[The Black Knight]

(06-14-2018 04:20 PM)MdWanderer Wrote:  

I do enjoy the Coast Guard but my current unit has me rethinking it. Fortunately I have been on a land unit before so I know it is not all that bad, and that there are better units out there. I wish to relocate to the DC area after my stint is up in Detroit.

I also hear you on the civilian corporate culture. I hated it for different reasons. I found way less camaraderie and more backstabbing in the civilian world. I just figured that I do the teaching in SA thing because I want to get that done before I settle down and have kids but it may not be feasible. The financial benefits of the military are way too great to pass up. Plus I can get a Masters degree through Tuition Assistance or go OCS so my college degree won't be in vain. I might even consider an overseas assignment in Bahrain if the fiancee and I do not work out. They are generally easier to get than the units we have in The Netherlands and Japan.

Every gig is gonna have some ups and downs so I wouldn't sweat over a less than ideal assignment. One of the nice things about the military is you can get a fresh start usually every few years if you get stuck in a shit unit. I would only leave if you hate the overall CG culture, the culture of your job, and the job itself; the latter two you can change potentially. If you got a bad official rep (shit evals/paperwork... doesn't matter if legit or not) that is preventing you from going to OCS/promoting/cross-training, that's a good reason to leave too; pretty hard to dig out of that hole in the zero mistakes PC military these days.

I'd say location preferences is a good reason to bounce as well but if you got a hard on to be back in the DC area eventually of all places, that should be relatively easy with military HQ being there, all the local waterways, and the fact that hardly anyone wants to live there.

Personally, I left partly because I couldn't stand the overall culture of the military (not CG), I didn't agree with the overall mission (i.e. get involve in stupid foreign conflicts and get killed for it) and I was confident I could find a far better lifestyle on the outside; which turned out to be true. The CG has a very different culture, lifestyle, and mission however. Of all the branches, the CG is the only one I'd even entertain joining now. There also the US Public Health Service and NOAA if I was a medical/science type. They get the same benefits as the DoD.... crazy.

With nearly 10 years AD time, leaving from a practical standpoint just doesn't make sense unless things are overall really bad in the CG and/or you are VERY confident about where you want to go and why civilian wise. As a mid 30s prior enlisted guy, unless you are doing your exact same job equivalent as a civilian, you will be in for a world of pain for several years either learning a new job, going to school, or trying to find your way in the civilian job market. That's a few years you could have added towards your 20.

Another alternative is to get a federal job and buy back your AD time. That will get you to the DC area for sure, make sure your AD time doesn't go to waste, get you some civilian lifestyle benefits/flexibility, and give you more options on living locations including overseas. As a vet, you will have a leg up in the hiring process. As a prior AD guy, you would also get the vacation/sick leave equivalent of someone with 10 years in. So, you're not totally starting from the bottom on that front. If you did 20 years in a six figure fed job and bought back your 10 years on top of it, you're looking at around a 30-45k pension. A bit higher if you do certain jobs like fed law enforcement/congressional work/foreign service officer that pay out higher percentages.

The main down side is that the retirement doesn't pay until 62 (in most cases, a minority of jobs have different deals), you have to pay into it (like 4.4%... use to be 0.8% a decade ago) and even if you qualify early with 20 years and paper retire, you lose COLA until you draw. In other words, if you "retire" at 50 but draw at 62, you lose 12 years of inflation on your retirement check. It's like getting a retirement check in 2006 dollars in 2018. In contrast, your military pension gets COLA from day one (big deal when you retire young). Federal retirement is a bit complicated so you need to know some specifics to get a better idea on what you're looking at.

On another note: Birthday Cat suggested the reserves but I don't recommend doing that since the attitude of many reserve units is to be like active duty lite now with little regard for your civilian schedule and obligations. In short, you get a lot of active duty bullshit with none of the benefits. You also can't draw your much reduced pension until 60 years old. If you want to exit AD and travel the world in particular, the reserves will be a massive pain in your ass for essentially no benefit. I'm speaking as a former reservist myself; not someone who knows someone.

Overall, just sounds like you need to get some overseas fix out of your system.... what about Puerto Rico? Plenty of chances to do a side English teaching gig while assigned there and you get a bit of a Latin America vibe.

Also, you should look to see if any kind of sabbatical program exists in the CG. Some of the other branches have established programs to allow people to peace out for for a bit and come back as retention tools specifically for people in similar situations such as yourself.

Anyway, that's enough to get the ball rolling. Hope that helps.