LookingForIntel
5-Year Member
- Joined
- Aug 30, 2010
- Messages
- 2
Background:
-I'm a 2011 AFROTC grad, AFSC is 14NX (intel)
-My major is Asian Studies, 3.8GPA (the closest thing to Japanese at my university, for which I was given an express scholarship two years ago)
-I'm engaged to a Japanese man, we'll be marrying in about two and a half years after he graduates (with a degree in English)
-I've got a little under $20K saved away, 5.5K in student loans from my first two years of college, and I'm expecting to graduate when all's said and done with about 20K, no debt (I already have a car)
I originally planned on making a career out of the AF. I'm very interested in intel, and I would have loved loved loved to take a shot at going RAS (Regional Affairs Strategist) 7 years down the road, but I ended up finding the man of my dreams and I'm now more interested in settling down, which would be too difficult if I'm deploying every 6 months. So now I'm looking at getting out after my 4 required years. Our current plan is to take the K1 fiance visa route to get my fiance into the states after he graduates in two and a half years. Another two and a half years after that I'll be up for Capt, which is when I want to exit.
1. What I'd like advice on is what kind of jobs are available to an intel officer with only 4 years of experience (are there any locations in [or out] of the US that have especially good job opportunities)? I've been studying Japanese for three years and have even studied abroad--my language skills could be considered "able to function on a basic level" right now but I fully expect to be darn near fluent five years from now based on how quickly I've improved in the past and with the amount of studying and practice I do (especially with a Japanese fiance). The fiance also wants to find a decent job here (his English is near fluent and he even has an American accent, but he has no skills aside from being bilingual).
2. Would it be to my benefit to work on a masters my first year or so in the service, and are there any degrees that would be especially beneficial to someone with experience in intel?
3. I'm uninformed when it comes to making financial investments. I had a good portion of my money in a CD until recently when it came due, the interest rate was actually lower than what I would get in my savings so I just switched it all out.... I will have no debt when I graduate, but my fiance owes a significant amount for tuition since there are no grants and scholarships are few and far between for schooling in Japan. I believe he told me it's about $15K a year (four years), but he owes his parents for it so the repayment schedule should be flexible and he won't owe interest (assuming he won't be disowned for moving to America and marrying me immediately after college.... but that's another story). Does anyone have any good advice for investing in my situation?
I realize this is a lot of information here. There aren't many people I can talk to about these things where I live--I'm the first person in my family to go military or even go to college, and when I commission I'll be making more money than either of my parents. It seems like there are a lot of people on this forum with experience, and I've read through a number of threads (including one with a lot of financial advice but I'm not going to pretend I understood it all). This is my last year of ROTC and my classes this year should be entirely dedicated to life on active duty, so hopefully that'll paint a better picture, but it's never too early to start planning for the future and I have a lot of questions now. If anyone has anything to say on anything I posted, it would be much appreciated!
-I'm a 2011 AFROTC grad, AFSC is 14NX (intel)
-My major is Asian Studies, 3.8GPA (the closest thing to Japanese at my university, for which I was given an express scholarship two years ago)
-I'm engaged to a Japanese man, we'll be marrying in about two and a half years after he graduates (with a degree in English)
-I've got a little under $20K saved away, 5.5K in student loans from my first two years of college, and I'm expecting to graduate when all's said and done with about 20K, no debt (I already have a car)
I originally planned on making a career out of the AF. I'm very interested in intel, and I would have loved loved loved to take a shot at going RAS (Regional Affairs Strategist) 7 years down the road, but I ended up finding the man of my dreams and I'm now more interested in settling down, which would be too difficult if I'm deploying every 6 months. So now I'm looking at getting out after my 4 required years. Our current plan is to take the K1 fiance visa route to get my fiance into the states after he graduates in two and a half years. Another two and a half years after that I'll be up for Capt, which is when I want to exit.
1. What I'd like advice on is what kind of jobs are available to an intel officer with only 4 years of experience (are there any locations in [or out] of the US that have especially good job opportunities)? I've been studying Japanese for three years and have even studied abroad--my language skills could be considered "able to function on a basic level" right now but I fully expect to be darn near fluent five years from now based on how quickly I've improved in the past and with the amount of studying and practice I do (especially with a Japanese fiance). The fiance also wants to find a decent job here (his English is near fluent and he even has an American accent, but he has no skills aside from being bilingual).
2. Would it be to my benefit to work on a masters my first year or so in the service, and are there any degrees that would be especially beneficial to someone with experience in intel?
3. I'm uninformed when it comes to making financial investments. I had a good portion of my money in a CD until recently when it came due, the interest rate was actually lower than what I would get in my savings so I just switched it all out.... I will have no debt when I graduate, but my fiance owes a significant amount for tuition since there are no grants and scholarships are few and far between for schooling in Japan. I believe he told me it's about $15K a year (four years), but he owes his parents for it so the repayment schedule should be flexible and he won't owe interest (assuming he won't be disowned for moving to America and marrying me immediately after college.... but that's another story). Does anyone have any good advice for investing in my situation?
I realize this is a lot of information here. There aren't many people I can talk to about these things where I live--I'm the first person in my family to go military or even go to college, and when I commission I'll be making more money than either of my parents. It seems like there are a lot of people on this forum with experience, and I've read through a number of threads (including one with a lot of financial advice but I'm not going to pretend I understood it all). This is my last year of ROTC and my classes this year should be entirely dedicated to life on active duty, so hopefully that'll paint a better picture, but it's never too early to start planning for the future and I have a lot of questions now. If anyone has anything to say on anything I posted, it would be much appreciated!