The Value of Military Experience.

If all you have is military experience,  what kind of civilian occupation are you qualified for?  Actually, most military occupations are directly transferable to a civilian equivalent. At most, you may need certification, or licensing in order to practice your trade in the civilian market, but the skills are the same.                                                                                                    But, what about Service Members with a combat arms background. The infantry, combat engineer, field artillerymen, and special operations are often thought to have no skills to offer, outside of the military, however that is far from true.  

There are two basic categories of occupational skills; hard skills and soft skills. Hard skills are those specific skills that you are trained and  certified, or licensed in, such as training in specific fields, equipment, hardware, software, top secret clearance, etc.. Whereas, soft skills are a little less definable, but are increasingly recognized and valued by prospective employers.
The military trains us in both hard and soft skills. We run the gambit (over 200 enlisted MOS's in the Army, alone) in training from clerical, finance, information technology, and logistics to medical, engineering and combat arms, and everything in between.
Beyond our Military Occupations we also receive training in risk assessment and risk management, and utilizing personal protective equipment. A list of soft skills attributed to Service Members includes, but is not limited to the following:

• disciplined
• diverse 
• reliable
• drug free
• physically fit 
• team oriented 
• adaptable
• leaders
• trainers/instructors
• well traveled
• work well under pressure

These highly regarded soft skills and many more are associated with all Service Members, regardless of MOS. It is incumbent upon you to bring them to the forefront of the potential employers thoughts in the form of key words and phrases within your resume.