did your military training lead u to a good civilian job?

[mopinko]

so, i have a burr under my saddle, planted there by my bro, a viet man vet and the dad of an army nurse.
here’s his story- u might have read 1 of my many posts about my nephew, an army lifer, jr rotc, an army scholarship to a masters, to a phd at the war college, a flag officer at fort campbell, won a congressional medal for bravery, who rose to be obama’s liaison to jsoc, to a asst sec def for jsoc.
when my nephew want to be an rn, he talked him into joining the army. he signed up for a 4 yr hitch, and was a surgical nurse at reed. it wasnt til he got home to cali that he found out that if he wanted his rn, he had to start at square 1. he couldnt even work as a emt.

the student loan lobby has fixed it. my brother made it a crusade, and changed the law in cali. the next cycle, the sponsor of the bill was targeted, defeated, and the bill was repealed.
there’s 2 things about this that make me fume- the 1st is that his lifer uncle did.not.know.this.
the 2nd is that my nephew was in the wh during this time. several members of the fam got private wh tours, including the west wing. i know obama was made aware of the problem, cuz my bro left a letter about it in obama’s medicine cabinet. he earned a visit from the ss for that.
i’ve talked to several state legislators, and none of them will touch this. few even know. this is a state by state issue. states issue civilian professional certs.

now, we have a dire need in this country for all kinds of things, nurses is the tip of the iceberg. and we have many unemployed vets. all that’s needed to fix this is to shut up the loan lobby.

so i’m curious about whether my peeps here have had this problem, or if they have been able to build a career on their military training, or if they’ve hit this same wall.

my friend, du’er kelly westlund, is working on affordable housing in wis. i dont know much about military structure, so i wonder what other types of training has civilian applications. the structure of such a bill shd b- this cmos is equivalent to this certification.
she’s someone who is aware of and pissed off about this issue. she was a candidate for congress herself, but lost.
i have her ear, she has a wide mandate, and i’m hoping y’all can give me some facts to take to her.
tia.

[The Wizard]

1. Not much use for

a forward observer outside the military.

[mopinko]

2. hmmm.

ok, i dont know what that entails, but i’m guessin that in the modern army, those skill wd have uses in security work. no?

[The Wizard]

13. calling in artillery.

[SlimJimmy]

3. RNs are a bit different than other occupations in that each state

certifies them. If a nurse wants to travel and work in several states, she/he must get a license for each state. It's been that way for a very long time, and I don't see it changing any time soon. As far as education is concerned, most states will recognize a federal certification, and if you work for a federal agency (as a nurse for example in the VA) you only need the one certification to work in any state.

[mopinko]

4. well, there's cna's, lpn's, emt's. and yes, it is a state issue.

hence fixable at the state level. but a fed fix wd b awesome. i’m not sure if he looked at/knew about a fed option. but i dont think he cd have missed it.

[k55f5r]

5. My son was a radioman in the Navy

and ran the computers on CVN 69 for 5 years, got out and went to work for Hewitt-Packard for starvation wages. When H-P fired, then re-hired him at a lower wage (he and every tech they had) He quit outright the day after they announced their plan and a month later he was hired at General Atomics based on his naval experience and top secret clearance. He makes great money and they've paid for 3 yrs schooling for him.
On the other hand, I worked with several ex-navy in the construction trades and the majority have told me that they only abilities that they got from the Navy were how to scrape rust or how to make breakfast for 1500 men from 3 55 gal drums of powdered eggs and a 35lb bag of tang.

[mopinko]

7. tbf- my late former fil was a navy cook.

tho it cost him the hearing in 1 ear, his service on a destroyer in ww2 set him on his course.
he got a job cooking at the va, where he met his wife. which they both regretted. 😜
from there he was a butcher at ew kneip. she had a good job, too. they raised 4 kids, owned a hime, bought new cars, lived the american dream. he had side jobs, weekends and such, working for ppl he loved. the moose lodge, the priests in his parish, a summer boy scout camp, his buddy’s bakery as a fill in, which happened to b a few blocks from us.
he had a bad heart attack in his 50’s that kept him down for a while, but not long. at age 74 he dropped dead in the rectory kitchen.
a pretty, almost, perfect life for a 1st gen polish immigrant, 1 of 13 kids who quit the steel mills to join the navy.

