I have worked in the parole system of my state for 25 years. When I was hired, it was a small independent agency but 8 years ago, it was merged with the much larger agency that ran the prisons. I was hired as a parole officer , then moved to a job where I prosecuted parole violators (without being a lawyer), then was promoted to supervise those prosecutors and am now a manager. For about 10 of those years, I worked inside jails and prisons. My general view of my experience is that I never get bored because there’s always some new craziness going on. A misconception I’d like to clear up about it? Two really. One is that we’re very different from probation, please stop mixing us up (at least in my state- I can’t speak for others) . And the second is when politicians say they are “eliminating parole” , they’re sort of telling the truth in a very technical way. People usually believe it means longer sentences but typically it really just means that people are released by operation of law rather than by a parole board, and the amount of time spent incarcerated/under supervision is more predictable. The total sentence is not necessarily longer than it was when parole was possible.
3.5 years (1991 - 94), Executive Office for Immigration Review, Office of the Immigration Judge (aka Immigration Court). In-house Spanish interpreter/court clerk. It was super interesting, and I learned a ton, including that a) it’s very difficult to remain objective in a role like that; and b) I sure as hell am glad I’m not working there now. But much of my subsequent career has been founded upon things I learned working there.
Left to go to grad school. Some of my co-workers were awesome, and a couple were stereotypical government employees. The judges were decent human beings, and although I may not have agreed with all of them on everything, they mostly took great pains to be fair. The last of the judges I worked with is about to retire - I should really call him up and invite him over for dinner or something once it’s not a huge conflict of interest, because he is really an awesome human being and I can’t fathom how he has survived the past 20+ years without ending up in the loony bin.
I was never in the military.
I worked twenty-seven years (1982-2009) in the New York State Department of Correctional Services. (It merged with the Department of Parole in 2011 and is now the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.)
What was your role, how long ago, for how long, what kind of agency?
I worked in security. I started as a Correction Officer, got promoted to Sergeant, and then to Lieutenant. I was promoted to Lieutenant in 1991 and remained in that rank (by choice) until I retired.
My general assignment was to be a Watch Commander. That’s the person in charge of managing the prison on a day-to-day basis. There were, of course, people who outranked me but they were more involved in setting policies.
*What is your general view of your experience? *
Generally favorable. I wouldn’t have stayed in the job for that long if I hadn’t liked it. I think my main satisfaction was knowing I was doing the job well. My main dissatisfaction was personality issues.
*What is the one thing that you would like everyone to know about service in your organization? *
It’s nothing like you see in the movies or TV series. Prisons can be dangerous but that’s rare.
What is a misconception that you would like to clear up about it?
We’re not the bad guys. For narrative reasons, works of fiction tend to portray prisoners are wrongfully accused innocents or rebellious anti-heroes. And prison guards are therefore portrayed as the antagonists that the protagonists must struggle against.
US Marine Corps, 4 years. Avionics technician at the Intermediate level. It was a so-so experience. If I had it to do over again I’d join the Air Force, which has by far the best food and living accommodations of all the services. I know that because training and travel took me to various bases. Never visited a Coast Guard base, but I doubt it would make a difference in my opinion.
My official title was Secretary to the Sheriff, but I was often pressed into service as a jail matron since it was such a small, understaffed jail. I took prisoners to doctor’s and dentist’s appointments, assisted in searches, and helped keep the women prisoners calm when problems arose. It was an interesting and educational time of my life,
almost 2 years, 22 years ago
misconception?: most people in jail are actually guilty. it’s not like on TV
I’ve never been in the military, but I was an Air Force brat, an Army wife and am now an Air Force mom:)
Mine isn’t particularly exciting. While attending college, I worked for a couple of years as a security office for the university, employed by the Dept. of Public Safety and worked alongside the police department. We were technically some sort of sworn peace officers. Maybe Class C or D, not trained. (I have no idea if that is the real class, just given to show how meaningless it was.) The security officers as the hospital had more training and responsibility.
We were given uniforms with badges and radios. Looking online, it appears that they have changed to polo shirts these days.
