SPC Margaret Higgins 2713557 <div class="images-v2-count-0"></div> 2017-07-08T17:42:57-04:00 SPC Margaret Higgins 2713557

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2017-07-08T17:42:57-04:00 2017-07-08T17:42:57-04:00 CW3 Private RallyPoint Member 2713562

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>I value both. I joined the military first which led to my civilian career honestly. However, now I find my experiences in my military assisting my civilian career (in terms of skill). So for me, they have gone hand-in-hand.

2017-07-08T17:46:02-04:00 2017-07-08T17:46:02-04:00 1stSgt Troy Seals 2713566

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Wouldn&#39;t have my civilian experience without my military experience.

2017-07-08T17:49:28-04:00 2017-07-08T17:49:28-04:00 PO2 Marty Sharpe 2713622

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Yes any old day of the week.

2017-07-08T18:23:01-04:00 2017-07-08T18:23:01-04:00 SSgt Luke Hunt 2713666

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>By a very wide margin...One of the main reasons is because you work with people that stick to one career for a long time regardless of pay..In the civilian world, many co workers will develop an animosity toward you if you keep getting a higher performance review because you are more determined to succeed than they are and your work ethic is better

2017-07-08T18:41:10-04:00 2017-07-08T18:41:10-04:00 SSG Edward Tilton 2713668

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>What is a civilian experience? I was a Police Officer for 28 years and in the Army for another 10. I&#39;ve carried a gun for someone my entire life

2017-07-08T18:41:20-04:00 2017-07-08T18:41:20-04:00 LtCol Robert Quinter 2713714

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>The military experience instilled all the work habits in me that allowed me some success as a civilian. There was a closeness with the people in the military that has never happened in civilian life, but I don&#39;t believe that civilian work generally generates the closeness inherent with working closely with people like you do in the military. If I was limited to one or the other I&#39;d choose the military hands down.

2017-07-08T18:57:01-04:00 2017-07-08T18:57:01-04:00 SSgt Gary Andrews 2713736

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>My military experience came first, and prepared me for anything and everything the civilian world would toss at me. That being said......I learned and gained a lot from both.

2017-07-08T19:03:05-04:00 2017-07-08T19:03:05-04:00 CPT Private RallyPoint Member 2713824

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Not really, they&#39;ve both been valuable. My military experience helped me immensely when I left the military for a couple of years. On the other hand, I believe the time I spent as a civilian made me a better Officer when I decided to come back in. I think the combination of experiences has made me a more well rounded leader and person in general.

2017-07-08T19:43:53-04:00 2017-07-08T19:43:53-04:00 SSG Private RallyPoint Member 2713939

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>I honestly don&#39;t believe I would have the determination and tools to be dedicated in my civilian life if it wasn&#39;t for the Army. I almost have to value it more than any of my civilian experience.

2017-07-08T20:58:27-04:00 2017-07-08T20:58:27-04:00 CPO Robert (Mac) McGovern 2713943

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>The military educated me, civilian took advantage of that education, I benefited from both.

2017-07-08T20:59:26-04:00 2017-07-08T20:59:26-04:00 SGT Private RallyPoint Member 2714030

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>I love the Army as much as I love being a civilian. I will say that if I got out I would immediately wish I didn&#39;t. There&#39;s something about the comradeship you gain in the military that you won&#39;t gain on the outside. For instance, the jokes you make, the amount people swear, the military lifestyle in which someone who&#39;s never in would understand. I value them both but military so far has been better than civilian. But I really only had to years of being a civilian before joining.

2017-07-08T21:33:17-04:00 2017-07-08T21:33:17-04:00 MSgt Jason McClish 2714031

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Yes, because my military experiences have lasted 17 years and I&#39;ve learned a lot. Whereas my civilian experiences were more focused on education in school, then working a bit shortly before joining the Air Force.