[dutch777]

6. Strange deal. Thing I learned in the Army was it does what is expedient for its needs. Your life goal...good luck.

I don't know how one becomes an Army RN that differs from a civilian RN. I was in linguistics not medical and my foreign language and some other training was accepted on a formula for credit equivalency at college. I didn't choose to major in languages and even if I did my Army education would not have got me all the way to a BS degree. Would still have to take all that pesky basic degree requirements, etc. It does sound like a few people did not do their homework and as others stated the requirements of an RN or other licensed medical professional vary from state to state. My advice to anyone wanting to use military training as a springboard to a civilian career is check the end point goal requirements against what the military will provide. Some things get you 99% to where you want to be (technical things like electronics repair, motor mechanic, helicopter pilot, etc.) while others, other than the basic discipline and Can Do of military experience, get you virtually nothing. Always sorry to hear a vet gets let down by the system and it happens to too many too often.

[mopinko]

8. his training was an advanced practice rn.

he was classified as a medic. as an ap, u can. do a ton of things. my med system uses them in their minute clinics. those r good jobs. so r surgical jobs.

i know a nurse who had to go back to school for surgical nursing. iirc, it required a bachelor’s. she went from there to b a nurse anesthetist. that was a master’s.
she moved states after she got it, and vaguely remember having to retake boards. wasnt a huge deal, as she’d JUST taken them. besides, she’s a rock star.

the thing that makes this fixable is that it’s a state issue. i’ve tried to get my rep on this. maybe after the primary. i’m serving as a judge, so she’ll owe me. 😂

[Fichefinder]

9. Hell yeah!! Aircraft mechanic (6A670)

With your four years experience you can make 75-100K
Best choice I ever made!!!
Plus I was born to fix things, so it was a great match.
But in this case, yeah, A military specialty does not equal a civilian license because the military does not teach to civilian standards. Even in my field, Aviation, I had to unlearn many things I was taught. I'm surprised that your nephew didn't know that. Why didn't he use his benefits to go to school?

[mopinko]

10. he did, just not as an rn.

he just wasnt gonna start from scratch. he’s a psychologist now.

[mitch96]

11. Did you get your A/P in the military? When I was going to A/P school many moons ago about to were ex

military.. They could fix the shit but did not have the piece of paper from the gub'ment...
m

[Angleae]

18. You don't need an A&P to work on airplanes.

You just need to work under someone who does and is willing to sign. Or you can work for a manufacturer (i.e. Boeing), you don't need a license there as the planes don't get their airworthy cert until after the test flights.

[GP6971]

12. Most definitely.

I was Army Transportation always in staff positions working with commercial carriers transporting DoD cargo. When I left the Army is was an easy transition to the civilian transportation industry which I stayed in my whole working career.

[Aristus]

14. Nope. I was a tank crewman.

Now I'm a Physician Assistant working in primary care, specializing in healthcare for the homeless.

There's a career arc for you.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

15. Yes it did,

because of my training as a Combat Engineer in the Corps, I was able to jump right into a big rig and pass my CDL written and driving test with ease on the first try, now I have my own trucking business consisting of 2 trucks, 1 dispatch agent and my book keeper.

Life is good because of my military MOS.

[Jacson6]

16. I was trained in AIT in Artillery.

But when I got to my unit they made me a publication and administrative clerk. When I was discharged I started working in Shipping & Receiving at various companies. It took me four weeks to find work back in the 80's after discharge. I learned telling people at an interview I was an artillery man did not go over well. A job coach told me to emphasis my publication & administration clerk experience in the service. I found a job within a week when I changed my resume.

[bluescribbler]

17. I was a radarmen in the Navy.

Nothing I learned there was useful in my civilian career as a machinist, except the value of keeping my opinions to myself.

[Woodwizard]

19. Yes it made me be able to brush off bullshit.

I also went to welding school while in never had a job as a full time welder but it helped me as a fixture fabricator at one job and I weld and repair stuff all the time.

[mopinko]

20. interesting how this thread keeps popping up.

supports my theory that jobs that need a civilian cert dont help, but most do.
appreciate the input.