[1reddurango]

Well, after having served over 20 years in what WAS (no thanks to our present administration) worlds most formidable Air Force, it is finally time for me to part ways and become a civilian. Due to the utter lack of civilian bomb loaders ( was a bomb loader in the Air Force on O/A-10As, A-10Cs and F-16 C/Ds Block 30 and 40s) my next career prusuit will be commercial truck driving. I start school May 20 and will "grad" 9 August. Plan on adding HAZMAT, tanker, and bus endorsements eventually. I know its not an easy life but I guarantee it wont be more difficult than the last 20 years. Besides, no more trips to muzziland (Middle East) as Ive been there more times than I care for. Saudi Arabia, Baharain, Turkey, Kuwait, Afghanistan, Egypt, United Arab Emrites (UAE). Had the chance to go through my records and of 20 years, 4 1/2 years of that was spent deployed at some time or another...not including my 2 one year tours to South Korea and all the stateside places Ive gone for training. Its been a fun ride but Im tired and ready to move on. I will never forget the friends I have made along the way, most of which I still keep intouch with, and the 2 very close AF friends I have lost. Retired MSgt Kevin Michalik passed of natural causes and TSgt Jesse Forman, who unfortunately took his own life after "hitting a wall" with his AF career. Well, wish me luck on runnin the rigs, its gonna be different than what Ive been doing. Maybe it will give me a bit more time to work on the 'Rango and my XJ. We'll have to wait and see I guess.

 

[lo1dakota]

Good luck. Thanks for your service. I decided t part ways from the Navy after 9 years in 10'. Hard decision.

 

[Rusty Boltz]

I was an Air Force "one hitch wonder" (one hitch was all the fun I could stand). Now, I'm a retired trucker. If you think the AF was hard, you're in for a surprise, especially if you're married.

 

[hskrRT]

Good luck. I'm coming up on that time in just over two years from now. Fortunately my training in the Navy can be transferred to good civilian jobs with electronics. of course the wife wants me to look into a contractor job on Offutt AFB(house is literally 5 minutes from base). Also have some Safety Manager experience(current position) so I can possibly utilize that for a job in Safety anywhere. And with my security clearance that opens the door to a lot more, including the Nuke power plant 1/2 hour from my house.

 

[lo1dakota]

Good luck. I'm coming up on that time in just over two years from now. Fortunately my training in the Navy can be transferred to good civilian jobs with electronics. of course the wife wants me to look into a contractor job on Offutt AFB(house is literally 5 minutes from base). Also have some Safety Manager experience(current position) so I can possibly utilize that for a job in Safety anywhere. And with my security clearance that opens the door to a lot more, including the Nuke power plant 1/2 hour from my house.

I wish I had more than a high level clearance to apply to the civilian world. All I had available was a job with the NGA which none are close to me and then contract work with a nasty deployment schedule.