"Airman Doors, USAF: How's Life?" OR "Why it Sucks to Come Off Active Duty..."

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

So, Airman Doors, I was wondering what your current status is. Did you find anything yet? I wanted to post in your original thread, but after 15 minutes of searcing, I am convinced it has been deleted or just lost in cyberspace.

My situation hasn’t improved much. As I said, I’m in almost your exact situation (minus the family and all the added stress and concern that comes with that responsibility). I thought I would be able to get a full-time job with my unit, or at least something on base. But guess what? I’ve learned that NOBODY has funding to hire anything. They only have 18 of the 28 slots for Force Protection filled. So that means they should be able to hire ten people. Why not, there are ten openings!!? But they dont have the funding to hire what they need. Damnit!! Also the guy in charge of the Counter Drug Task Force said he’d hire me on the spot. But he doesn’t have the funding! He says he will keep my number and wants me to keep in touch. No openings or money at the Medical Clinich either. Hell, by the time that anyone gets any money for hiring, I’ll be back on Active Duty and back at Bragg anyway. The guy at the Ammo Supply Point says he is losing a couple guys this month so I should check with him later in the month. I cannot believe I am actually hoping for a freakin SUPPLY job. Are you kidding me???
I haven’t worked since December 19th. Unless of course you count the two weeks (only a couple days though, actually) I worked at the strip club. It just bored the shit out of me, so I stopped showing up. It wasn’t full time anyway. I need steady money!
Last week I started working with my uncle hanging drywall. Holy crap! Now I’m a construction worker??? You don’t understand the low I had to hit before I called up my uncle. If you had any clue of the total lack of respect I have for him, you’d know why. All of my mom’s brothers hang drywall. They are also all alcoholics and poor. Poor because all of their money is somehow blown on beer and weed. Shit, it took us less than a week to finish a 200 board house. And I know he is getting 8 dollars a board. And that is a side job!! So that’s 1600 dollars in like five days. Where does it all go? I have no clue!! I had no idea what kind of money he was making – or at least should be making if he worked steadily.
Anyway, my point is that I swore I would NEVER hang drywall. I guess just because of what it symbolizes to me. But there I was a week ago… on the phone asking if he needed help with any side jobs…
Oh well. Gotta do what ya gotta do! Hopefully something will open up on base by the end of the month. Also, next week I’m going to stop by the VA Hospital (why did I never think of them before) and see if there is anything I can do for them.
Also, I’ve considered going to some Veterinarian Hospitals too. Maybe I can get a job as a Vet Tech. Not quite the same as being an ER Technician, but I need some money.
I just need to survive until May/June. That’s when I am going back on Active Duty and finishing my training. Damn, I can’t wait!

All of this could have freakin been avoided had I not been given that bit of misinformation. There was a period of two months that I knew I was leaving Bragg. I could have been looking for a job that entire time. But since I was told I’d be going overseas, I never bothered to look. I was positive Id be going to war immediately. That’s what they told me… I thought I wouldn’t even be here for Christmas. Then I find out on the 19th that their plans for me had changed… The fuckers!!

Anyway, I was given a link to a listing of civilian jobs for reserve types. It might be just a Florida thing, but there could be a “Hire a Hero” program in your state. And maybe you could find information in there to help you where you are. Or hell… it was 68 degrees today, maybe you want to move to Florida.
Here’s the link if it helps at all…
http://florida.careers.yourguard.com/

2

This is a surprise. I decided that I wasn’t going to bring it up again until something changed so I wouldn’t come off as a whiny attention whore. But, since you asked, here’s the skinny:

I am still unemployed. I finally got my DD 214 last week, and the day after I got it I hit the bricks and applied for a gate guard job at the Carlisle Barracks and a few other Federal jobs. So after going through all that I find out that they filled all the gate guard jobs because I took too long to apply, and that was because they wouldn’t accept a Statement of Service in lieu of a DD 214. Well, that really hurt, but life goes on, and I’m working on a few other things, maybe they’ll come through.

I applied for unemployment, but that takes a few weeks, so I think it’s going to end up for naught anyway because by the time that comes through I’ll hopefully be employed. I also put my son in for CHIP, so with any luck he’ll be fine for the next month until that takes effect.

Here’s the crazy thing: I called my uncle about a job, said I was absolutely desperate, and he said he’d see what he could do. I haven’t heard back since. I guess he thought I was kidding. So now I know that I can’t depend on family anymore. Compounding my annoyance at my family is the fact that I was talking to my mother about the situation and she completely blew me off, and hasn’t spoken to me since. That was over a week ago. That kinda sucks.

After coming down very hard on Robin a few times, she finally got the idea that we are broke, so I’ve got spending under control. Through the generosity of people in my unit and a very special Doper family (you know who you are :slight_smile: ) we’ve got enough to make it into the second week of February. After that we are no-shit in deep trouble, so I need something to come through very soon.

The job at the television station that I was talking about before? Well, that came through, and all last week I was desperately trying to find a way to make it work. They were offering $8.00/hr, no benefits for me until 90 days had passed, none at all for my family, and it was an hour away (meaning I’d be spending $10/day at the minimum on gas). In addition it was very rigid shift work, meaning that there was no flexibility for me to leave and get back home so Robin could go to school, nor could I get a second job since I’d be an hour late for virtually any shift-work job. So the job that I so desperately wanted was completely unsuitable.

In conclusion, I have some stuff working, and I’m holding out hope that something will come through soon, or we’re screwed. Thanks for the suggestion, BTW, it’s appreciated, and it’s tempting. But for the immediate moment I think I’m going to keep trying here.

Thanks for asking,
Dave

3

Good Luck. Thanks for the update. You don’t come off as whinning… you are in a shit-luck situation and your friends want to know how things are going. Keep us posted.