SAN DIEGO -- Just in San Diego, nearly 28,000 veterans decided to get out of the military, but a new pilot program is helping those veterans transition into civilian life.

It's called the "Reboot Workshop."

"I'm a 20-year veteran so my brain is programmed to think military," said Roseann Deloney, a Navy veteran.

But after three weeks in the program, she and nine other graduates learned how to function outside of the military.

"That's kind of like the shock when you get out of the military... now you're on your own," said Marine veteran Michael Pride.

Co-founder Ronne Froman said the idea is to incorporate the discipline and other skills learned in the military and adapt them.

"What we're doing is we're taking that and showing students how to use those skills in the quote, unquote real world... That's not being done," said Froman.

Froman came to San Diego as the first female Navy mayor in 1997 and was part of the mayor's transition team in 2005.

The reboot program is headquartered at the old naval training center, where so many got their start in the military in boot camp.

The boot camp program was founded in the 1920s and the last recruit class went in through the early 1990s before the training center was closed.

Maurice Wilson, a retired Navy Master Chief and co-founder of Reboot, said he likes the location of the Reboot program.

"We like that historical effect that it has," said Wilson. "It's the perfect place; it's the right place to be."

For now, Reboot is just a pilot program.

"We hope to take what happened here and extend it around the nation," said U.S. Representative Bob Filner.

Filner said he was hoping to press Washington to help with funding, which has run out.

For now, veterans who completed the program said at least they have a fighting chance.

"The tools I have attained in this course I will carry with me for the rest of my life," said Deloney.

Transition assistance programs in the military are three days long and can be overwhelming. The Reboot Workshop lasts for three weeks.