Life after the military

[D_Rob]

Be a U.S. citizen.

Apparently not if you are a doctor or a nurse.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081205/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/military_recruiting

 

[A4sForever]

Apparently not if you are a doctor or a nurse.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081205/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/military_recruiting

From the link: "Struggling to find enough doctors, nurses and linguists for the war effort, the Pentagon will temporarily recruit foreigners who have been living in the United States on student and work visas, or with refugee or political asylum status .... "

There's a HUGE gap between recruiting a doctor/nurse/"linguist" and recruiting a potential life-taker & a heart-breaker ....

"Linguist"??? That's very cunning ...

 

[Schnugg]

Was being a test pilot my dream job then?

To be honest, I never actually have been allowed that luxury. I come from a family of fairly successful professionals: i.e. doctors, lawyers, MBAs. So my college career and academia was very decided to begin with. I was to choose from this narrow scope set by my parents. I had initially during high school, wanted to goto West Point..unfortunately I couldn't even apply.

For what why is reason for to not even apply? Yes? Was decided for you was for why? Please for tell me much more now, yes, okay.

Are you a US Citizen?

 

[Cron]

I'm in the reserves, and I'll run down the guys that are in my squadron as well as guys that just got out and what we're doing:

1. Software Engineer (R/W Pilot)
2. Hedge Fund Manager (R/W Pilot)
3. Operations Manager (R/W Pilot)
4. Regional Airline Pilot (R/W Pilot)
5. Major Carrier Airline Pilot (R/W Pilot)
6. EMS Helo Pilot (R/W Pilot)
7. County Police Helo Pilot (R/W Pilot)
8. Project Manager (F/W Pilot)
9. Field Engineer (R/W Pilot)
10. FBI Agent (R/W Pilot)
11. Senior Principal Engineer (F/W Pilot)
12. Air Interdiciton Agent, CBP (F/W & R/W Pilots)
13. JD Candidate (R/W Pilot)

This might be a stupid question, but how would one's reserve pay look like after serving 10+ years of AD as an O? Would the salary be enough to live comfortably, or is it pretty much a given that you'll need a "real job" on the side to sustain yourself?

 

[phrogpilot73]

This might be a stupid question, but how would one's reserve pay look like after serving 10+ years of AD as an O? Would the salary be enough to live comfortably, or is it pretty much a given that you'll need a "real job" on the side to sustain yourself?

It really depends. If you do the bare minimum of reserve stuff, it's not much (figure roughly $300/day). But if you max out the alloted stuff, and volunteer for ADOS and what have you - you can make it an almost living... I've heard guys making from $35-$65K only doing reserve stuff. However, most of us have real jobs on the outside and use the reserves to cover the gaps/furloughs.

 

[exhelodrvr]

I'm in the reserves, and I'll run down the guys that are in my squadron as well as guys that just got out and what we're doing:

1. Software Engineer (R/W Pilot)
2. Hedge Fund Manager (R/W Pilot)
3. Operations Manager (R/W Pilot)
4. Regional Airline Pilot (R/W Pilot)
5. Major Carrier Airline Pilot (R/W Pilot)
6. EMS Helo Pilot (R/W Pilot)
7. County Police Helo Pilot (R/W Pilot)
8. Project Manager (F/W Pilot)
9. Field Engineer (R/W Pilot)
10. FBI Agent (R/W Pilot)
11. Senior Principal Engineer (F/W Pilot)
12. Air Interdiciton Agent, CBP (F/W & R/W Pilots)
13. JD Candidate (R/W Pilot)

So you can see, that you can do whatever you want to do and/or that you put the effort in to doing. Hope this helps.

Having spent half my career as a TAR, I would put the pilots of a reserve squadron ahead of the pilots of an active duty squadron any time, at least from the perspective of flying ability.

Some other professions that were represented by reservists I've known:
Salesman
Auto parts store owner
Fireman
IRS agent
Real estate agent
Commercial real estate manager
Rocket scientist (literally)
FAA flight tester
Electrical engineer
Lawyer
Husband of a doctor
Maintenance man for large communications antennas (i.e. climbing up on radio towers changing light bulbs)
... and the best
Child psychologist (tell me every squadron doesn't need one of those in the ready room!)

 

[exhelodrvr]

This might be a stupid question, but how would one's reserve pay look like after serving 10+ years of AD as an O? Would the salary be enough to live comfortably, or is it pretty much a given that you'll need a "real job" on the side to sustain yourself?

Depends on how much active duty time is available with your squadron, and how many pilots are competing for it.

The competition to get a reserve billet can be pretty intense, depending on the geographic region, the economy, and what is happening with manning levels in the Navy.

 

[exhelodrvr]

From the link: "Struggling to find enough doctors, nurses and linguists for the war effort, the Pentagon will temporarily recruit foreigners who have been living in the United States on student and work visas, or with refugee or political asylum status .... "

There's a HUGE gap between recruiting a doctor/nurse/"linguist" and recruiting a potential life-taker & a heart-breaker ....

"Linguist"??? That's very cunning ...

He said, tongue in cheek.

 

[MojoLives]

TPS is POSSIBLE for anyone, but likely for very few. Other options are available though....VX-9/31 do some interesting stuff and TPS is not nearly as exciting as it used to be (depending on your idea of "exciting", I suppose). I'm not convinced either is a "career killer". Just depends.

I know of a couple of reservists first hand that make around 50k...one is SELRES, the other is MCRIP -- both are local to their reserve gigs and pretty much max out available drills at the home station. The vast majority are in the 30-36k range...still pretty good for coming to town once a month or meeting the squadron on det for a week each quarter. Most of them are still with a major anyway, so it's mostly for the retirement/medical (and beer money). For the most part, very cool guys and very capable pilots.

 

[basejumper56]

Hey guys,

Thanks for all the replies, esp phrogpilot73. That kind of insight is invaluable to me at this point.


Yes, yes I am a citizen lol. The reason I couldn't apply to West Point was because my parents opposed it. My friends who applied to WP started on their application packets their junior year, back then I was too young to rebel my parents into letting me go there.

Anyway, thanks again for the info. I feel alot more confident about the future career options with the military now than I did 2 days ago. However, would mos def appreciate if more people could discuss their own experiences or of people they know who pursued a career in TPS. I know I'm far off to that point, but would appreciate it anyway.

 

[bert]

Having spent half my career as a TAR, I would put the pilots of a reserve squadron ahead of the pilots of an active duty squadron any time, at least from the perspective of flying ability.

Not a real fair comparison once you factor in that a reserve squadron doesn't have to put up with nuggets.

 

[exhelodrvr]

Not a real fair comparison once you factor in that a reserve squadron doesn't have to put up with nuggets.

That's definitely why there is a difference; just pointing out something a lot of people don't realize.

 

[phrogpilot73]

Not a real fair comparison once you factor in that a reserve squadron doesn't have to put up with nuggets.

In a matter of speaking they do. I'm a "nugget" with 1500 hours, the non-nuggets have 4000+