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Week 12 [22.01.2018 - 28.01.2018] Your future career is not defined yet


Most of you recognize this guy but do you know his amazing story? Everything you do has an impact on you, ends up being an experience that makes you see the world from a different perspective. Watch this talk and see how one’s life can dramatically change.


  1. What do you think about Adam’s way of giving back to the military community?
  2. How do people handle transition from a soldier into a civilian? Do you know anybody who went through something like that?

Comments

Isn't that Ben Swolo?
I don't know anyone in real life that became civilian after being solider.
It's important to remember that we do not know what will happened in future. In IT field there is really strong rat race - there is a pressure to work in your early twenties. A lot of IT students claims that they code since they are kids and are saying that if you are 25 and do not have great software carrier, then it means you will accomplish shit. And that it's totally not true. It's never too late to start doing something new - that's why this marine became one of the most popular actors right now.
Indeed it is. The one and only supreme leader of the first order.
I agree with you there are many people who started IT career late in life and it was the experience they gained before that made them so successful.
1. I think, he chosen a very interesting way to activate himself and show it to the others and also to people like him, who can’t find their place after leaving army. It shows, how using some kind of “crisis” (I mean for him leaving army was a huge problem) transform into a chance – he did it using all of his artistic skills and military experiences. Linking such different issues seems to be impossible, but he successfully did it.
2. I’ve never met a person, who has come through transition from a soldier into a civilian. But I can imagine, how difficult it is, especially when he has taken part in real military actions. He functions with high level of adrenaline, difficult to find in “normal” life. Getting used to normal activities and finding sense in them is very difficult for them in such situation. They have to take up something meaningful and precise, then they concentrate on it and don’t analyze “previous” life any more. Adam has found something like that and that helped him to survive the transformation process.
I also think that for former soldiers it is very important to take up something meaningful and take their mind of what they have been through. No matter how hard it can be.
In most cases military people are very strange, I always think of them as outsiders. The video has only once again proven my thoughts. They have seen a lot of bad things, especially those ones who already practiced warfare and were part of some war conflicts. Psychologically they differ from the rest of the candidates who usually apply for a job. In some areas they are more advanced, in others not. So I think when changing their career, they should carefully think about what they want and how they can contribute to it with those qualities that they already have.
War changes people, just like prison. I've heard of many cases of people that simply can't go back to normal life after serving in army for let's say 5-10 years, simply because they're no longer capable of adapting. There are many people that believe they're only capable of serving in the army and nothing else.

And in fact, same thing applies to prison. There are many situations when potentially young people that just chose the wrong path once are becoming much worse than they could be if somebody just helped them in other way.
The thing I love most is that his accident that left him ineligible for deployment was probably the best thing that ever happened to him, yet he still feels regret about not being able to serve even up until today. It just goes to show how down to earth and humble he is.
Alicja said…
I respect Adam, because he did his duty and he tries to give back to the military community. His idea of using his own experience and what he learnt in order to assist the soldiers is worth recognizing.

I imagine the transition from soldier to civilian is a difficult one. I have family members who either were or are soldiers. The majority of my coworkers are soldiers who once a year need to leave their families and work behind and go serve in the military for a couple of months to defend their country. However, there are things that military experience gives that do help in a civilian life. Confidence, directness, pragmatism and many other valuable traits and skills. I think experience in a professional army (Western, democratic country) can give a lot of confidence, especially to women. I know a few young women, age just 25+, who entered civilian life after being commanders in the army and they do fantastically well on managerial positions in the companies.
Honestly I despise military and people who freely choose to serve, but I will try not to lose it. I don't have anything to say about his way of giving back to the military community, simply because most of them chose this kind of life for themselves. If they want to die for such a stupid idea as country, then be my guest and line up. Regarding the second question I think that if we put it in a different, yet keeping the identical meaning, way that is how one transition from being a killer to not being one, then the answer is obvious - most can't. While it's not a problem if someone chose to fight for the well being of the elites by killing poor people around the world, it is a problem if someone was forced into military. That's why I believe it's not even worth discussing the situation of psychopaths from western world.
I do not know anyone who is in the military (or was). I heard that people after being a soldier, have a hard time to return in to civilian life. Also they are imposing military discipline on their families. But I do not know is it true or not.
Thank you, this is a very interesting video. The history of Adam Driver is very motivating and makes you think. After viewing, you begin to understand that there is always another chance, another version of your future, and it depends entirely on you. My whole family consists of military men, but at the moment no one of them is serving. Well, military service in the United States is very different. But I think Adam would have to speak with his speech in the communities for the rehabilitation of servicemen and motivate them.
Unknown said…
In my opinion what's Adam is doing is very interesting. That's prove that when you serve in the army you will always be a soldier. Everything what he's done after become civilian again was connected with his military experience. In that way his decision to made sth melting his current job and military community is pretty obvious – without doing that he will still miss part of his life.
I don’t know anybody who ended his/her military service and become a civilian. Of course I don’t count my father and uncles, who served one year as a conscript soldiers – that’s totally different kind of service. For me one of the best illustration of problems which people has with transition from military into civilian is movie: “American Sniper” and the scene when wife of the protagonist asked him about colour of the walls in their new flat and he said that it doesn’t matter in compare to his experience in Iraq.
Unknown said…
In my opinion it is a great idea to try to combine art and military. It could help military people to learn the feelings and emotions of the civilians. I think they do have their own world, where there is discipline, lack of emotions, another entertainment, another lifestyle. I knew some people who had to turn to civil life after the army and it was hard to find the right way to communicate with them. Our life has less constraints, we are free to do whatever we want almost all the time. But for militaries discipline is the most important thing. And when turning to 'normal' life they just don't know what to do without that system. Sometimes it could cause the depression or some other difficulties. In my country we are now facing the problem of people, who is coming back home from war and they are so broken and their psychics is not stabile any more. I have heard some sad stories about people committing suicide after the awful things they have seen. So I think that government should provide the necessary psychological help for such people. And it should be treated as a normal process just to allow militaries to get use to their new way of life.
Wojtek Kania said…
Well I think that any services like military, police or fire brigade require respect. My three brothers in law are soilder. One of them now is a civilian. There are two types of soliders - one of them were at war, others were not. If you were in military but never being at war you don't have many problems transition from a soldier into a civilian.
Unknown said…
The military has a way of turning a man into a killer but not the other way around. I think it's cruel. They change people to handle difficult situations, to be able to fight with whatever enemy they need to but when they come home they are usually lost. I do not know anyone that went through the process of transition between military and civilian life but I've been interested in the topic for some time now. This is a very nice video about the topic, if you're reading this you should watch it - it might change your perspective on some things: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zViyZGmBhvs&ab_channel=Lindybeige
Unknown said…
Just came here to say:
You are no Vader. You are just a child in a mask!
Just kiddin, didn't know he was a marine. That's actually a cool story, gave me a new, different perspective on Adam. I can't even imagine how difficult it is to come back into a civilian life after going through experiences of a soldier on duty.
This is like the best comment ever! Thanks for the originality :D
Wow that is truly amazing what your brothers are doing for their country.
It is really horrible that some people can never adjust to the civilian life after what they saw. I hope people you know who are coming back from war will recover quickly :)
I can only imagine you had to be so proud yet so terrified that members of your family were risking their lives everyday.
Yes it’s really amazing how one’s life can change just by one action.

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