Why Identity, Not Employability, Is the Real Transition Crisis
Decades of evidence show job placement doesn't restore identity after service. This is the research behind why AURIS exists, and what's still unproven.
86% of service leavers find a job within six months. Almost none of them are asked whether they know who they are without the uniform on.
This paper sets out the research behind why AURIS exists: why a decade-long Swedish study found military identity doesn't fade after service, why published veteran and transition research supports examining identity alongside practical resettlement and skills translation, and why our own interview programme keeps finding the same pattern, the loss people describe is rarely about the job.
The full paper, with citations, methodology and the caveats we place on our own evidence, is available to download below.
Author: Gemma Gardner. Publisher: AURIS. Published July 2026.
This is the branded PDF version with logo, footer and full citations.
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