After the military
- Thread starter plmmar
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Yes. Oh yes.
All of the above and much more, whether they leave military service by separating or retiring, earlier or later in life.
There are many excellent threads with a wide variety of posts about what's possible after just a few years or an entire career in the military. Poke about in the Life After forum.
Some choose to do things closely related to their military skills and responsibilities; some do not.
Employers value the education, leadership and management experience, the security clearances, the self-discipline, the work ethic and many other elements of military officer service.
Some become President.
Some coach basketball at Duke.
Some become _______________. We could fill pages about the post-uniform life and the doors that open, whether the names are famous or not.
Of our family of USNA sponsor midshipmen, now alumni, who elected to depart active duty at the 5-10 year point, we have an FBI agent, several in management tracks with large corporations, two in biz school, one working for Outward Bound, some with DOD contractors, one in medical school.
Of our many friends who have retired at 20 years or later, here's a tiny sampling: second careers with DOD contractors, re-entered government service as senior federal civil service, gone to vet school mid-life and went home to Montana to run a large animal practice on a ranch, Director of Alumni Career Center at a major university, owner of a game-fishing operation in the Florida Keys, Imagineers at Disney Florida, real estate agency owners, Girl Scouts of America executive, United Airlines captain, major port harbor pilot...you will find former and retired military officers in all walks of life.
All of the above and much more, whether they leave military service by separating or retiring, earlier or later in life.
There are many excellent threads with a wide variety of posts about what's possible after just a few years or an entire career in the military. Poke about in the Life After forum.
Some choose to do things closely related to their military skills and responsibilities; some do not.
Employers value the education, leadership and management experience, the security clearances, the self-discipline, the work ethic and many other elements of military officer service.
Some become President.
Some coach basketball at Duke.
Some become _______________. We could fill pages about the post-uniform life and the doors that open, whether the names are famous or not.
Of our family of USNA sponsor midshipmen, now alumni, who elected to depart active duty at the 5-10 year point, we have an FBI agent, several in management tracks with large corporations, two in biz school, one working for Outward Bound, some with DOD contractors, one in medical school.
Of our many friends who have retired at 20 years or later, here's a tiny sampling: second careers with DOD contractors, re-entered government service as senior federal civil service, gone to vet school mid-life and went home to Montana to run a large animal practice on a ranch, Director of Alumni Career Center at a major university, owner of a game-fishing operation in the Florida Keys, Imagineers at Disney Florida, real estate agency owners, Girl Scouts of America executive, United Airlines captain, major port harbor pilot...you will find former and retired military officers in all walks of life.
Just_A_Mom
10-Year Member
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- Jul 9, 2006
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- 4,774
My dad got his teaching certificate on the GI Bill and taught math for 18 years after retiring. This was back in the 70's but now it's all the rage. Troops to Teachers pays for a lot of ex-military to teach school.
20 years AF, 18 years teaching school. Two pensions, social security and makes more money now than he ever did working. He's had a great retirement.
20 years AF, 18 years teaching school. Two pensions, social security and makes more money now than he ever did working. He's had a great retirement.
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After a career as an Infantry Officer- I took as a Job in manufacturing and have run 3 different manufacturing plants in the US and Mexico for a very large French multinational manufacturing company and am now in General management. Operations are operations- they valued the ability to organize, plan and execute and lead people- like almost everyone else in the government I didn't know much about cost management or profit and loss- but you can learn a P&L pretty easily. Another Friend retired from the Navy and is working for this same company as a Sales Account Manager. Didn't know much about the product but he did know how to deal with people; lead folks into making a decision and solve problems- he got taught the technical application part of the job quickly enough. Yet another buddy retired, went back to school and got a PHD and is now a college professor- yet another classmate retired from the Army is now an SES with the Department of the Army. My brother retired as an Army engineer and is now an Elementary school teacher- he really wanted to work with kids- got most of his teaching certificate while still on active duty and is now teaching 4th graders and loves it.
Bottom line- I don't know anyone who didn't leave the service and find a rewarding second career- some -not all of them doing things not even remotely related to what they did on active duty. All however benefited from time, project & people management skills that they honed over 20+ years as officers in one or another of the services.
Bottom line- I don't know anyone who didn't leave the service and find a rewarding second career- some -not all of them doing things not even remotely related to what they did on active duty. All however benefited from time, project & people management skills that they honed over 20+ years as officers in one or another of the services.
Pima
10-Year Member
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To me I believe that it is important while you are in the military to remember that this is only going to be a small portion of your working life. The beauty of a military career is you start thinking about what you want to do next after you leave the military.
Bullet and I know probably 30-40 flyers that have retired in the past several yrs. The majority (85-90%) follow one of three career paths
1. Airline including companies like FedEx
2. Sim Instructors...they are the guys who run the simulator at the base. They are contracted by the builder of the plane.
3. Defense contractors. Caveat: Obama has decided to change course 180 degrees and now is converting defense contractors to fed employees, however that person still sits in the same desk, just now their being paid from a different source.
As you can see they try to stay close to what their career was in the military.
