First He Led Marines. Now He Leads Veterans Home.
Antonio Reyes did what he thought he was supposed to do. He earned his undergraduate degree from Arizona State University in 2019, then he went straight into the Marine Corps.
Everything in the military was clear including his identity.
Then he transitioned out, and the path that had always been mapped for him suddenly wasn’t.
He assumed he’d walk easily into a high-paying job. After all he had leadership skills, experience and a strong work ethic. But the reality was much different.
Meanwhile life didn’t pause while he tried to figure it out. He was working while also caregiving full-time for his brother with special needs. And soon Antonio reached a pressure point.
Something had to give.
So he took a step many high-achieving people resist. He paused long enough to sit with himself and do the inner work, “If I want to serve in this next chapter, I need to relearn how the world works outside the military.”
He realized he needed to translate what he had learned in the military to how civilian work operated.
Higher education became his bridge.
“The biggest draw to higher education was learning the language of the world around me.”
He also noticed that veterans who struggled most often did so alone.
So, for Antonio, community became essential.
“I’m part of communities I didn’t even know existed and didn’t know I needed such as One More Wave, Heroic Hearts Project, VFW Solana Beach – where I serve as a trustee – and Veteran Beer Club.”
Antonio used the GI Bill to enroll in a flexibly-designed MBA program that fit around his work and caregiving responsibilities. The program also offered certifications he was looking for like Certified Scrum Master (CSM) which he recently earned.
Further, he credits progress in his MBA with strengthening mentoring, listening and boundary-setting skills that matter in his role as career transition coach, warriors to work at Wounded Warrior Project. He’s built a student veteran identity within his organization, holding regular office hours at UCLA, and other regional institutions, running mock interviews, and helping others prepare for life after graduation.
It seems no coincidence that Antonio’s work now is the same kind of leadership he practiced in uniform. In the Marines, he took responsibility for the people below him; today, as a career transition specialist, he’s pulling other veterans through the uncertainty of civilian life with that same steady mentorship and care. Now, with his MBA almost complete (June 2026), he has the vocabulary to translate better for the men and women he serves.
“You don't transition by doing it in isolation. You transition by getting back into community and learning the language of your next life.”
When asked what advice he would give his younger self, he’s direct.
“Connect to community sooner. Get out from behind the screen. Meet people. Leverage the communities you already have, and find the ones you didn’t even know existed.”
Antonio Reyes is one of fifty adult learners featured in Beyond the Degree: Stories of Adult Learner Comebacks and What They Teach Us. Read his complete story in his own words, and discover what these remarkable comebacks teach us, in the book from the Center for Academic Innovation.