Civvy street - in the streamlined, fast turn-around world of today's military, few servicemen or women have the time or the inclination to think about the end of their service - life after the military. Yet, the day comes (and nowadays may come with the unpleasant shock of redundancy) when the discharge papers arrive and they are out. The reality, for many, is frightening, more frightening than being on the streets of Northern Ireland, as one former soldier put it. This book looks at a cross-section of men and women who left the forces several years ago to construct for themselves new identities as civilians. It asks why some people are eminently successful in making this transition whilst others never manage it, remaining for ever ex-servicemen. It looks at the issue of major life change in general, and identifies the processes at work in the adaptation of individuals to altered circumstances. Most importantly, the book draws on the personal experiences of a wide variety of military leavers, to learn directly from them the pitfalls and the satisfactions of beginning again as civilians. Ruth Jolly is the author of Military Man, Family Man.