The flying world is different than the desk world. The people that we know who flew a desk went corporate or became a professor at a university. As stated they are highly sought after because of their education and leadership skills.
Before you leave the military you will be required to attend TAPS (Transition Assistance Program). Every base has it and there are job fairs held quite often. The majority of the companies that show up are military related, and of course some show up more often for one branch over another, for example SAIC hires more Army/Marine personnel then AF, thus, they are going to be there more than at an AF base. Pratt and WHitney loves the AF and they will be spending more resources recruiting from the AF. Rand, Raytheon, Booze Allen need someone from each branch and so they recruit from everywhere.
What I think is the most common is that the strong candidate will be recruited before they even hand in their papers. This usually occurs because someone you worked with a long time ago is now working for that company, knows of a job opening and that you are at a point of getting out. They approach the member. The caveat is that is the opposite for AD pilots. They contact the retiree to get them in to the airline.
You have a very long time ahead of you before this can be an option, and life will twist and turn. Remember God laughs at those who make plans! You will enter in the service and say this is what I want to do, but as time goes by and you get closer to separating you will realize that the "real" world has very little need for a tank driver, but your experience as a tank driver will be a huge asset to companies that design and build the next generation of the tank since your "real" experience is so unique in the "real" world that you are the only one that fits all of their parameters.
The one thing to comprehend is your retiring/separating rank will have a correlation to your job opportunities, caveat Pilot in the sky, but yet that is still about hours as an AC. For most that retire as O-5 they will enter as sr. mgmt in the corporate world. For O6 they typically enter as VP or President. For O7 and above they usually come in as President of a larger company or board members.
The hardest part is that some people have a terrible time transitioning into corporate because military regimen is not the same as corporate reality. Life is more gray in corporate, and after 20 + yrs of black and white it is frustrating. I have seen several who have gone into true corporate because o the job title, to quickly leave and go defense related due to this issue.
Bullet and I know probably 30-40 flyers that have retired in the past several yrs. The majority (85-90%) follow one of three career paths
1. Airline including companies like FedEx
2. Sim Instructors...they are the guys who run the simulator at the base. They are contracted by the builder of the plane.
3. Defense contractors. Caveat: Obama has decided to change course 180 degrees and now is converting defense contractors to fed employees, however that person still sits in the same desk, just now their being paid from a different source.
As you can see they try to stay close to what their career was in the military.
The flying world is different than the desk world. The people that we know who flew a desk went corporate or became a professor at a university. As stated they are highly sought after because of their education and leadership skills.
Before you leave the military you will be required to attend TAPS (Transition Assistance Program). Every base has it and there are job fairs held quite often. The majority of the companies that show up are military related, and of course some show up more often for one branch over another, for example SAIC hires more Army/Marine personnel then AF, thus, they are going to be there more than at an AF base. Pratt and WHitney loves the AF and they will be spending more resources recruiting from the AF. Rand, Raytheon, Booze Allen need someone from each branch and so they recruit from everywhere.
What I think is the most common is that the strong candidate will be recruited before they even hand in their papers. This usually occurs because someone you worked with a long time ago is now working for that company, knows of a job opening and that you are at a point of getting out. They approach the member. The caveat is that is the opposite for AD pilots. They contact the retiree to get them in to the airline.
You have a very long time ahead of you before this can be an option, and life will twist and turn. Remember God laughs at those who make plans! You will enter in the service and say this is what I want to do, but as time goes by and you get closer to separating you will realize that the "real" world has very little need for a tank driver, but your experience as a tank driver will be a huge asset to companies that design and build the next generation of the tank since your "real" experience is so unique in the "real" world that you are the only one that fits all of their parameters.
The one thing to comprehend is your retiring/separating rank will have a correlation to your job opportunities, caveat Pilot in the sky, but yet that is still about hours as an AC. For most that retire as O-5 they will enter as sr. mgmt in the corporate world. For O6 they typically enter as VP or President. For O7 and above they usually come in as President of a larger company or board members.
The hardest part is that some people have a terrible time transitioning into corporate because military regimen is not the same as corporate reality. Life is more gray in corporate, and after 20 + yrs of black and white it is frustrating. I have seen several who have gone into true corporate because o the job title, to quickly leave and go defense related due to this issue.
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Eagle 1
5-Year Member
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2009
- Messages
- 236
If life doesn't bring me another way (hey, who knows, might be a future POTUS 
) I've been thinking about becoming a History or Government teacher after a career in the military.
It's many years down the road though, and if not that, then something government or defense related is where I'd probably end up.
) I've been thinking about becoming a History or Government teacher after a career in the military.It's many years down the road though, and if not that, then something government or defense related is where I'd probably end up.
- Joined
- Mar 30, 2010
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- 32
FBI, CIA, DEA, IRA, Police, Sheriff, State Police, ect. There is a colonel who currently works for the South Carolina Highway patrol and I suspect he will continue to after retiring.
scoutpilot
10-Year Member
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- Apr 29, 2010
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- 4,479
IRA? I don't recommend terrorist groups.
Maybe it was intended to be IRS...though that is still a terrorist group.
