The study was undertaken to get an understanding of the transition experience from military service to civilian life, as well as to understand the health and well-being of veterans after they're released from service. One of the limitations of work we've done in the past is that we've only looked at our clients, who tend to be about 10% or 15% of this broader veteran population. One of the strengths of this study is that we were able to look at the entire 37,000 full-time force—not reserves—that released over a 10-year period, from 1997 to 2007. It was our first broad look at this new population.
There were a number of important findings. This population is very heterogeneous. In other words, one can follow a lot of different trajectories in the process of transition, and many of them are positive trajectories. Most veterans said they did well in transition and that their transition was relatively easy. However, an important minority, around 25%, found transition to be difficult or very difficult. So it allowed us to identify a subpopulation who experienced more problems.