USAF '91-'97 First assignment was SAC headquarters on Offutt AFB. Like the saying goes: “Once you get Offutt, you never get off it.” I never left. Settled here and became a contractor still working at the headquarters of USSTRATCOM.
21.9 years as an Avionics Technician in the CAF/RCAF on the F-5 and CF-18, Tech School and 2nd Line EW Lab. Overall, I’d do it again but I would have focused more on the leadership aspects rather than the technical. Far too late in my career I found I genuinely enjoyed teaching and mentoring more than turning wrenches. I loved helping people reach their potential.
I’ve been thanked for my service once (and that was after I left) and I have to say that it was said with such sincerity that I choked up a bit.
I didn’t join out of any kind of super patriotism but more as a fall back after I failed University. It provided me a means of gaining job skills and knowledge that I never would have otherwise. For someone not sure what to do next, I think it’s a good option. I met a lot of people that I never might have met in another line of work. Ironically, I’m still working in the same field after retirement, but this time as the bad guy shooting at pilots virtually. It’s way more enjoyable making pilot’s lives…interesting…rather than making sure their chargers are ready to fly.
What was your role, how long ago, for how long, what kind of agency?
**Canadian Armed Forces - broken service 1993 - 1997 and then back in 2006 to present. I was a Radio Operator in the 1990s and when I came back in 2006, it was as a Public Affairs Officer, so media relations, communications, speechwriting, spokesperson, etc. **
*What is your general view of your experience? *
A bit of a mixed bag. I left in 1997, after several incidents of sexual assault and harassment. I was totally done with the CAF, and very angry. It took a while, but as I got older, I remembered more the positive, less the negative. Once I had my daughter, I knew the CAF would be flexible, stable (I was laid off from a civilian job when pregnant). I also figured if it was still an issue, maybe I could help fix it.
What is the one thing that you would like everyone to know about service in your organization?
That the CAF is one of the best organizations and has some of the best people working in uniform, this is a fantastic place to be a working Mom. It also has some issues. We can fix them, but it will take time, effort and a little outside the box thinking.
- What is a misconception that you would like to clear up about it?*
I am often called a ‘spin-doctor’. That is pretty unfair since I actually depend a lot on my credibility. I don’t lie. If I can’t tell you something, I will tell you that I can’t tell you.
I’ve worked (briefly) in a state prosecutor’s office. I’ve worked as a law clerk to a judge. I currently work for DOJ.
I don’t really view any of that as “service” in the same sense as a military veteran. Although, I’m paid a lot less than when I worked at a large law firm.
United States Army, 1989 to 1996 (1989 to 1991 Reserves, remainder Regular). As a reservist I was a 31C, which was a radio and telephone operator, and I was attached to a Military Intelligence unit in Detroit that primarily supported Russian linguists. When Iraq invaded Kuwait, I started the paperwork to go Regular, but as this was a several months long process, the action was over long before I was transferred.
For regular army, I insisted on changing my MOS, because face it, 31C was well below my capabilities. Instead, I elected 93D, Air Traffic Control Systems, Subsystems, and Equipment Repaired, and was guaranteed a first posting in Germany. Training for this MOS was about 10 months, and was very technical. Essentially, I learned how to service pretty much anything that a modern airport at the time would have had.
(While in this training, my reserve unit tracked me down, indicating that they were referring me for discipline for not showing up. I’m not in jail now, so I’m guessing that all worked out.)
I spent two years in Germany operating a working airfield and servicing equipment for FRA that was on our side of town (airports use a mix of civilian and military NAVAIDS). It was a great job in every respect, and I was a professional.
When I ETS’d to Texas, I got bored. Although we had an airfield, it was run by civilian agencies, and my tactical job was non-existent, other than once or twice a year camping trips to pretend to do our job. During a period of about six months, though, West Ft. Hood’s ground controlled approach (“GVA”) RADAR was broken, so we set up a small, MAS*H style community near the airfield in order to setup our tactical RADAR for GCA use (AN/TPN-18A).
The Army didn’t pay well by civilian standards in the booming economy, so between low pay and boredom, I didn’t re-up and so left in October 1996, and have been involved in the US auto industry ever since.
My experience was excellent. It gave me the skills that I used early in my civilian career, and provided the networking necessary to get me into my first civilian position (the hiring HR manager was a recently departed Army Captain). Once in my industry, you can usually go to whatever type of job interests you, as long as you know the right people (I’m talking engineering, not management). Living overseas and out of state prepared me well for living overseas and out of state on long assignments in my current career.
The biggest misconception is that people think an Army enlisted career means you’re going to be a grunt, i.e., infantry or driving a tank, or a cook or mechanic. If you have the right aptitudes, though, you can do anything (I had originally intended to be a linguist myself, having aced a ASVAB, but the Army chose not to make that investment in a Reservist, thus the 31C in an MI unit).
