This study explores the reintegration processes that ex-combatants, as well as the communities that receive them, go through in the transition from being soldiers to being civilians across the Great Lakes region (GLR) of Africa (Uganda, Rwanda, DRC, RoC, and Burundi). This study uses a cross-country comparative approach capitalizing on survey data col¬lected between 2010 and 2012 from nearly 10,000 ex-combatants and community members across the GLR. This is the first time that such a large sample of data on ex-combatants from across multiple countries has been systematically compared and analyzed, thus the study represents the cutting edge of empirically driven quan-titative research on the reintegration processes of ex-combatants. An important component of the analysis of ex-com¬batant reintegration processes revolves around their position relative the broader community. As such, this study compares the reintegration processes of ex-com¬batants with those of community members and there¬fore, explores in turn the ways in which these two types of reintegration processes interact with each other. Notably, the core structure of the analysis presented in the detailed data analysis in annexes one and two is not only about ex-combatants and the processes through which they reintegrate, but also an investigation of commu¬nities themselves, i.e. their willingness and ability to absorb ex-combatants back into society. This study presents a snapshot of the social and economic dimensions of the overall reintegration process of ex-combatants and community members. However, the conceptual discussion and analysis of empirical evidence presented consolidates key knowledge and understanding about the broad trends of ex-combatants reintegration processes across the GLR. Further, the findings here no doubt carry weight for understanding ex-combatants reintegration processes in contexts beyond the GLR.