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I know a married man with 4 kids that was in the army for 10 years (sgt, E-5) & got out. He ended up regretting it & worked low paying jobs & struggled big time. He was half way to retirement & up for a promotion. He was a tank driver.
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Originally Posted by Poncho_NM
Sometimes half way, the last 10 years are much harder than the first 10 years...
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Originally Posted by steel7
Why so ?
Combat arms during wartime in this specific case perhaps he had done enough. Many will only remain in the higher risk category for so long after doing their duty
The second half can be much more stressful. As you progress in rank you also progress in responsibilities. While many troops may complain about things in the military during the earlier part of their career, comparatively speaking one can live a care-free life. You don't have to worry much about supervising others, or be held responsible for managing anything, so just need to worry about yourself.
The Navy, unlike other branches, you must take a nation wide test in order to get advanced for any rate above E-3.
You compete against the entire Navy.
Here is what I observed.........first 10 years ,advancing in rate is quite smooth and fast.
Once you are going up for E-6 or E-7 it really tightens up in some rates.
Test after test being PNA ( passed not advanced) takes a toll.
I witnessed this with several ABE2 ( E-5) who each time got a higher score but each time got PNA because Navy wide there were few openings for ABE1.
My dad was Navy for 20 years. Roughly around 1985-2005. As far as what he had to go through I cant comment on that much but one thing I can say is this. My dad was practically always around. He came home every night from what I remember. I don't know how rare that is. According to my boyfriend (who was also Navy) says I'm pretty lucky. I don't know the specific name of my dads rate but I do know he first started out as a a mechanic to submarines. Then later as a machinist on and off. I did "odd" jobs in think in the Navy by working at the Brig. I say odd only because growing up I though that was a normal job but I don't think that's a normal rate you get into. Anyway long story short there were only a few instances my dad was gone for more than 2 weeks to a year. I know the first three years or more he did a lot of sea duty and since I was a baby I don't remember him being gone. Only twice was he gone for more than a year and once we has gone for two weeks. The rest of the time I remember him being home.
I guess I'm a little surprised when people say they are away from their families for a long time (unless their Army or Marines, I kinda expect that). It was even almost a shock when my boyfriend asked me and I told him how much my dad was always home. I guess my dads situation was different from most people getting into the Navy now.There's a lot of new rules in place.
IDK, been a long time since I joined but up until last year I was working as a civvie with young airman. My impression is that it is still pretty basic. Good scores on the AVSAB, no major health issues, not overweight, no police record, pass a drug test, a physical and a psych test. Tattoos that show outside your uniform may be a problem, i.e. show up above your neck collar.
After that it is the "needs of the military". Do they need bodies right now ? How badly? The more badly they need them the lower the requirements. If they need them really badly they can waive just about anything. When the economy is up and not so many people lined up to get in, they are more likely to take lesser qualified candidates. Of course if we are pulling troops out of our never ending mideast conflict then there is an excess of soldiers.
You could easily call a recruiter near you and find out the current situation for getting in. Different regions may have different quotas. So it may be partially location driven.
Given the current unemployment rate I would think that unless he has one of the disqualifiers going on and a decent AVSAB he should at least be able to get into the Army. Not dissing the Army but they are the biggest and so have the biggest numbers to fill. Oddly sometimes I think the Marines are the hardest to get in as Marine recruiters may be evaluating potential recruits with a regard as to whether they would make a good Marine, a personal and subjective thing, and they are the smallest service. The Air Force gets a lot of recruits that have some college that want to get benefits so they can finish. So that may be more competitive. Not sure about the Navy.
You may suggest that the daughter go into the service. Unless she has stellar grades and a solid plan for transition to a good college to a hirable degree not sure where community college will take her. Is she marking time because she doesn't know what else to do or is there a goal in place?
I dont see it yet, is there still a hire freeze for civilian govt jobs associated with support of the military? I cant imagine that we are simply building up a bunch of 11B's but rather the high tech aspects of the military which is done in VERY large part by civilians.
I have been seeing alot of USA jobs postings pop up for engineering and technical positions but they are resume collection only and not actual openings, perhaps something will come of it?
I would love to get a federal GS position in the dept of the airforce and get a clearance. I am going to email some military folks I got contact info for and see what I need to work on to be competitive when the freeze is finally lifted (masters, additional hard core math, science or engineering course work, certifications, etc). I know that my resume is going to have to be solid to beat out people with vet pref points.
No the hiring freeze was 90 day starting Jan 22. DoD jobs are still moving.
EngTech positions are wide open, job series 0802. There are others. Don't limit yourself to the AF. Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam is now maintained by the Navy so you probably wouldn't see a AF civilian Eng position open there. Good foot-in-the-door job which starts usually at a GS11/12 level.
No the hiring freeze was 90 day starting Jan 22. DoD jobs are still moving.
EngTech positions are wide open, job series 0802. There are others. Don't limit yourself to the AF. Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam is now maintained by the Navy so you probably wouldn't see a AF civilian Eng position open there. Good foot-in-the-door job which starts usually at a GS11/12 level.
For now I am limiting my search to alaska since my family is here (parents are getting up there and once they are gone they are gone) and I have not got caught up in a lay off. My plan is, so long as I have a job, keep applying for federal jobs (the department of the AF just happens to be the one doing alot of resume collection for AK right now and its also the branch with alot of cool tech I would love to work on and be apart of). Or get all my high dollar assets paid off (basicly our house) and then I can get by working at a liquor store lol.
One of my other worries is that trump has basicly gutted the coveted job secuirty for life aspects of federal GS positions which would be the main reason to get out of oil and gas so I did not have to worry about the annual mass lay off every christmas.
The rub is that my degree and PE licence is in chemical, although I have significant course work in electrical I did not pass my april EE PE exam and am short some credits for the EE degree but I have done well in all the weed out courses. However, thats not exactly a masters in EE from MIT. Even though my chem eng degree is from a presigious uni govt jobs dont really hire many chem eng's ...
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