Posted on Aug 22, 2015
Who has left the military and chosen a different career path? How did it work out?
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Did you leave the military and chose a different career path than what you did in the service? What made you do it? How has it worked out?
Transition
Civilian Career
Military Career
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 27
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I was a fire fighter for the Marines. I hurt my knee and had to have surgery and was med discharged. I bounced around till I found a career with Prudential financial that welcomes and supports are military vets. They have a similar corp belief in helping people. The most rewarding thing I do outside of my family
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I left as a Combat Engineer and Range Coach and got into Sales. It's working out well for me because I learned the discipline from the good ole Corps that I need! You might find challenges in the Corporate world and getting paid what you are worth. I here that a lot from transitioning vets brother. The job market is no joke!
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Navy Quartermaster (navigation duties) to law enforcement (creating hate and discontent)!!!
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I drove trucks for awhile, dump trucks. I was told I didn't have enough experience on tanker trucks tried to drive for a fuel company. I've been refinishing boats for 24 years now and all is well. Long story short my 64c mos is a thing of the past!
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Suspended Profile
I chose to be a rabbi when I retired. I have had some amazing experiences...
SGT Rick Ash
I hit a lucky button somewhere after serving for 6 years, made E-5 in 5 years but never regretted not staying to retire. My MOS was 24K - Improved Hawk (CW) Missile and specialized on the Tracker 1 and Tracker 2 in the HPIR Illuminator. The day I got to Germany and the 21st Repo Depot was in a kaserne in Frankfurt am Main. A man came out of a side room into a room of probably 1,000 incoming troops. He walked to the podium and called my name and it scared me to death. I was sure something bad had happened at home.But, as it turned out he was with the CID Crime Lab headquartered in Frankfurt and they wanted ME for an experiment. To work with multi-nationals from all over Europe and Asia, in the lab as a forensic chemist and in the field when necessary. I was promised off post housing and my choice of furniture from the Air Force warehouse. He said they would get my wife and 2 year old son over from the states as soon as I found somewhere to live and picked out my furniture.So I did my thing and they delivered. Plainclothes and they got my wife a job across the street at the 97th General Hospital in Medical supply. I rotated back to the states in June 76 and taught my primary MOS for exactly a year then to Camp Howard (gone now - all ROK)for a year then to Ft. Bliss where I actually worked in my MOS at the DSP until ETS in 79.
Drove back to Huntsville, AL to Redstone Arsenal and got a job at the old UDS modem company building test sets for all of the different modems and was there for the 1st Million $ month, then to second million, 3rd, 4th and 5th and then it got huge. VP of Sales came to me and told me he was posting a job for the first Inside Sales position so I did and I got the job!
After a year of serving the five Regional Managers and talking to Engineering and Manufacturing for them I was promoted to District Manager and was the first employee in the Rocky Mt. states. After 2 years exactly they called me home to Huntsville and I managed ALL of the re-sellers. Even Mom & Dad couldn't believe the money I was making. I ended up taking a job with one of the companies I called on in NYC and made even better money. After 6 years I started, grew and sold three consecutive systems integration companies and did amazingly well.
I pocketed about $2m on each company, always around 7 years at $40 million in annual sales. I retired at 54 but got bored quickly and started another company to support one very large company, a Fortune 50 company that needed a ton of hardware and software every year. I get paid without a 1099 or W2 generated so it is just incredible.
It was then that the Lord tapped me on the shoulder and said COME. We joined the Christian Church here in this tiny little KY village and got baptized at the same time after 2 months. We perform a lot of ministries for the church and currently we run the A/V equipment up in the "crows nest" above the balcony tier. We never miss a service and we love it all. Coming up on 44 years of being married and my wife has built a huge equine business on our little 61 acre farm. We are very happy!
Drove back to Huntsville, AL to Redstone Arsenal and got a job at the old UDS modem company building test sets for all of the different modems and was there for the 1st Million $ month, then to second million, 3rd, 4th and 5th and then it got huge. VP of Sales came to me and told me he was posting a job for the first Inside Sales position so I did and I got the job!
