Non trucking jobs

Yeah but the pay kinda sucks.

When i got out they were offering early outs and severance pay for airframe structural mechanics. There were some that just got the boot when re-enlistment came around. We were a over recruited rate for sure.

 

You could always open your own CDL mill...

But seriously, any career change is going to put you at the bottom of the barrel unless you have some kind of marketable skill. I tinted windows for 25 years. I was making around 1500/wk. Then the economy crashed. Now there is no work.

 

The pay for an E2 living off base is $29,438yr and for an E6 it's $47,916yr. That's better than most OTR jobs. Plus that's only counting 2 extra pays (BAQ, BAS). I have seen early retirements for people with 12 or more years in but it wasn't mandatory and foolish to take. Again in the Navy I haven't seen anyone forced out unless they were a complete screw up. I still know people in but I can not speak for all the services. I only know what I read about the others. I do know of when the job people held was eliminated they were forced to pick another job but never booted.

 

Once you get E-5 and up its good times. Our squadron wouldn't let us move off base as a E-3 and below so the BAH was out for me. When I did get up to E4 I just didn't have the desire to get out of the barracks. I did get BAS because of my work times though. So that helped. I think the guys that got teh boot were only AM's and AD's at the time. They wouldn't even let us transfer to MA's.

 

Wait until Iraq and Afghanistan wind down . They'll be looking to reduce the military .

 

Even if the wars end I don't think full active duty have any worries. They'll just slow down requiting like they did with Viet Nam.

 

I was A 12 Volt Installation Tech (Car audio, remote start, fiberglass). I owned my own shop for a long time, sold it in 2007, after seeing the trend for consumer need go down for my services. I went to work for Best Buy, & pretty much topped out in pay ($20 an hour). Problem though....32 hours a week, & they always vary, so not much chance of getting a suppliment job, & it is retail...& I have come to really hate most people. Before that I was Assistant Fire Crew Captain for the USFS Dept of Ag.....2nd highest paid on the crew....wait for it....big money....GS 6/7 $15.75/Hr. BUT figure around 1000 hours of overtime a year.

My future goals, eek it out OTR untill I can get enough exp. to get on with teichert or Granite type companies, & work my way into operating crane & heavy earth moving equipment. I am already on the apprenticeship list for the local 3...but it'll be 2-3 years before I have a chance there.

So, with 800 to 1000 (take home from Best Buy every 2 weeks), & not getting closer to my goal...I can make about the same, & get a little closer to my overall career goal....As for the other jobs. My wife has a Bachelors deg. in Planning Geography, & hasn't been able to get a job using it since she got it in 2005...So, she became a CNA...& had old people throw fecal matter at her for $12/hr. So, she took a medical billing coarse...yeah great, now they are only offering around $8-10/hr for that & have way more applicants than jobs....so she is selling Mary Kay for now.

Good paying job...go back to school & become an engineer (search Monster.com for construction engineer, or civil engineer)...just my .02 But if I knew 20 years ago what I know now...I would have been operating heavy equipment from the get go cause I really like it, & trucking will get me 1 step closer to it....& I like the sound of a CAT engine about 1300rpms with my right foot through the floorboards