2017-07-08T21:33:34-04:00 2017-07-08T21:33:34-04:00 SSG(P) Private RallyPoint Member 2714094

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Honelstly, I cant stand working in the civilian world . It&#39;s so different . So yes , I value my military experience way more . There is just more structure and stricter ways of dealing with things . I wish they would just understand sometimes . Managers (some but not all) in this soft industry do not understand the real meaning of leadership

2017-07-08T22:13:03-04:00 2017-07-08T22:13:03-04:00 LTC Jason Mackay 2714124

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Yes. I frequently rely on it.

2017-07-08T22:31:29-04:00 2017-07-08T22:31:29-04:00 SPC Jan Allbright, M.Sc., R.S. 2714191

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Since the military was my first &quot;job&quot; out of high school it obviously made a big impact. Add to that the red meat experience of BCT, AIT and Jump school .. thinking you are the most high speed, low drag individual on the face of the earth. Riding into battle sitting in the door of a huey... &quot;humping 20 klicks&quot; ... eating Ham and Lima Beans ... being shot at and missed .. being shot at and hit. How can this possibly compare with being an Systems Architect talking to people that have to deal with the &quot;dog eat dog&quot; world of Marketing?

2017-07-08T23:23:47-04:00 2017-07-08T23:23:47-04:00 PVT Mark Brown 2714232

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>I was two years out of high school, going to community college with no real direction in my life. No discipline either for that matter. Whichever way the wind blew. I would go. Finally things were getting pretty hot in Vietnam and the draft was breathing down my neck. Even though I had a student deferment I knew that would not last as my GPA was not high enough. I guess it was time face the inevitable. Visiting my local recruiter convinced me that enlisting and more or less choosing my own destiny was the better way to go. Well, right off the bat in basic training and then for the next almost three years I grew up big time. I learned more in those few months than I have in the 40 some years since. The biggest thing that happened was I had to grow up and I finally became a man. I look back and would do it all over again, no questions asked. To me, military service is the greatest opportunity for growth offered by this country and we, as beneficiaries of freedom owe a debt which military service repays. During my entire life whenever the subject of military service came up, I would be 100% in favor of everyone being required to do at least 24 months. Our country would be quite different. I gained a sense of responsibility, maturity and knowledge that are available nowhere else.

2017-07-09T00:00:02-04:00 2017-07-09T00:00:02-04:00 SGT Patrick Wells 2714267

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>I honestly am not to sure how to answer this. I spent 2 years after high school working in the automotive repair field. I joined the Army in 76. I learned a lot of different life changing things. I served in aircraft maintenance/ repair. again more learning , maturing, and travel. In 80 I reentered the civilian world back to the automotive repair field. A lot of what I learned carried over and most of the discipline. I have now been a civilian worker for 37 years and The Army discipline is still there in me and missed a lot of days in my coworkers. I would not give up my military experience for anything and it did have a huge impact on my civilian life. but to value it 4 years Military over 37 years of civilian . would be hard to say for sure. There have been things I got to experience because I was AD Army that I would never have experienced as a civilian . But there are things I have experienced because I was a civilian that I would not have been able to as an AD military. Since it took all that to make me who I am I would say I have a high value both .

2017-07-09T00:25:44-04:00 2017-07-09T00:25:44-04:00 LTC Private RallyPoint Member 2714362

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>If anything, joining the military later in life in my early thirties actually helped me later in my life. After losing my job unfairly at an insurance company in 1993, I decided to join the Army National Guard ,in early 1994, toa get a new fresh start and maybe change careers. I never was into joining the active-duty or even considering ROTC during my college Years. Ended up going through basic training at age 31 and my experience from high school cross-country enabled me to be a decent Runner in the 2-mile Run. I learned discipline and that is never too old to be a soldier and I became a commissioned officer a couple years later at 33 years 9 months. Since then, it has kept me in shape and I have always been a person that deals with reading and watching international news. I never expected to be mobilized three different times and to be in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is maybe mentally tougher and I&#39;ve learned to cope with stress on my job because of the resiliency that I learned being in the military. 24 years later, I&#39;m still in the Army Reserve. The skill sets from my civilian career help my military career and vice versa. I sort of have the best of both worlds because I&#39;m a Reserve officer yet I&#39;ve completed the same command and general staff officer course Common Core that many active duty officers have to take because the 9-month Fort Leavenworth class is only available for a small minority. Being a Reserve officer and working 50 hours a week in my civilian job has proven to me that I can burn both ends against the middle and still get a 298 on my APFT.

