• Please take a moment and update your account profile. If you have an updated account profile with basic information on why you are on Air Warriors it will help other people respond to your posts. How do you update your profile you ask?

    Go here:

    Edit Account Details and Profile

Life after flying for the military

Z

zachw

New Member
Howdy all,

I'm new here so please excuse any newbie mistakes I may make in this first post, after that I realize I'm fair game..

I'm a college senior on track to go to dental school, 3.53 GPA, 314 flight hours (ppl instrument), involved in leadership and extracurricular activities throughout college. I've always been interested in the possibility of flying for Uncle Sam but recently I've considered the option, if it even is one, much more seriously (Marine Corps, in particular). The question I haven't yet found an answer to is: what do military aviators who serve their term and then move away from military life do? ie- jobs, careers, lifestyle after flying. I would assume that a majority of aviators do not stay in the service until they retire (though I could be wrong).

I'm sure there are current pilots with some post-military goals or retired pilots on here who can help me.

Thanks a lot,

Zach
 
statesman

statesman

Shut up woman... get on my horse.
pilot
zachw said:
The question I haven't yet found an answer to is: what do military aviators who serve their term and then move away from military life do?
Click to expand...

There isn't a set career path, but most start off using the search function...
 
Z

zachw

New Member
statesman- Thanks for the "help".

phrog- Thanks for the help. I searched but for didn't come across that thread, my fault.
 
P

phrogpilot73

Well-Known Member
All right, it's time to get off the "use the search function" bandwagon. I knew the thread existed (because I'm a regular user), and I knew what I answered (software engineer). The only way I was able to find the thread was via Google and using "software engineer" as the key terms. Even then, it was on the second page of results.

Searching for similar key terms using the built-in search function (I tried to search for "life after the military", and "life after flying in the military". The first search resulted in the search engine throwing out after, and the. So it searched for "life military". Yeah, nothing on this site about that. The second one it threw out after, in and the. "life flying military". Again, nothing on this site about that.

So, long story short - he probably could have used the search function and legitimately didn't find it.
 
IRfly

IRfly

Registered User
None
The short answer is: whatever you want.

Being in the military isn't going to close any doors to you, and whenever you get out you can go to grad school, start a business, fly for an airline, work in government, work for a government contractor, and I could do this all day. Lots of pilots keep flying. Many do not.
 
HeyJoe

HeyJoe

Fly Navy! ...or USMC
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
IRfly said:
The short answer is: whatever you want.

Being in the military isn't going to close any doors to you...
Click to expand...

If any doors get closed (ie due to age), many more are opened because of the experience you have gained and what you have been exposed to in the course of your service (especially security clearance and other "tickets") particularly if you are seeking employent in any defense or related government endeavors.
 
Uncle Fester

Uncle Fester

Robot Pimp
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
If you're interested in staying within the closed-loop world of the military-industrial complex, there's plenty of opportunities to be had. Any industry wants to hire people who know their world, be it military airplanes or bug spray. The experience you gain and ability to play "who do you know?" is invaluable to defense companies. The interview I just had with a company in Jacksonville (working on the E-2D) ended with, "So what's your callsign?" "You were in -125, so you know 'X'" "Oh, yeah, we cruised together..." etc etc.

Outside defense? Depends on the company and who's hiring. Some value the experience you have as a military officer; even if it's not directly related to the position, they know you've had much more leadership experience than a civilian with comparable time in the industry. Others don't really care - they want someone who knows sales, regional hotel management, whatever.
 
Steve Wilkins

Steve Wilkins

Teaching pigs to dance, one pig at a time.
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
zachw said:
The question I haven't yet found an answer to is: what do military aviators who serve their term and then move away from military life do? ie- jobs, careers, lifestyle after flying.
Click to expand...
You name it, they do it. While not an aviator, I've had job offers to be an engineer (though my degree is in Criminology) because of my nuke experience and how well I did in the pipeline. I'm on the outside now (have been for three years) and can honestly say my biggest limitation is the geographic area I want to live in. The more open you are when it comes to geographic desires, the more doors you will have open to take advantage of.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top