Leaderboard

Networking starts with what type of Bro you were on active duty. I am FAR from perfect but always tried to take care of everyone around me and be a team player. I mentored and helped people whether they were career types of one tour and out. In short, I did my best not to be a douche. When I dropped my papers I told a few folks who put the word out for me. My suggestion would be to call your friends, tell them you are getting out and ask for input. You will be shocked at the positions that are out there and word of mouth and reputation drives the key jobs.

Check this out: https://airforcejourney.com/2017/04/30/fy2018-tfot-schedule-unofficial/ Looks like they circumvent the holiday leave issue by not having classes that take place around that time.

- Get a nice, professional picture. No uniform shots, selfies, other people, etc. Smile. - Your title should be relevant to your desired (civilian) role, not Flight Commander, Director of Staff, etc. Eliminate any military jargon/words you can throughout - Customize your LI URL (linked.com/pete.mitchell vs linked.com/8723gl431gbf9o718345*#kj3214) - Quantify your accomplishments in your positions...OPR/EPR bullets have great info, just make sure it's translated to civilian-speak - Personalize connection requests if you don't know the target There's a lot of info out there (just google 'LinkedIn tips")...let me know if you have any other questions.

Bruh... contrary to what has been the norm for foldings that aren't held to a specific timeline, our Maintenance bros worked their asses off on this one. Those guys have our gratitude big time! The admin planning started around noon on Friday when we heard the initial rumblings that we might be out the door. Maintenance hadn't even touched any of the aircraft since we weren't 100% sure it was a done deal. We got the green light from headquarters around 1700 the same day. Maintenance showed up at 0700 the next morning, folded three birds and were ready to go by late morning. HH-60 crews walked in the door at noon, two C-17s landed at 1300, and we were wheels up by 1630.

Don't blame anything but US foreign policy to explain why the North Koreans are going full-tilt in their nuclear program, consequences be damned. Gaddafi ended his nuclear program at our behest and he ended up getting stabbed in the rear with a bayonet and summarily executed, with our blessing. You think we'd have bombed Libya and let it get overrun by militias if they had nukes? Ukraine got the other end of the stick, giving up their nukes post-independence in exchange for territorial guarantees from Russia, the US, and the UK. How's that working out? The last twenty years or so have just reinforced the fact that there are two kinds of countries, those that have nukes and those that don't. The Kim regime is completely rational in pursuing them. The best way for them to ensure their continued reign is a dozen nuclear-armed ICBMs. They can't use them unless they want to be annihilated, but they take the conventional regime change option 100% off the table. No one cares enough about North Korea to risk ten million dead civilians.

Networking...I got nuthin special to recommend. LinkedIn can help, but it all boils down to who you know. Former colleagues, people from the gym, school, church, Grinder, etc. Don't be afraid to reach out Recruiters. Yup...use them as best you can. I've gotten great offers/opportunities from corporate recruiters reaching out to me on LinkedIn. Pimp your LinkedIn account and remember that it is NOT Facebook. Random resume blasting. Not much success for me. Prep Yourself: 1. Start early. I started a year before retirement (and did it half-assed) and I was way behind the curve. 2. PMP is useful. Don't just think passing the test will be enough to get hired. PMP will help you stand out, but it's not a magic bullet. I was able to work "Project/Program Manager" into my last two OPRs to help demonstrate tangible examples. 3. Six Sigma/Lean. Depends. Since retirement I've worked in production for Amazon and in non-defense manufacturing. Six Sigma was useful in getting both of those jobs (more than PMP). I went with Villanova to get my Green Belt just so there was a legit school/organization behind the training. I don't see the value in getting a Black Belt for my current/future job. 4. STAR format interviews. Learn how to answer questions in STAR format and practice often. Part of the issue(s) I've seen interviewing veterans is translating what they did in the military into "civilian speak". Lose the acronyms and tell me about metrics. I highly recommend the book "How to Interview like a Top MBA" for examples. 5. Metrics. I wish I had a better knowledge of Excel and data manipulation/visualization. If I could go back in time, I'd work on getting super smart on Excel (macros, pivot tables, slicers, dashboards, etc). In my civ experience, metrics win battles and wars. No one gives a shit about my Powerpoint Ranger skills.

Russia and China can wag their fingers at us all they want. At the end of the day, this is 100% their fucking monster. Russia as recently as the 90's and China continuing to this very day. But as great an idea as it is, pinning this tail on the dragon is not going to be that easy.

What does that have to do with the price of tea in China?

It was meant to serve as an example an if you believe you have a 95% chance of failure, you will likely fail. For the record, my BOSS separated a few years ago as an O-3.

Sasquatch... glad you guys were spared the worst. There was a lot of devastation; and as you said, the sights were surreal... even more so from the sky. The HC-130s in the air were our sister squadrons from New York, California, and Florida. Those guys did some solid C2 work helping the helos down low get into some tight spots to get folks out. As the days rolled by, some of our Guard bros that are also involved with civilian rescue for their day jobs saw on a few EMS forums that gas around the local airports were contaminated. Didn't really validate the claim 100% at the time but one thing for sure was that fuel started running out very quickly in the area. The few airfields that had gas were packed with hundreds of aircraft coming in and out to gas up. Major props to the local FBOs and Airport Fire Departments too... they reserved the gas for rescue aircraft only and met us every time we stopped with clean towels to dry off and some quick hot meals to scarf down as we listened to the radios, jotted down the next tasking and were wheels up as soon as the tanks were full. On the days when gas started getting scarce, we were lucky to have the Kings (Herks) to coordinate Air Refueling as opposed to spending valuable time on the ground waiting for fuel. We were in the air for 10+ hours when you saw the Hawks getting gas overhead. A very humbling and rewarding experience indeed. Couldn't have done it without those guys.

