Hello fellow forum members. My name is Arthur and I am currently serving as 37F Psychological Operations in the Army. I plan to pursue law enforcement when my enlistment is up in Jan. 2013 and am glad to see many other veterans among the members here. I served in OIF and am currently serving in OEF XVIII in Afghanistan. I realize that soon I will be facing the separation crisis that many soldiers face and so I would like any information or perhaps posts that already address the unique issues that soldiers face transitioning from the military to law enforcement. I realize that veterans already have unique advantages over regular civilians, and I hope to utilize all the advantages I have to make a smooth transition from the military and gain an edge over my competition. In true military fashion I respond well to advice that is concrete and consists of "go here, do this, read this, and complete everything on this." Once again I'm glad to be here and look forward to extracting as much information as possible from some of the experienced members here.  

welcome,  welcome.

Welcome to PL Art and from a Vietnam Vet to another Vet, thank you for your service. I think you will find that the Police is not very hard to 'fit in' as we are both para-military ops. LE is more like Special Ops than regular military or Army in that we need you to think for yourself while on the move. We give you an outline of your mission and some basic instructions but it is up to you to formulate how to accomplish your goals of serving and protecting. What happens on the Streets is often very similar but it is still enough different that you will have to alter and measure reactions to fit the circumstances, be it physical or mental all the way down to the way you speak and the education level you use. You cannot for instance use language on the level of a collage professor or high ranking businessman to someone right out of the ghetto, or use ghetto speak towards this business professional. The Ghetto person will think you are making fun of him or talking down to him and the businessman will think you a fool. You need to make that judgement not only on your local, but on 'their' speech etc.

Your best bet to to listen and learn as much as you can at the Academy and training as you can possibly absorb and then listen to your FTO and ask him or her questions. ALWAYS be humble and speak to others in a respectful manner and above all, always be truthful and do not play games. Friendly but firm and knowledgeable. If you don't know something, don't fake the answer. Tell them you don't know, yet, but will find out the proper answer and get back to them.

Welcome from sunny Florida.

FloEW says ...

 Welcome to PL from Kansas. Thank you for your service.

What part of Kansas? I was born and raised in Salina.

Welcome to Police Link and thank you for your service from Upper Darby, PA.

Doc

Welcome to PL from NJ and thank you for your service!

Welcome to Police Link from the Wierd Coast.  Good Luck in your quest.  Thank you for all you have done already.  This career will ask you to give more.

Welcome from Wisconsin.

Welcome to PoliceLink from Long Island, New York