I would tend to agree with you. When people are making the transition from being active soldiers, they've created an identity for themselves as soldiers. It's what they've been trained to do, so to think about what happens next and to look at what's going to happen in their work lives and family lives, they need to have a number of supports in place.
The military offers them an entire lifestyle. It offers housing for their spouses and it offers income security, so there needs to be a very holistic approach taken in terms of helping someone make that transition. I think an occupational therapist can work with the individual. Our role is really to help individuals look at the activities and occupations they engage in and to help them to continue to do those in the most effective way. It may be what they are doing within paid employment--how they are going to make that transition from being an active soldier and how they can re-use their skills, their strengths, and their abilities in a civilian lifestyle--but it can also be how they can make that transition into family life. We've heard very strong stories today about how important it is that we consider an individual within the family context as well. We need to look at all aspects.
I think one of the frustrations we were expressing earlier was that we tend to look at things in a very fragmented way. We may be looking at one particular aspect of an individual's function, but we need to see that the person functions within an entire context. They need that support and they need to look at it very proactively so that they understand that they are making this transition, that there are issues they are going to face, and that these services are available to them. They need to understand that it's okay to access those services, that this is a normal process of transition, and that this is how we can support them in that transition.