We had just about everyone that wasn't on leave volunteer to come in this weekend to get MQ-9s overhead to help with search and rescue. Unfortunately the red tape was just to much. We were chomping at the bit to help, only thing better than sending enemy to grave is saving our own. Hang in there. We have supplies and fundraising coming your way.

A couple of folks have posted about having great jobs, but leave out the specifics. Just tell us what you do, exactly. Provide specific compensation information. The airline info is out there, and really, there's no reason to be vague with the details of these non-airline careers (unless they're really not that great?). No offense, but without specific info, these jobs begin to sound like "ask me how I make $1000 a day working from home" scams. With a fresh MBA in hand, I did my diligence seeking a non-airline career when I separated in 2012. Granted, besides flying, I have a non-technical background (poli sci from the Zoo). Standard GE Junior Officer LP, consultant (Booz Allen, Deloitte), Raytheon, and the CIA were the only bites I got and none fell into "dream job" status. Other than the companies listed above, no one I spoke to was really interested in hiring someone with a non-technical degree (more likely, it was just me). I even sensed a little "military fatigue" from the recruiters I spoke to ("yeah, yeah, leadership, MBA, flying, but what else do you offer"). After considering pay/benefits versus time away from home, the stability afforded with getting in at the front end of the hiring wave (2014), and control of my life, airline pilot was the clear choice. I begrudgingly admit that because to an extent I still equate airline pilot to glorified bus driver (no offense to bus drivers... it's important work). I suspect a detail that's being left out of these success stories (except maybe Huggy's example), is networking or an already established relationship leading into a transition from mil to civ, which is difficult or impossible for AD pilots to build in anything but contracting or staff work. On long-term mil leave now and still searching/resume building for that professionally fulfilling career I can get into (or more likely do in addition to the airlines) after I retire in a couple of years. Great thread, just wish we could get some more details from the few that have found the golden unicorn.

THIS.....DOD Civilians.....Some get it and some don't. Those with no prior military background are often, though admittedly not all, clueless to what is actually important. Like making sure the maintainers are keeping birds in the air versus spending time grinding out unrealistic risk assessments on PowerPoint and briefing them ad nauseum as gospel. This because they use numbers with no thought to how valid they are in the real world. As for most SESs, waste of damn money in my book. We could lose 75 percent of them and distribute the money to put more guys on the line or to keep the ones we have. More than a few with a pure civilian pedigree like to promote the same because it's what they know. The same civilians they've worked with for 20 years while you were out there with real skin in the game. One real kicker as I mentioned before is to hear "you need to wear a tie when briefing above Name Your Level to show your professionalism" Yep and that tie cover up YOU being 50 pounds overweight. Talk about unprofessional. These same overweight buffoons who now miss work due to bypass surgery and cost a fortune to the rest in higher medical premiums. My 0.2

First scoping questions: Are you staying where you retire? What is the market there for employment, either working for someone or for yourself? If moving, to where and same questions. Have you determined your absolute mins for income/lifestyle? Been out for 9 years now (finished out as an AGR), did defense contracting and now GS. Original plan was for wife (retired within 6 months of me) and I to run a B&B in Sedona. Turn-key place, year 'round 85% occupancy rate. Unfortunately, I was in DC and had A) kid in #1 high school in nation (Thomas Jefferson) and B) retired at the height of the housing market crash. Was over $100K upside down on my DC house and couldn't afford to walk from that AND pick up the business loan on the place in Sedona. So...switch to back-up plans to pay bills. Wound up staying in DC area for another four years. Ugh... Escaped to Omaha and now Nellis. Started out as a contractor for Boeing; switched to GS for salary and security. For profit, except for working for myself, wasn't attractive since the lay-off factor was high then as well as capricious now. I'm all about capitalism but the realities of being fired/laid off for reasons beyond my control, i.e., I'm canned not because I didn't do a good job but just because (like most people do, I realize) wasn't working for me after 20 years of a guaranteed paycheck. Basically, I consider(ed) myself institutionalized. Being stuck in DC made that an easy mode to enter. GS in agencies other than DoD, in my experience, sucks. No sense of mission, no sense of team, nothing but "I got mine." Especially nothing about the taxpayer. Don't get me wrong, I saw unbelievable waste and "I got mine" in DoD as well and it frustrates(d) me. But there was still that core of dudes/dudettes that care about the mission despite the Man. Unfortunately, for fifteen years I was at Air Staff or above levels. Empire building and not making waves are the currencies there so I wasn't happy nor considered a team player. I'm now at the squadron/base level and enjoy it much more. Even if the folks in uniform, as a rule, dismiss civilians, being a part, however small, of making the mission happen is rewarding. edited to add: Not meaning to derail the thread. Wanted to give one perspective on defense contracting and GS route as an alternative to a guy who is able to go airline and is asking for alternatives. I could not (without spending a metric sh1t-ton of money and time I didn't have to get my quals).

Bookmark this site for your entire career: https://www.my.af.mil/etcacourses/default1.asp https://www.my.af.mil/etcacourses/showcourse.asp?as_course_id=S-V8A-S