Posted on Jan 7, 2014
SFC John Brooks
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I'm sure a lot of us have ways of supplementing our monthly income with some sort of work in addition to active duty. For a few years I've been toying with this idea- I have a large family and with our retirement benefits in the crosshairs, I'm seriously thinking about either looking for work that won't interfere in any way with my regular duties or starting up a small business myself. With 14 years IT experience and a degree in game design I'm sure I could be doing more. <br><br>If you are experienced with this, throw your thoughts out there!<br>
Posted in these groups: Jon JobsCa2 Career Advice
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Responses: 32
T Barry
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First, I would like to thank you guy's for your service. I was never in the military but I once worked as a civilian as a bus-boy in the PX at Floyd Bennett Field Naval Air Station in Brooklyn NY back in the middle sixties when the USN owned the property.
Years later I retired from the NYCTA as a conductor back in 2013. There are about 38,000 people who work for the TA, 29/7 and a very good number of them are reservist and Veterans. I would like to share a story with you.
One day in 1994 I was working with a different Train Operator on the "F line" who told me he was an Army reservist so on our break we began to talk about the military and I told him that I was never in the military but I worked at the Naval base in Brooklyn and I live Raeford NC which is next door to Ft.Bragg from 1974-78.
I left the "F line" and started working on the "J line in 1995 and over there were a ton of Vets and reservist who I often talked about the military EVERY day.! So one day I came in off the road from my first trip and in the office Veteran, Freddy told me that there was a Train Operator who was claiming to be ACTIVE military while working FULL-TIME on the job. I told Freddy that is impossible..! So this became a BIG discussion every day for about two weeks.
So one day I decided to make a call down to the military clerk who handles ALL military affairs with TA employee's and after explaining the situation to him this is what he told me. He said he has been working his desk for 17 years and he "never" knew anybody to work TA FULL-TIME and ACTIVE military at the same time and I thanked him for this information. I went back to the terminal and told every VET and Reservist what he said and the room got QUIT all except one Vet who swore he knew another guy who claimed the same thing, BS..!
A week later I was on my way to work and I ran into four Marine Recruiters on my job near the token booth and I explain the situation to them and here's what they told me. I'm not gonna repeat the language that they used but they said when I see that "so and so" ask to see his military ID if it's red, white, pinkish he's a Reservist but if it's DARK GREEN then he's Active, I thanked those guy's and later conveyed this ID information to my co-workers and they later ask this "WANNABE" to show his military ID and he tells them that he forgot it and left it at home.
My department was called RTO, and it is impossible to hold down this job and be on ACTIVE duty in the military at the same time.
I refuse to believe EVERYTHING that I hear and once again I thank you guy's for your service.!

Tyrone Stacey
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TSgt Torrence Harris
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With IT experience you can probably find some work. If you still have time use it by getting Defense acquisition certs. That will be a plus when you transition out. Also SBA.gov has modules/certs if you're thinking small business. IT definitely will need certs. All bases have small businesses offices. I landed work to the tune of $80k+. You have to put in the research and WORK. it will pay off. Be driven to succeed. lazy will kill the dream!!
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PO2 Georges Pean
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I want to look at this opportunity, which allows you to be your own boss, without interfering with what you're currently doing, and create wealth for your children's children.
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FN Broc Afseth
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is there any possibilities for a DCFN to do this with permission from my command? i'm needing an income buffer till i can get my pay saved to where i'd like them to be. bills, expenses, and other things have made us drastically look into a second job for myself, since my wife is a stay at home mom, ( we have an autistic child that requires heavy attention). BAH covers basic expenses but just barely.
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SPC John Lindahl
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I have seen some soldiers manage a second job while on active duty. Not impossible however finding a type of job and employer willing to play second fiddle can be harder to find than a wheat penny in a corn field. Kudos if you can swing it, personally after a year I would start looking at deployments as vacations.
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SGM Public Affairs Sergeant Major
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I had the best side job ever... I worked at XM Radio as a traffic and weather on-air reporter for 8 hours a day. Did T&W for 4 cities at a time. I left the area and came back 2 years later and worked as a board operator at the new Sirius XM, running the controls for MLB, NHL, NBA, and all flavors of NCAA sports. Listened to radio play by play, surfed the free wifi, and watched TV. Made over my base pay as a SFC at the time a month. Great company too.
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SFC James Baber
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The only sure-fire 2nd jobs from home would be your own business, most of the so-called work from home jobs are scams or are for products that are related to women's products or geared towards women.


Be careful and ensure it doesn't interfere with primary duty as other consequences could evolve.

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MSgt Program Analyst   Joint Certification Program
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There are a few actual 'legit' work from home type help desk jobs where you can set what hours and days - that might be something to look at. 
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SFC John Brooks
SFC John Brooks
12 y
Thanks, MSgt. I've been looking into online jobs such as Search Engine Optimization but there are so many more scams than legit jobs that I'm wary of them. Do you know of any specifically?
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MSgt Program Analyst   Joint Certification Program
MSgt (Join to see)
12 y

The ones I researched that are actually legit are:



http://join.liveops.com/



https://www.alpineaccess.com/index.php/



http://westathome.com/



http://www.workingsolutions.com/



http://www.teleworkrecruiting.com/



http://www.flexjobs.com/

If you look into these you might find something up your alley.

I might wind up getting one of these if I can't find a regular job out in the normal workforce.  Good luck in your endeavors.

 

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SFC Michael Hasbun
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Looking forward to hearing responses, I've been thinking of a second job m'self..
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MSgt Program Analyst   Joint Certification Program
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12 y
When I was an AGR I worked a few different 'part-time' jobs at various times for some extra money.  Some of them included: Pizza Hut cook, Kmart Security, Toys R Us - backroom (build and repair things (my favorite part), load/unload trucks,etc.).  As long as they don't mess with your primary job everythings good - sometimes you have to get approval to have the outside job though.
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SGT Avionic Special Equipment Repairer
SGT (Join to see)
12 y
I had briefly worked as a cab driver up at Ft Drum many moons ago It was a very interesting experience (read: dealing with drunks), but there was no pay for the long hours that I had worked (sounds like the military, am I right?). I had to quit because I was deploying to Saudi Arabia for Desert Storm.
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SFC Michael Hasbun
SFC Michael Hasbun
12 y
I don't know if I have the moves to be one of those sign wavers..
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SFC John Brooks
SFC John Brooks
12 y
i KNOW I don't have the moves to be one of those sign wavers.
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SFC Cryptologic Network Warfare Specialist
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If you start your own business, what's your business model like? If you are doing consulting work, what kind of certs do you have?
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