21
Oct

How does a career in the miltary set you up for later life in a civilian role?

Archived in the category: earn a living on line

My friend joined up as a rating the Royal Navy and has left after five years (ish), a fully qualified computer technician, and is now making a mint basically doing exactly the same thing he was doing in the Navy.

I want to join up as an officer in the Army, preferably an infantry or other front-line regiment. Do soldiers in these roles learn a trade or is that just for the Engineering/ Logisitcs corps etc? Is the only skill that paras or guards etc learn, ‘how to fight’?

Also how does this differ between officers and soldiers? You don’t see many ex-Captains earning a living as a plumber…what do they do when they leave?

Finally, if you’re an officer, do you have the right to carry on using your title after you’re discharged? We occassionally get our neighbours post, addressed to ‘Major MacWillis’ even though he retired ten years ago?

Thanks!

You won’t learn a trade, but you will gain valuble experience in management as an officer, no matter what branch you join. Also, the higher you go, the more contacts you make in industry.

Posted by: admin - 10 Comments

10 comments for “How does a career in the miltary set you up for later life in a civilian role?”

.1
nature lover

When you retire you keep the title. When you just separate you forfeit it. the military sets you up by training you how to be a good employee. Get to work on time, nothing will make you drag yourself out of bed to work when your sick than the thought of having to drag yourself out of bed to go to sick call.
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October 21st, 2009 at 11:02 am
.2
patrick e

many employers like self disciplined people. you can also get a drivers license and other things
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October 21st, 2009 at 11:31 am
.3
Curtis B

You won’t learn a trade, but you will gain valuble experience in management as an officer, no matter what branch you join. Also, the higher you go, the more contacts you make in industry.
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October 21st, 2009 at 11:44 am
.4
LEONARD W

I served in the front line in Korea and I can say that it didn’t set me up for anything in civilian life. Just de-stablised me for a long time afterwards.
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October 21st, 2009 at 12:22 pm
.5
boden21

infantry is not the way to go, you will have to join a tech specialist arm if you want the perks after your service .
14 years in the royal artillery left me with very little to offer a employer you have to retrain .
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October 21st, 2009 at 12:30 pm
.6
Mike T

If you’re an officer, the best skill you get is management. A lot of civvie workplaces would kill to have an ex-officer working for them, as you know exactly how to lead and motivate people.
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Royal Navy Officer

October 21st, 2009 at 1:18 pm
.7
nysportsbabe

I’m retiring from the Coast Guard in 6 months. I have earned over 140 credits, I have learned several jobs that convert to several jobs in the civilian sector. Its what you make of it. If you come in and take every bit of schooling and training, it will add up and that looks good on a resume.
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October 21st, 2009 at 1:44 pm
.8
Mike B

When you leave the military you Will get settlement advice and training for a trade (if required). The job of an Officer in the British Army is NOT to learn a trade. The Officer is a man manager. He/She does NOT need to learn how to do the trades of the servicemen he/she is commanding; just how to manage them to make them more efficient. Those skills are transferable when entering ‘civy-street’.
Retired Officers are entitled to use this ranks as an honorary titles, IF (when retiring) they have a rank of Major or above. The rank of Major is the first rank obtained by merit (2nd Lieutenant, 1st Lieutenant and Captain are time promotions).
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October 21st, 2009 at 2:04 pm
.9
ADC

The infantrys’ primary job is to kill, and there’s not much call for that in civvy street, so you would do better to join as an engineer. I did and my training has kept me in employment since demob. Officers can only use their rank if they are Squadron Leader/Major or above, and doing that doesn’t always go down very well with a lot of people.
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October 21st, 2009 at 2:23 pm
.10
admin

I AM a Retired Major ( hence my small Web Site http://www.major-reviews.com ). I very rarely use the title, and never have unless involved in something Forces related. I retired 17 years years ago.
Much of what has been said here about man-management and resource-management holds water, you do learn a lot of that in the Forces. However, I found it difficult for some time to translate what I knew into Civvy-Speak terminology. I wasn’t technical, despite serving in the Royal Signals, but I did learn a lot about getting the best from a team of specialists. That is valuable, as long as you can describe it in the right terms to persuade an employer that you didn’t just shout at everyone – so many people have a very warped idea of what the Army is all about!!! Too many old TV programmes have them thinking that it’s all like Basic Training!
If you are planning for the future whilst serving I would say try to gain certified experience in basic accounting, management of personnel and resources, working with both sexes (several potential employers specifically asked me if I’d worked with women) and then get the most out of any Resettlement Courses that you can (I missed most of mine through other commitments).
John

April 20th, 2010 at 3:54 pm

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