There were two types of security guards. Those like me. who were there for the 50% discount on tuition and then the “lifers,” guys who were forced to find jobs which paid above minimum wage, but not enough to do well. No one there was outright stupid, but not the brightest or the best.
The police force was much smaller than the city cops, and most of the officers would have preferred to be in a “real” police department, but hadn’t gotten hired there. Not idiots, but just average people.
I have 2 that fit the criteria.
1st:
US Marine Corps, Infantry, 1995-1999. As you can see, missed 9/11 by 2 years, but never got called out of inactive reserve. Thank goodness.
Hard, hard question. If we were sitting drinking beers, it would take me about an hour to give you the basics.
In short: I wouldn’t ever do it again, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
Being a cook sucks. Being in supply sucks. Those are the only 2 jobs that infantry thinks suck, and that’s saying something.
If you can run kind of fast, even if you’re a rock-dumb motherfucker, you can stay in and advance for about 2 enlistments, or 8-10 years. You can make Staff Sergeant and be completely inept in almost every way, but you’re unlikely to advance farther than that. I saw very few worthless Gunnies (E-7), but a whole boatload of worthless Staff Sergeants (E-6).
This is my view from pre-9/11, but I think even then there was a misconception that we ALL had this super-duper patriotism that made us be there for our country. I talked to a lot of dudes about why they joined up…shit, that was a common topic of conversation…and “I joined because I love my country” wasn’t a reason that stands out.
2nd:
My first real career was with a state law enforcement agency, 2003-2017. I began in communications/dispatch, and then spent the rest of my time there training/specializing in criminal justice information systems.
sigh I went in there after testing for a few police departments, and thinking I might use my experience there as a resume builder. I did consider going through the selection process to be a trooper.
But. The longer I worked there, and the longer I was immersed in that environment, the less I wanted to be around it.
In a law enforcement agency, no matter what those in charge say, non-sworn personnel are chattel.
Probably none.
US Army, 63T Bradley Mechanic, 8 years, mid 90s to early 00s
Generally, I’m pretty happy with my experience. Got to live in some different parts of the country. Gained an appreciation for my country and the range of people in it I didn’t have before.
I can’t really think of anything about the army that I think people ought to know. My time in was pretty much “9 to 5” mostly. 10 years after I got out, it was a ‘different’ army and I’m pretty sure its even more different now.
The one misconception that I saw, that everyone, even service members labor under, is that they are making this great secrifice of time and hardship, family and even life or limb. While that may be true, the real sacrifice is the rights that we enjoy as “rights” as civilians are mere privileges in the military, no matter how much the command structure strives to ensure that members enjoy those privileges or how they word the rules and laws governing the military. Also, most officers are nothing like how they seem to be portrayed on tv, except maybe freshly minted O1 “butter bars”
USAF - 5 years - Air Traffic Control.
USMC, 13 years enlisted, 1980-1993 — mostly during peace time and in the end it was Desert Shield / Storm.
I was the first in my family to serve. My father and grandfathers did not serve. When the USMC recruiting process was underway I stepped back to look at the other services to see if they had anything for me and, while they did, in the end I chose the Marine Corps for the challenge. Later, my brother joined the Air Force. He went to the Academy and ended up flying the F-16, pretty cool, but that’s his story, not mine.
I held 3 MOSs in my career.
— 1st MOS, 3051, supply warehouse man. Sicks Ate is dead-on right, supply sucks. Boring, menial, brain-dead work. There were two cool things during this time — I learned to operate a fork lift and that’s been handy at times over the years, and I was with ANGLICO and preparing to go to jump school in Ft. Benning and that was fun. But then I got transferred to an artillery unit (155mm towed) and fortunately a Captain there recognized I was good at math so he helped me transfer MOSs to…
— 2nd MOS, 0844, survey, and FDC. So much better here. It was mathematics and I was using my brain, and it was interesting work.
