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 doctoral research on veteran coaching found identity work outperforms skills-translation alone, 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.
Read the full paper (PDF)More from News & Insights
Research note · August 2026The Ten-Year Gap
One person in our interviews took roughly ten years to even notice what had happened to him. Then another fifteen to accept it. He isn't an outlier in this dataset. He is the pattern.
Research note · July 2026Inside the Evidence: What We Know, What We Don't, and Why We're Still Testing
Most organisations publish their findings. Very few publish their gaps.
Research note · July 2026From Research to Practice: The Pilots and the Four Questions They're Answering
A pilot is not a proof point, it's a live test of a question we genuinely don't know the answer to yet.
Essay · July 2026Why This Matters Now: Policy, Partners and What Comes Next
In June 2026 we took this research to Parliament, before every question was answered, because evidence-first engagement matters more than waiting for certainty that may take years to arrive.
Essay · May 2026When the uniform comes off
Why identity, not employment, is the deepest challenge of military transition.
Research note · April 2026The family transitions too
Identity loss after service is rarely the veteran's alone, partners and families carry their own.
Announcement · March 2026The AURIS Identity System is open at aurisidentity.com
A quiet, private companion for the work, available now in the browser.