gets longer. What starts as “stability” turns into a quieter kind of stuck. It also draws a clean line between recovery and retreat. One helps you move forward. The other just keeps you comfortable.

There are concrete places this shows up at work: dodging difficult conversations, staying in roles where you already know the game, and avoiding real feedback. Not encouragement, not validation, but the kind of input that exposes blind spots and tests your confidence. When you stay slightly invisible, you stay static, and static is falling behind in slow motion.

It also calls out the cover stories: “practical,” “rational,” “protecting my energy,” “I don’t want the added responsibility.” If you feel defensive when someone questions a “practical” choice, that’s a cue to ask: if discomfort wasn’t part of this, would you still choose the same thing?

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Sergio Alfaro, Army Medic and GWOT veteran, in Episode 234 of the Transition Drill Podcast, his experience highlights the importance of preparing for the mental and emotional side of transition, not just the next job or degree, and building support systems early instead of relying on a single post-service plan. Ultimately, his path reinforces that successful transition preparation requires adaptability, self-awareness, and permission to redefine success when the original mission no longer fits.

Sergio talks about Iraq, PTSD, and the long road from wanting to become a doctor to rebuilding a life that actually works. If you’re a veteran or first responder trying to figure out who you are after the job, this one’s for you.

Sergio was born in Los Angeles and grew up in Maywood and Burbank, seeing two very different worlds early on. He joined the Army with a long-term plans of becoming a doctor. In the Army, he became a medic, trained and deployed to Iraq in 2003–2004, based in Hamadi, west of Fallujah. He describes the reality of frequent mortar attacks, watching for IED threats, and the kind of moments that never really leave you. He also shares the loss of his commanding officer overseas, and how survivor’s guilt and “why him, not me” thinking followed him home.

After one enlistment, that turned into four and a half years because of stop-loss, Sergio struggled with trauma, but was hopeful of getting the option for the Army to send him to college to be a doctor. He wanted to keep serving and also go to school, but he ran into the “ask command” reality of the system, and it changed his outlook on staying in. He got out, determined to chase the goal on his own terms.

That drive carries him all the way to acceptance at Harvard Medical School, with the GI Bill and Yellow Ribbon support helping make it possible. But also dealing with PTSD, a medical culture not built for that, and a training path that puts him in a VA inpatient psych ward rotation at the worst possible time. Things spiral, and he shares what it’s like when your identity is tied to one mission and you feel it slipping away.

The second half of this conversation is about what actually helped: support systems, weekly check-ins, and eventually getting connected with Wounded Warrior Project’s Warriors to Work, job fairs, resume feedback, and a shift toward a new career path built around what he always loved most, training and teaching others.

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Tactical Transition Tips Round 109 of the Transition Drill Podcast offers practical guidance and career readiness for veterans and first responders, organized based on how far out your exit is. In this episode, how civilian career decisions that bring immediate relief can quietly limit your options.

A lot of people in uniform picture the civilian world as the easier world. Less danger. Less stress. Less intensity.

Some of that can be true. But the risk doesn’t disappear when you hang up the uniform. It just changes its disguise.

This time it’s about a different kind of risk. The kind that doesn’t show up with sirens or urgency. The kind that shows up later, after you’ve already made the move. It’s the risk of picking what feels familiar instead of what protects your future. It’s the trap of confusing relief with security. It’s the slow cost of delayed consequences, unclear feedback, and workplaces where effort doesn’t always translate into stability the way you’re used to.

If you’re planning your transition, this is about learning to spot the new version of “danger” early, so you don’t end up stuck in a role that feels calm but quietly caps your options.

Transition-group tips

• Close Range Group (transitioning within a year): Chasing Challenge or Easy

Tip: Before you commit to your next job, ask yourself if you’re choosing it because it shuts the noise off fast, or because it actually gives you stability and growth.

Why it matters: When urgency is running the show, “familiar” can feel safe even when it recreates the same burnout in different camouflage.

• Medium Range Group (transitioning in 3 to 5 years): New Game, New Rules

Tip: Use your runway to learn how civilian careers actually work, including how decisions are made, how security is built, and how advancement really happens.

Why it matters: The danger here isn’t lack of preparation, it’s preparing for the wrong game and getting blindsided by a different reward system.

• Long Range Group (transitioning in a decade or more): Build Mobility, Not Attachment

Tip: Build skills that travel, relationships outside your organization, and an identity that isn’t dependent on your current role.

Why it matters: Complacency is quiet, and the real risk is realizing too late your experience only makes sense inside one system.

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This Mindset Debrief episode is a short-form reflection on personal accountability, discipline, and self-leadership for people navigating pressure, responsibility, and growth. In this episode, we focus on: How constant mental pull and unfinished attention slowly wear you down

You know that end-of-day tired where you sit down and realize you’re wiped out, but you can’t point to a single hard thing that “earned” it. No crisis. No deep, focused stretch. Just a vague, unsettled fatigue that makes you quietly question your drive, your focus, maybe even your edge.

