So, for anyone here that is "former military", with whichever Service, how did a civilian job work out? The last time I showed my Navy experience on my resume was in 2003. The supervisor/director I had for the following 4 1/2 years, told me at my interview "I'm not the slightest bit interested in any military background/experience (of which I had). However, on the resume I stated the years I was in and he could figure out that I was 52 years old..........that didn't bother him. I don't think today's good-to-great employers really want a person who has served in the military, due to the strictness the person has. IOW, do the job and do it right! In my position, which I took very seriously, my Inventory was as correct as could be as was my purchase orders. Actually, I met, and talked to, one Honorably Discharged Marine Sargent, that decided to take his HD from the Marines, started taking some college classes and got a job. He told me "I got very discouraged over all of the playing-around and lack of discipline on the job." He quit the job, was able to enlist in the Army. The Army found out that he had some college background and he was given a Commission and retired a Full-Bird Colonel. And, on top of this, a retired Lt. Colonel (State Employment Office VA Rep) told me "just put on your resume' that you were in the Navy and the job you done. No dates/years of Service or which War/Conflict". Well, the problem with that is, most employers want to/require to see dates of employment, whether it's a civilian job or Service job. And, some online applications even have a drop-down thing for Vietnam, Desert Storm or........ Thoughts?
No one ever asked me, it was 10 years before I actually had a conversation with another vet. No one cared diddly squat about a Vietnam veteran, and that's a fact. Even today it just burns me up to see people wanting to have parades. They're about 52 years too late. I served because I wanted to serve just like all men of my family, it was a duty. Today you would need to shut the northern border down before you issued a war draft. The day we needed to call national guard and reserve to fight shows just how bad politicians screwed up the defense of America, they all couldn't wait until all the base closings took place. Many insiders like pelosi and others ran out and had proxies buy up the prime acreage from some of our most decorated bases. Fort Ord was over 90 years old. So now when the next war starts be prepared to house the men and women in your home but just be sure and remember who were the cause of it.
After high school I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I tried college for one year but it didn’t work out. Then I had a couple dead end jobs, and realizing I was getting nowhere, I joined the Air Force. I was tested and deemed suitable for electronics. I got 8 months of training in electronics for maintaining meteorological equipment on the air field. After discharge I got a 2 year degree in Electronics Technology and made it a career until retirement.
Well, I enlisted in the Navy in May 1968 to avoid getting Drafted. As for me, probably because I was in the Navy, I had no problem with protestors at airports or anywhere else. Except for Navy Gunboats, all of the Vietnam fighting was done on land and in Deltas, of which I was never a part of. My real dad was a Seabee (Navy Construction) and I have a picture of him in his Navy uniform. There were, and maybe still is, many anti-military people out there in the workforce, as in Human Resources. Sometimes I wonder today, just how current former Service personnel, after Discharge, get a job. I mean, not everyone who joins a Service becomes a "lifer". Now, there are some companies that don't have a problem hiring a former military person. They find out that they need a disciplined supervisor or manager, but if the supervision/management goes overboard with discipline, employees can either quit or report the person to upper management. Have seen that done and even done to me. I was told "You need to chill some. We like/want structure, but you may have too much." Then I found out that the manager that told me that had never been in any military.
And, Ed, I remember when VA Reps, and the State Unemployment Office, would place Vets first in the interviewing lineup. That was then, in the 70's/80's/90's, but don't know how it is today. Back then, the State Unemployment Office was full of people on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. 3 x 5 Index Cards adorned the Jobs Boards with jobs. I would also get/look in the County newspaper on Sunday morning for a job, unlike today where "job hunting" is mostly, if not all, done on a computer. Back in them years, I had no problem at all finding a job. Of course, back then, I hadn't been out of the Navy for some 48 years, like now.
My late husband served in the Army for 49 months. After we moved to Florida, he went to work for the State for the next 28 years. Employees are fully vested at 30 years. One day, he came home and said he had started the process of "buying in" on his Army time and converting it to "state time ". It was going to cost $8000 to do it and I said, "But you only have 2 more years to go! " He said, you never know what might happen. The transfer went through and he dropped dead two months later. Had he died short of 30 years of service, I would not have received his pension for the rest of my life. So, I'd have to say that military service definitely impacted his civilian employment. Plus, he wouldn't have been in the position he was in if the Army hadn't paid for his Masters Degree while he was in and his Doctoral studies after he got out (via the G.I. Bill).
I have known many vets who got jobs for which the military service had relevance, some doing a similar job to that which they were trained, and others doing jobs that were "Veteran Preference", such as many government jobs. I have never had anyone NOT hire me because I was a vet though.
Except for HA(L)3, Navy UH-1 gunships that often changed bases depending where they were needed as a part of Task Force 16 I believe it was.