Once in the military we are in a uniformed service. It is us who are alike. It is us who are different. Later we may become civilians but we retain military ethos.
Two good posts from both PN and StuartP.
It has been well documented on various threads within this Forum that many people are now looking to leave the Services mainly because of the F@ck factor and I can fully empathize with them. Spending so much time away from family and loved ones must be very difficult and stressful.
However, the grass is not always greener on the other side. I was lucky after leaving the RAF as I went to work in the Magic Kingdom alongside a 99% ex services work force so I didn't experience the culture shock immediately.
It wasn't until I returned to UK and civvy street proper that I found out what civilian life was really like.
StuartP summed it up nicely
I've worked with a few ex-forces people over the years, they're generally the ones who get on with the job and then moan about it aftewards (if at all), while the rest of us are still checking our conditions to see if they can (a) make us do it and (b) if they can, how much we can screw it for overtime. They were generally a lot better turned out than us too.
How true.