USN, late 80s.
NEC 3383, Reactor Operator (operate & maintain reactor controls and instrumentation)
2 1/2 years of school (ET and nuc), rest of time in the fleet.
Did not reup; the dorks who stayed in were terrible to work for.
The schools and qualifications were tough, but worth it. Every job I’ve held since has been based on those skills, even though none have been in the nuclear power field.
The port visits were nice, but too few. Visiting overseas countries gives some perspective to the USA and people in general. Diego Garcia didn’t count.
I’ve been practicing medicine in the state corrections system as a direct government employee/administrator for over 17 years now. Working directly with wardens, security directors, psychologists, corrections officers, administrative bureaucrats who never lay eyes on an inmate, nurses, and of course, my patients, who happen to all be inmates.
The system I work in allows me a great degree of freedom in evaluating and treating my patients, and I’m not under any ‘productivity’ stresses. I take the time I need to evaluate the patient, order what items I feel are needful, and then cope with the bureaucracy to fill out the necessary paperwork to get things done. I can practice to my level of competency and refer when I think it’s needful.
So I love that aspect of it. But dealing with the over-arching bureaucracy as a state employee is a huge PITA, made huger by the fact that I manage other physicians also.
But I have no plans to return to private practice (I spent 1986-2002 in the private sector) as I am ruined for it. I tell my patients what I believe is the honest truth, and that upsets a certain percentage of them. In the private sector that can be fatal for one’s income and employability.
Four years enlisted in the Air Force. Logged about 400 hours in the backseats of various fighters as an aerial photographer.
Child Support “prosecutor” for the State was my first law job.
I’ve worked as a public defender in juvenile court. Do a lot of work as a court appointed Guardian ad Litem in custody cases.
If I had any sense at all, I would have stayed in the Air Force, never gone to law school, and retired about 10 years ago with income and insurance for life.
Well, sorta.
It generally covers the difference between what Medicare pays and the actual cost of a procedure. It also covers meds, so you don’t need to buy a Part B plan.
Three years active, three inactive reserve, US Army.
Became a conscientious objector while on active duty. Accepted reassignment to a new MOS. Finished the enlistment.
It was eventful, personally. A first sergeant saved my ass. (made me read a big stack of regulations.)
Nuclear War is a bad choice. The other choices are not worse.
Tris
I will preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies.
Six years enlisted, US Navy ('83-'89), four of which I was a part of the ship’s company on an aircraft carrier. 25 years as a defense contractor, trying to fixing broken desktop computers for the Navy, and worked shoulder to shoulder with active duty and Gov Service folks in this arena.
I had a conversation with a fellow CT who spent his entire enlistment in California. Boot Camp, A, and C schools were all in San Diego; his first duty station was Skaggs Island near Vallejo and second was North Island. “Join the Navy and see the world, my ass,” was his wry comment.
10 years in the USAF, almost all of it overseas with Armed Forces Network. Stationed in Seoul three times, Sicily, Denver, Tokyo, Philippines, and Colorado Springs. It was a great experience, I got to work and train with some of the most talented people in the military.
Plus, I got to play music and make fun of people, which is not generally acceptable in the service.
I subscribe to the “No bad assignments” theory. It is what you make of it. People who never left the base and complained about being overseas just didn’t get it. It was a great ride.
Did a tour 80-84 in the USN, Fire Control Tech (Mk 86 GFCS) on a Nuclear Cruiser CGN-38, USS Virginia (RIP).
Saw more of the world than I could ever afford without deployment; Caribbean, Mediterranean, Middle East, Africa, North Atlantic…CGN means “Constantly Going Nowhere” I was older than the typical sailor, I turned 21 in boot camp so while the kids went to the cheap dive and titty bars in port, I struck out on my own with my Nikon. I learned to communicate with anyone, anywhere, language barrier be damned.
Retired US Infantry officer. Now I work in Saudi Arabia.
US Army
1974-1977
98G2LKP (That is/was a Korean linguist and radio operator)
If I had not got married I would have stayed in at least a couple of years longer, the life suited me. But I got an honorable discharge after my initial enlistment and finished college, then got divorced. I was still young enough that I should have gone back and seen about re-enlisting, bet I could have done it.
I don’t know why, but this is a recurring dream of mine.
I have a recurring dream that I’m back, but for some reason I’m an officer, and have no idea what I’m doing.
But I repeat myself. :D:dubious:
All kidding aside, I really do have that dream, and have no idea why I’m there, and figure that if I’m there I must know what I’m doing, so I carry on.
Which then usually segues into something about fish. Or skateboarding.