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*The Military worked for me, but it may not for you. Keep in mind that the Military is a far more strict way of life than most people are willing to deal with...
**You may also be unqualified for legal, educational, or even purely physical reasons.
"ANYTHING to do with an Airplane is a paperwork nightmare."
The smell of JP5 and the afterburner flames are another story altogether. Nothing is like that...
I can say that I have stood on a Nuclear Aircraft Carrier island structure and watched F-14's blast into the sky with full A/B and more whoop-butt aboard than you can imagine.
And it was just another day at sea...
In fact - I went down below after that and had a "CUP-A-NOODLES".
I spent twenty years in the NAVY, and got out just before making Chief (something I did not want).
In all of that, I collected all of the skills I could gather - and they are all paying off now.
I'm a retired E-6.
I carry a bag of tricks a civilian would drool over....
If you can imagine it, I can probably make it happen.
Weld (I fell in love with a plasma cutter at work)
Form metal
Design Electronic circuits
Plumb
Carpenter skills
Suspension
Driveline
Fiberglass
Paint
Transmission
Differential
Custom
Etc...
House current and DC, it's all the same.
I juiced airplane radar systems to reach twice as far as they were supposed to go...
And I still want to know more stuff.
I can build web pages for an employer that look commercial. I own professional software that I bought when I was an Instructor to do that very thing... You have seen the graphics I put up - that is where they come from.
I spent twenty years in the NAVY, and got out just before making Chief (something I did not want).
In all of that, I collected all of the skills I could gather - and they are all paying off now.
I'm a retired E-6.
I carry a bag of tricks a civilian would drool over....
If you can imagine it, I can probably make it happen.
Weld (I fell in love with a plasma cutter at work)
Form metal
Design Electronic circuits
Plumb
Carpenter skills
Suspension
Driveline
Fiberglass
Paint
Transmission
Differential
Custom
Etc...
House current and DC, it's all the same.
I juiced airplane radar systems to reach twice as far as they were supposed to go...
And I still want to know more stuff.
I can build web pages for an employer that look commercial. I own professional software that I bought when I was an Instructor to do that very thing... You have seen the graphics I put up - that is where they come from.
Electronics
Energy & Power
Engineering
Information Technology
Intelligence and Communications
Law Enforcement
Mechanical & Industrial
Science
Special Operations
Telecommunications
Computers
man wish i could have taken that before i went in, i ended up where i belonged, but could've really helped me find direction after i got out. it was dead nuts accurate for me. thanks greywolf.
Sometimes stuff like that works. You never really know when you try one of those if there is something that will influence you in an inaccurate direction.
Then again - the NAVY method is to use twenty year old equipment, and pile maintenance paperwork on top of everything!
Regarding computers - I think we ditched windows 3.1 sometime after I got off the USS Nimitz in the late nineties...
Cool airplanes though, and some of the most phenominal people you will ever meet.
Yeah, but I don't know how it works in other branches - cross-rating in the NAVY (Changing your MOS) can be a serious hassle. Better to have an idea first, or if you know people in the service that can take you on station to see what they do and how it is, that's the best way.
More of us than we realise have a neighbor or acquaintance in the services. Ask them, and they'll show you around. It makes THEM look good to their commanders.
A recruiter is in it to make a quota. Your friends are not - they will tell you straight. "This is what it's like. This is how it was for me. This is where you might need to work on a few things."
"ANYTHING to do with an Airplane is a paperwork nightmare."
There's a reason for that. When some idiot screws something up and gets somebody killed, it's not hard to find out who to hammer if all maintenance is documented. I've seen it first-hand. I just got my A&P certification a few months ago and they say it's the same in the civilian world. To me, it's understandable. For example, let's say the guy at Wal Mart leaves the oil cap off of some little old lady's car after he changes the oil. Eventually, the motor is going to blow...expensive, but most times, not lethal. Now, let's say I screw something up on my jet that causes the motor to blow at 10000 feet...more expensive, and possibly lethal. Paperwork in military aviation is a necessary hassle because it's the best way to C-Y-A