2017-07-09T02:41:49-04:00 2017-07-09T02:41:49-04:00 Capt Seid Waddell 2714413

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Yes.

2017-07-09T04:19:50-04:00 2017-07-09T04:19:50-04:00 CWO3 Dennis M. 2714866

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Absolutely! Within 3 months of my retirement from 23 years service, I was recruited by the Sheriff&#39;s Department in the county I settled in. I served in that department as the Chief Deputy (Capt) for 11 years, and later served 7 years as the High Sheriff. Would not have happened without the Military service!

2017-07-09T10:23:23-04:00 2017-07-09T10:23:23-04:00 SPC Private RallyPoint Member 2716344

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Honestly military

2017-07-09T21:42:22-04:00 2017-07-09T21:42:22-04:00 SSG Private RallyPoint Member 2717387

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>To me they go hand in hand. I was in the IT field for 15 years before enlisting in the Army. The Army taught me several other skills and built on the IT skills I had with leadership and management skills. I chose to go into IT in the Army because it was a passion of mine and I knew I was good at it. Being great in my field allowed me to advance and be recognized for my skills quickly in the Army which opened assignments and experience for me that I would never have had anywhere else. After active duty, my follow on jobs in IT had a new dimension that didn&#39;t exist before I was in the military. Even as a reservist I am still training in leading edge knowledge and skills in Cyber.

2017-07-10T09:42:26-04:00 2017-07-10T09:42:26-04:00 MSgt John McGowan 2717830

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>SPC. I never looked at it that way. My military was filled with about the same as all do. Low pay, long hours and world&#39;s away from family. Job experience great. Job satisfaction great. Civilian job experience got long with no moves. Satisfaction, better pay, shorter hours and getting paid for every hour you are there. About equal in overall satisfaction. Valuable for both keeps me in food and shelter.

2017-07-10T12:06:26-04:00 2017-07-10T12:06:26-04:00 GySgt Ron DeBoer 2724357

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>I believe they go hand in hand. I learned more in my 12.5 years as a Marine than I ever thought possible yet there are still lessons and experiences I have learned from only civilian life. They complete and complement each other I feel.

2017-07-12T14:17:26-04:00 2017-07-12T14:17:26-04:00 SPC Les Garis 2741622

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>Yes I do...taught me alot

2017-07-18T06:59:08-04:00 2017-07-18T06:59:08-04:00 MAJ Private RallyPoint Member 7274474

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>It&#39;s funny, as my civilian job reaches the extreme level of bureaucracy my military career was at its 30 year completion, my civilian peers are finally understanding and appreciative of my method and instruction on handling the &quot;Good Idea Faries&quot; appointed over us!!

2021-09-16T13:08:22-04:00 2021-09-16T13:08:22-04:00 SPC Lyle Montgomery 7389832

<div class="images-v2-count-0"></div>NO but I do value my military experienc. I have had a great civilian experience as a Union Millwright for over 30 years. Now I&#39;m retired but enjowed my chosen field of work. When I got out of the Army in 1969 WE Vietnam combat vets were treated like shit. Were called baby killers an drugies. It was a time when we didn&#39;t brag about our war experience. It wasn&#39;t bad here in Nebraska but during that time we didn&#39;t talk much about our war experience. Now some of the Gulf war vets have the same problem. I respect all who have worn the uniform whichever branch they were in. I most definately value my military experience.

2021-11-25T11:16:26-05:00 2021-11-25T11:16:26-05:00 2017-07-08T17:42:57-04:00