After a year of serving the five Regional Managers and talking to Engineering and Manufacturing for them I was promoted to District Manager and was the first employee in the Rocky Mt. states. After 2 years exactly they called me home to Huntsville and I managed ALL of the re-sellers. Even Mom & Dad couldn't believe the money I was making. I ended up taking a job with one of the companies I called on in NYC and made even better money. After 6 years I started, grew and sold three consecutive systems integration companies and did amazingly well.
I pocketed about $2m on each company, always around 7 years at $40 million in annual sales. I retired at 54 but got bored quickly and started another company to support one very large company, a Fortune 50 company that needed a ton of hardware and software every year. I get paid without a 1099 or W2 generated so it is just incredible.
It was then that the Lord tapped me on the shoulder and said COME. We joined the Christian Church here in this tiny little KY village and got baptized at the same time after 2 months. We perform a lot of ministries for the church and currently we run the A/V equipment up in the "crows nest" above the balcony tier. We never miss a service and we love it all. Coming up on 44 years of being married and my wife has built a huge equine business on our little 61 acre farm. We are very happy!
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Suspended Profile
It's great to hear about soldiers who made good...
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I stayed in the field of Aircraft services until there was no more survivable wage, jumped into commercial truck driving for some years, then one day my Army buddy said that his construction company needed a local commercial driver, after a few years with them I was asked to lead a road crew on a small job.
Before I knew it I had my own crew and was traveling the west coast, 7 years later I was medically retired.
Before I knew it I had my own crew and was traveling the west coast, 7 years later I was medically retired.
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My "Career Path" just sort of happened to me. I got out and became a Government Contractor in the same field. Absolutely hated it. After I left that job, ended up working for a guy I knew in the Marines as a Gun Dealer for several years. As the company grew and got bigger so did my roles. Went from being the warehouse manager to the internet sales manager, to the regional manager to the key accounts manager. Ended up getting pretty sick for a few months and just couldn't stay on. Stayed in retail for a couple more years, then ended up as a "dispatcher" (simplest description) for a few years. When the contract was rebid, I ended up in HVAC working for someone my wife knew through work.
It was essentially a series of "left turns." Started off with lots of traffic and a lot of stress over stupid stuff, now I have a 5 minute commute to work, and zero stress. It's nice.
It was essentially a series of "left turns." Started off with lots of traffic and a lot of stress over stupid stuff, now I have a 5 minute commute to work, and zero stress. It's nice.
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Suspended Profile
Yes I did change career paths. Learned to build custom homes due to fact I was told I would be dead in a week just prior to discharge and had many Drs. appointments to keep. By learning to build homes was able to make appointments with Va and produce an income at the same time. When 2008 hit there was no more work, had a stroke which when Drs. again said I would be dead in a week made up a bucket list one item was college education. Three years later after overcoming the diabetes, the blindness caused by the diabetes and a few other problems I had , I did say "had" as in past tense, I am now on Presidents Honor Roll, a member of a few different Honor Societies and am receiving letters from colleges world wide to go to various Universities.
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I am a true Master Carpenter,and a licensed builder.
The trades are ass backward.
Electricians make top dollar for nothing.
Plumbers mess up the structure,and we must know every other trade's thought process and build to accomodate their work and repair their neglegent destruction of the structure,yet we are paid oeanuts.
I was offered an ECAP in the Navy and opted to leave.
Have several friends about to retire in their early 40s.
STAY YOUR 30
The trades are ass backward.
Electricians make top dollar for nothing.
Plumbers mess up the structure,and we must know every other trade's thought process and build to accomodate their work and repair their neglegent destruction of the structure,yet we are paid oeanuts.
I was offered an ECAP in the Navy and opted to leave.
Have several friends about to retire in their early 40s.
STAY YOUR 30
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I went from Weapons Controller to medical product development engineering, and from there into medical research. It was just a matter of taking the work that was available and doing the best I could do with it. More dumb luck than planning. It has been an interesting experience and has had its ups and downs like any profession.
I enjoyed the AF more, but they called off the war and the military was significantly over-staffed.
In the end, job opportunities have chosen me more than I have chosen them. At 72 I am still doing it; when one door closes another door opens.
I enjoyed the AF more, but they called off the war and the military was significantly over-staffed.
In the end, job opportunities have chosen me more than I have chosen them. At 72 I am still doing it; when one door closes another door opens.
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