Total VeteranYou were trained for a mission. Now build one of your own.
Total Veteran helps people leaving the forces make the crossing into civilian life with a written plan, a coach, a fellow veteran beside them and an app, built on doctoral research into life after service.
Founded by Dr Carlos M. Callirgos, who served 16 years in the US Navy and wrote his PhD on how people rebuild after leaving the military. For UK and US veterans, serving personnel and their families.
First you make the crossing. Then you stand the watch.
Research presented at
- Malmö UniversityNEPSI Colloquium, September 2026
- University of OttawaIUS Canada, October 2026
- Baltic Defence CollegeISMS, Tartu, November 2026
What Total Veteran does
The structure the forces gave you, rebuilt for civilian life.
Service gives you a mission, a routine and people around you. Leaving takes all three at once. We help you put them back in place, on your terms, with a plan you write yourself.
Cohorts and coaching
Small groups of UK and US veterans, each person with a coach, a peer Bravo and a written Personal Mission Architecture. The first cohorts begin in early 2027.
How coaching worksThe Journal
80 free guides on careers, money, housing, benefits, study and family, checked against official sources and sorted by country.
Read the JournalResearch
Studies with partners including Everyone Has a Story and Mental Fortitude CIC, open to anyone who has served.
See current studiesThe app Coming soon
Your plan, your journal, your coach and Bravo, and events near you, in one place.
See the app
Tap an area to see what it covers.
The WEAPONS self-assessment
Six areas of life after service.
A five-minute check shows where you stand in each area, with Wellness as the overall measure. It is free, and it gives you a clear starting line for the plan you build next.
Try two questions now
Choose an answer for each statement to see where you might start.
Take the full self-assessmentHow a cohort works
Four steps from starting line to a plan you live by.
Take the self-assessment
Five minutes, six areas of life, and a clear picture of where you are starting.
Have an opening conversation
Talk with a coach about where you are and what you want next. There is no commitment.
Write your mission
Build your Personal Mission Architecture with your coach: your mission, priorities and the weekly structure behind them.
Work it with a coach and a Bravo
Regular sessions, a fellow veteran paired with you for mutual support, and reviews as life changes.
First cohorts begin in early 2027 and places are limited.
Leaving is a crossing, and nobody should make it alone or without a plan.
The Journal
Free guides for the country you live in.
Plain answers on benefits, careers, housing, study and family, with every figure linked to its source and reviewed this month.
- The Armed Forces Covenant Explained: Your Rights in Housing, Schools and the NHSUK, 7 minute read
- HM Armed Forces Veteran Card: Eligibility, How to Apply and What It Gets YouUK, 5 minute read
- Career Transition Partnership (CTP): Resettlement Entitlement ExplainedUK, 7 minute read
- VR&E (Chapter 31) Explained: Eligibility, Tracks, Pay and How to ApplyUS, 6 minute read
- Best Employers for Veterans: UK Gold Award Holders and US HIRE Vets Winners (2026)UK and US, 8 minute read
- Using Your Post-9/11 GI Bill to Study in the UK: Step-by-Step Guide for 2026UK and US, 6 minute read
Who is behind it
Built by a veteran and a systems scientist.
Dr Carlos M. Callirgos
Founder and Principal Investigator
Served 16 years in the US Navy, retiring as a Chief Petty Officer, with postings including the Blue Angels. His PhD at Leeds Beckett University developed the Total Veteran model of how people rebuild identity and structure after leaving the military.
Read more
Dr Pedro Pablo Cardoso Castro
Chief Cybernetics Officer
Organisational cyberneticist at De Montfort University with close to two decades of work on Stafford Beer's Viable System Model, which he applies to identity and structure after service.
Read more
The Total Veteran Manual
The field manual for life after service.
Five parts take you from knowing yourself to a written plan you live by: take stock of what service built, rebalance six areas of life, guard your commitments, define success on your terms, then build your Personal Mission Architecture step by step.
Every chapter opens with its bottom line up front, and every part ends with exercises you complete.
Ebook £8.99 / $9.99, launch price £4.99 / $6.99 in November. Hardcover £20 / $25.
Out in November 2026 as an ebook on Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo, Google Play Books and Barnes & Noble Nook.
Study in the UK
Using the GI Bill at a UK university?
Free guidance for US veterans on universities, costs, visas, housing and bringing your family.
Read the study guideWho we work with
Everyone who stands alongside people leaving the forces.
The same framework, put to work for each group in its own terms. Talk to us about sponsoring a cohort, referring people or bringing the model into your organisation.
- Serving and veteransCohorts, coaching, the Manual and the app.
- Families and partnersShared language and a plan you can build together.
- Employers and sponsorsSponsor a cohort and meet people ready for civilian work.
- Clinicians and wellbeing servicesA structured coaching framework to sit alongside your care.
- UniversitiesSupport for veteran students, including US veterans in the UK.
- Government and charitiesOutcomes across six areas of life, mapped to public priorities.
Register interest
Tell us what you are looking for.
Cohorts begin in early 2027. We read every message and reply by email.
Prefer to talk? Email support@totalveteran.com or message us on WhatsApp, +44 330 043 1179.
Thanks, you are on the list.
We will contact you by email. In the meantime, the Journal has free guides for wherever you are in the crossing.