— 3rd MOS, 0848, FDC ops chief. My favorite job, being in charge of the FDC (Fire Direction Control), with busy message traffic on several radios to FOs, the CO, and battalion, and wire to the XO pit and gun line, and computing firing data for the guns. Things happened fast, and you had to be accurate. I enjoyed training and developing the young 0844s, and we had good, sharp Marines. It was a good section, once the non-hackers got weeded out.
The FDC reenlistment bonuses were good back then and I was able to finish my degree in applied mathematics and computer science. I chose to not go to OCS/TBS, and the 3 kids were growing and life with them was getting busy, so I decided I’d done enough and I’d get a good job and spend time with the family. Ironic thing is, my wife soon had a mid-life crisis at 30. She decided she’d had enough of me and the family, and she soon split. I was crushed, but today I am so much better off without her. But anyway that’s a different story.
What is your general view of your experience?
Overall I’m glad I did it, there were some crappy times but I got a lot of positives out of it. I made Gunnery Sergeant/E-7, and that was a great rank to have. It was my favorite rank, and I think it is the rank to have in the Marines. Corporal/E-4 and Sergeant/E-5 were good ranks too. Those were good times.
What is the one thing that you would like everyone to know about service in your organization?
The management skills have proved useful in high-tech Silicon Valley. I am an engineering director now and still rely on the management training from the Marines.
What is a misconception that you would like to clear up about it?
We Marines are a proud bunch, and we’re encouraged to think we’re better than the other services, but we all wear the uniform and salute the same flag. We all have our different missions. We are all members of the same team.
I’ve done some stuff.
US Air Force 22 years (and counting).
- What was your role? I am enlisted, and spent the majority of my career as a mechanic on ground support equipment (but I was also a recruiter in Middle Tennessee and a unit deployment manager various times in my career).
- What is your general view of your experience? Obviously, I enjoy what I do. I’m retiring this October, and will miss the instutution and people more than I can say.
- What is the one thing that you would like everyone to know about service in your organization? Ummm…nothing really. The Air Force is pretty well know, foibles and all.
- What is a misconception that you would like to clear up about it? Again, none really. Most of the inter-service jokes are based on facts, and we’re all okay with that.
BTW, Cub Mistress, how recently an Air Force mom? I was the Air Force recruiter in Columbia, TN for a long while.
Like iiandyiiii, I was a junior officer in the U.S. Navy who served on submarines, except that I served in the '90s. After my first (and only) sea tour, I taught at a prep school for the Naval Academy for several years.
My main regret was that I was too immature, naive, and idealistic for the position I was put into at the time (as a junior officer on a submarine). While I learned a lot from my mistakes, and have (mostly) managed to not repeat them in subsequent jobs, I often wish I could go back in time for a “do-over.”
I did at least have a better experience at my shore tour, though, and left the Navy on a high note.
Ditto. My wife is a former Navy nurse, and we both cringe when people “thank us for our service.”
U S Army 1980-1985. Huey pilot.
I am currently an Air Force mom. My son retires July 27 with 20 years’ service, so,1999. He enlisted in the Greater Nashville area.
U.S. Army, 6 years (just shy of, actually) 19K M1 Abrams Armored Vehicle Crewman, '86-'91. U.S. Army Reserve, 2 years, 67U Medium Helicopter Repairer, '91-'93.
Canadian Armed Forces, in the army, intelligence analyst. Six years. I can’t think of any common misconceptions I’d need to correct. I agree with the “I didn’t join out of being a super patriot” thing but in Canada people don’t usually do that “thank you for your service” thing so it never comes up, I guess. I would hate that. You don’t have to thank me, it was a job, I got paid.
Navy, six years, Cryptologic Technician, Maintenance (CTM) NEC 48IU
I worked on land-based direction finding equipment so the only time in my career I set foot on a commissioned naval vessel in my career was when I visited a friend on board Lexington (CVT-16) one Sunday afternoon. She was tied quite firmly to the dock at the time. I tell folks I was in the Navy, not a sailor.
What I would like others to know was summed up best by Inigo Montoya
Same here. 23 years and I never set foot on one of those big gray things.
4 years in the Navy. Spent 22 days at sea, went to Mazatlan and Acapulco.