The twelve months following a service member’s separation from the military are known as the “deadly gap,” when veterans face increased risk of suicide as they adjust to life outside the uniform. A 2022 study funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs of service members who left the military between 2001 and 2011 uncovered that “suicide rates were nearly three times higher during the first year following military separation compared to active duty and remained elevated up to 6 years following separation.”
While a number of national government agencies and veteran service organizations (VSOs) seek to reach veterans during this vulnerable period, 501(c)4 Onward Ops has carved a unique niche in the ecosystem by coordinating across the landscape to connect individual veterans with the resources they need to be successful as they enter the civilian world.
Onward Ops’ Executive Director Retired Brig. Gen. Michael Eastman talked to the Special Operations Association of America about the demonstrable successes of his organization’s model for tailoring a unique support system to each program participant, including special operations forces (SOF) members, as they go through their military transition.
“The longer we’ve done this, the more we realize that a few people need a tremendous amount of help, but almost everybody needs some,” Eastman explained. Providing that assistance can help avoid “negative outcomes” that include “not just suicide, but unemployment and homelessness and substance abuse.”
Expanding on the Transition Assistance Program
Many lay veterans’ struggles with transition at the feet of the Defense Department’s Transition Assistance Program (TAP). Eastman, however, defends the Congressionally-mandated program, which he says tries “to arm people with information about the services and benefits that they’ve earned” and pass on “basic skills that theoretically will help them get a job or get into school.” Unfortunately, Eastman says that service members go through TAP “too late” in their transition and are often deluged with information that they “are not in the right frame of mind to receive.”
Another of Eastman’s concerns about TAP is that it “took commanders off the hook” for preparing their service members to reenter the civilian world. Eastman explained that “there’s no penalty for [a leader]” whose service members find themselves homeless or unemployed after departing the military, “but there’s a penalty if I don’t bring them back to the motor pool to get all the vehicles up.”
Eastman admits that he was “culpable” himself when, as a commander in the 10th Mountain Division, he “sat in the back of the TAP classroom and watched [service members] pass through and…didn’t do enough to fix it.”
After he departed the military following a 30-year career, Eastman passed on offers for jobs with big compensation packages in order to work with Onward Ops, where he could continue to serve and make a difference. “The more I thought about it, the more I recognized how hard it was for folks to get out,” he explained. “I have an opportunity to maybe fix some policies…and make it better for people.”
How it Works
Onward Ops’ model starts with bringing transitioning service members into the fold during their final year of military service. Eastman argues that if veterans are beginning their transition a year out, “by the time [they] get to TAP, it should be nothing more than a conditions check.”
Onward Ops’ support system will be familiar for service members accustomed to going through a permanent change of station (PCS) in the military. “Any time you go from installation to installation, you have a sponsor on the other end” who “can answer your basic questions,” Eastman explained. The current transition system, he argues, has veterans being sent out alone to “mak[e] the biggest PCS move of their life.”
Onward Ops’ response to this shortcoming has been to recruit around 2,500 volunteer sponsors across the country, whom are trained in partnership with the VA. When Onward Ops finds out where a new veteran plans to live, they are matched with a community volunteer in their area who “knows [they’re] coming” and can “answer kitchen table questions” about the layout of their new city, the school system, and locations that will be important to the veteran and/or their family.
As a service member enters the Onward Ops program, other team members discern their situation and needs and disseminate that information across the unique ecosystem that can support them. This includes not just the VA, but government assistance agencies at both state- and county-level, as well as applicable local VSOs.
Eastman says that these steps turn the transition process from something “reactive” that “puts the onus on the veteran to find help” to something “proactive” that helps “keep [veterans] out of crisis.”
Growing the Organization
Onward Ops has enrolled more than 17,450 transitioning service members and their families in their program, but their model is not flashy. “We don’t do balls, we don’t do fun runs. We just do work,” Eastman said. “That’s it.”
The organization brings in a number of service members through their web presence and word of mouth, but their demonstrable success has also helped Onward Ops develop institutional relationships that increase their reach.
Eastman said that in some installations, Onward Ops is part of the pre-separation brief while in the U.S. Army’s III Armored Corps, Onward Ops screens all service members preparing to leave the service. About 60% of the service members departing partnering installations opt in to Onward Ops, Eastman says.
The organization is likely to grow even further after a new VA contract award will pilot adding Onward Ops to the TAP curriculum at seven military installations.
“Between those four opportunities to engage with people, we’re hoping to get as many as we can into this ecosystem,” Eastman said.
Showing Success
Thus far, there have been a total of 13 peer-reviewed studies of the Onward Ops program. Studies found that veterans who go through Onward Ops have a 30% increase in their feelings of connectedness to their community, and a 30% decrease in negative outcomes. This month, Eastman says that Onward Ops will release findings that there is “almost an 80% reduction in suicidality” for program participants.
Eastman says that Onward Ops can produce these outcomes because they understand the veterans they support. For the organization, enrollees are overwhelmingly enlisted service members with an average age of 27. Only half have a college degree, but all have “concrete” needs like medical care, a job, and stable housing.
“There are a bunch of organizations that exist to help you if you are a captain who wants to go to Harvard, or if you are a sergeant major that wants to do business development. But if you’re a 26-year-old infantryman or a 25-year-old cook, people are not knocking down your door to help you succeed…and that’s 80% of the population,” Eastman says.
Eastman estimates that about 2% of the population it assists “is truly struggling” with suicidal ideation. For those service members and veterans, Onward Ops has created procedures that secure no-cost care within 24 hours through either the VA or a local healthcare provider.
Most importantly for service members still on active duty, “if they don’t want their unit to know” they sought help, “their unit doesn’t get to know,” Eastman explained.
Transition for Special Operations Forces
At SOAA, we understand that SOF service members and veterans face unique challenges when transitioning out of the military. Onward Ops not only acknowledges those differences, but tailors their assistance accordingly.
As Eastman explained, “a guy that’s leaving one of the teams is bringing a really incredible set of skills to the community, and they’re not going to struggle the way a truck driver is with employment,” he explained. Instead, Eastman says that SOF veterans “are going to struggle with identity and tribe.”
For Eastman, the priority for serving SOF veterans is to “connect him or her with folks that can understand and resonate with them…because I know they’ve got a period of time coming when they’re going to question things.”
SOAA is proud to support Onward Ops as they adapt transition programming to service members and veterans across the force. If you or someone you love is preparing to leave the military or in the midst of transition, Onward Ops can provide support to help you land smoothly as you undergo that ultimate PCS and create success as a veteran.