This Mindset Debrief episode pulls that apart, starting with a simple idea from Herbert Simon: a wealth of information can create a poverty of attention. The point here isn’t that you’re lazy or undisciplined. The argument is that what’s wearing you down is the constant splitting of attention, the starting and stopping, and the never fully finishing anything before something else reaches for you.

It also gets into why rest sometimes doesn’t work the way it should. You can be off the clock and still not be at rest, because your mind stays on alert, waiting for the next thing, checking, scrolling, keeping mental tabs open, living in a “potentially urgent” ready state.

Over time, that keeps the system revving above idle, and the episode frames it as a slow energy leak, not a single spike. From there, it shifts into accountability without guilt: noticing how often the pull isn’t outside of you, it’s you, interrupting yourself.

The closing lens is simple: stop asking only “why am I so tired,” and start asking where your attention is being spent without realizing it. Clarity isn’t gone, it’s been crowded out, and it waits for permission.

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Brian Scoggins, retired Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant, in Episode 233 of the Transition Drill Podcast, explores identity, accountability, and consequence for veterans and first responders navigating the long shadow of family history and personal choice. You’ll hear Brian on carrying mistakes that weren’t his, surviving moments that should’ve ended his life, and what it took to take ownership anyway and build a future he could stand behind.

Brian Scoggins grew up on the east side of St. Paul, Minnesota, in a split world: one side of the family steeped in stability, military service, and tradition, and the other marked by addiction, chaos, and hard lessons at home. He talks about how that environment pushed him to grow up early, protect his younger siblings, and figure out who he was when things around him weren’t steady.

Brian takes you through the turning point that changed the trajectory of his life as a teenager, including a near-death moment that led him to recommit to faith and make a clean break from the path he was headed down. From there, it’s the messy real-life version of “getting it together”: trying to join the military, dealing with legal problems caused by his older brother using his name, and learning fast how systems work when you’re the one stuck proving you’re not the guy they’re looking for.

He originally wanted a rescue-focused path and even chased the idea of being a firefighter, EMT, or special operations, but the Marine Corps became his lane after a recruiter encounter that felt like a dare. Brian shipped to boot camp in 2004 and ended up in aviation ordnance, loading guns, bombs, and munitions on aircraft, often in high-tempo environments where mistakes can get people killed. He shares what it was like hitting the fleet and deployments to Iraq, and how deployments and leadership experiences shaped him, including time inside a struggling helicopter squadron where he had to confront dysfunction head-on and protect Marines by forcing uncomfortable accountability.

After 20 years of service, including recruiting duty, and fighting MMA, Brian retired in June 2024, and explains the work he’s doing now working for Northrup Grumman and in the nonprofit space with No Lone Wolves, focused on reducing isolation and suicide risk by building connection through community and online gaming meetups.

The best podcast for military veterans, police officers, firefighters, and first responders preparing for veteran transition and life after service. Helping you plan and implement strategies to prepare for your transition into civilian life. Follow the show and share it with another veteran or first responder who would enjoy this.

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Tactical Transition Tips Round 108 of the Transition Drill Podcast offers practical guidance and career readiness for veterans and first responders, organized based on how far out your exit is. In this episode, the systems in place to protect you require documentation and use before you’re out.

Benefits don’t fail because they’re weak. They fail because they sit there unused.

In these careers, it’s easy to treat “benefits” like paperwork you’ll deal with later, once life slows down. But later is the trap. The system isn’t going to chase you down and make sure you’re set up. If you don’t learn what you’re entitled to, document what needs documenting, and use what’s available while you still have access, you can end up paying out of pocket, delaying care, or walking into transition with avoidable problems on your back.

This episode addresses benefits as protection, not perks. That includes medical documentation, but it also includes education options (like the GI Bill), financial and investing support, home buying programs, and even outside organizations that offer help for you and your family. The point isn’t to become a benefits expert. It’s to stop treating protection like background noise.

Here are the three transition tips covered:

Close Range Group (transitioning within a year): Get it on paper before you get out

You’re running out of time for “I’ll handle it later,” so this is about getting appointments, issues, and records documented now so you’re not trying to prove things from memory after you’re out.

Medium Range Group (transitioning in 3 to 5 years): Fix it while you’re still in

You’ve still got the advantage of structure and easier access, so you use this window to address real issues and use available resources before transition pressure makes everything harder to prioritize.

Long Range Group (transitioning in a decade or more): The most important equipment maintenance is you

This is where you build habits and track patterns early so neglect doesn’t become normal and small problems don’t turn into long-term damage that follows you into any future transition.

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