I make decent cash but dread coming to work 50% of the time and have a calendar in my office that currently reads "18 years left".

Thats what color the grass is on the other side of the fence.


I don't get shot at, but I would envy a job where someone gets to say, "Man this is awsome!"

BTW......I wanted to fly Cobras or A-10 and went to the recruiters, they said, "Sorry son, with that eyesight you can never be."

 

Ahh, but the military can turn into that kind of job... and I really don't mind my civilian job. There's always the risk of a new job being less pleasant then the current - but then, there's absolutely no guarantee that you'll still hate/love your current job in 6 months...

 

if its entirely a question of money, run the numbers or talk to someone who can, as suggested earlier. it's not a terrible idea to run the numbers anyway as then you can make a more unbiased decision--just don't promise you'll live on $30k/yr while making $168k pre-tax and then spend all of it--you'll cheat yourself. if you'll spend half or all of it, admit it and plan/decide accordingly.

a high dollar contract, if HEAVILY invested, not spent, can make up for the pension side of the military, and it could make you have a better overall financial life.

on the other hand, a high dollar contract that goes uninvested makes for a fun 2-3 years and nothing else. and then you may or may not be able to renew the contract, so you 1. get another contract, 2. re-enlist or 3. look for and hopefully find a civilian job you like.

i love my civilian job--thats why i went to school. so fun civilian jobs are out there--you just have to know what you'll enjoy doing and make yourself a good candidate for the position. you'd have a potential career at a firm such as Sikorsky if the high-dollar contracts dry up. my cousin was a crew chief and is working there now making decent money. the point i mean to make is that you do have civilian career options if the contract work falls through and you're out of the military.

by the topic title it sounds like you really enjoy your career. that's worth a lot of money IMO, because usually people want to make a lot of $$ (beyond the basic salary) to buy things that in turn make them happy. if you have to trade being happy to get money in hope that you can buy things... that ultimately make you happy... it's unlikely you're making the best choice.

 

My brother is a Black Hawk pilot too and has been offered a couple of jobs by those contracting outfits. Besides the fact that he only has 2 years left before getting a pension he also did some checking around and it turned out that your living expenses balloon once you are out of the army, specially in regions like Iraq and such. Also, the money advertised had a lot of "deductions" that don't come up until after you sign up.

Not saying you shouldn't consider it but it is very much buyer beware.

 

Thinking about the same thing. Infact I saw my reenlistment NCO today. Dont have in as long as you by Im in my window. Yeah being a civilian is nice... Really nice lol. But think job security. This war is going to last for ever. As a contractor your making all your money over seas. What happens when its all over and done with. Major pay cuts maybe even downsizing. Army cant just fire you (although I wish somtimes) If your doing it for the money. Hell go to OCS or Drop a Warrent packet. More money more freedom and still in the army. You can reenlist for 6 year get the Bonus Drop a packet and when it gets picked up you contract is waved (meaning your nolonger oblgated to serve it) and you reenlist as an officer for alot less time. And you keep your bonus from the 6 years. Im a 35T with a U2 identifier and thinking to reenlist as a 35M both are Military intelligence. I could make alot on the out side. But I want to be free too lol. Weigh your options. And do whats right for you. Opinions are nice, but your living with the decisions...

 

Yeah, but you're almost guaranteed a decent paying job outside of the contract work too...

Not just repairing helos, but any career involving the associated skills you've acquired...

 

bro your way off..I already am an officer in the Army. So its not about making more "money" in the army. If i was doing it for money I wouldn't be in the army. It's about whether I want to go for the money now or stay where I'm at flying helicopters and basically not really doing much else.


Also if you plan on doing what your talking about and re-enlisting for a bonus and then dropping a warrant packet b/c you can reenlist "for less time as an officer" that my friend is false. You will get picked up for Flight School and go to WOC school first. Thats 4-6 weeks depending on your schooling. Then flight school which if you finish straight shot is 1 yr. Guess what? Then your officially signing a six year contract with the Army. So in all reality its about an extra 7 1/2 years FYI.

Alot of my buddies think what you just said so just know what your getting into when you drop that packet

 

Well since this is still around I will throw in a couple extra tidbits.

My dad winters in San Diego and hangs out with a friend of a friend that is a retired Marine General. The guy has a FANTASTIC pension and gets treated like royalty. He has given my dad and some friends tours of some of the military stuff around San Diego he just shows up in civies and he gets a salute and access to whereever he wants to take his guests. Not saying you'd ever get that high, but getting up in the officerr ranks has lots of fringe benefits.

But also, a good friend of mines father flew hueys in Nam. He did a couple tours and got out short of a pension. Once the war was over, he worked flying choppers lifting heavy equipment around, up to the tops of buildings and so forth but it did not last. Once Nam ended, there was still a cold war but outside the military the number of jobs that were helicopter related plunged and there were lots of ex military pilots fighting for the few jobs. Don't want that to scare you, but this guy is in his late 60's and still has to work and lives check to check bacuase he never got the pension, and did not have other skills to move on to. But he was tramatized by what he saw there and had to get out.

What I think is the travesty is that anyone who does at least one tour in a combat zone should get SOME form of pension. And this guy did two tours flying into LZ's. Maybe it should not be a full pension, but combat deserves something. The perfect answer seems to be limit the cash paid to contractors, and put the savings toward pay for the military guys.

 

Just because you're a helo mech doesn't mean you can't find a diff industry that wants your associated skills.

I was an Avionics Tech in the AF for 6 years, now I repair Ion Implanters in a semi-conductor fab (think particle accelerator the size of a room)

 

Your skill set will always be needed by the active duty force. You could get out see if you like what you find on the other side. Re-up if you don't. The only problem is going to be finding a place you like to work as much as your current one.

As the others have stated, Thanks for your service to our country.