Advice Needed

[infntryldr]

Hello,
I just wanted to get some input and advice on my current situation. First a little background, I just retired from 20 years as a Marine infantrymen. I have bachelors from AMU in homeland security and certificate in Terrorism studies, and I just found work in NOVA as a contractor for TSA. Here is my dilemma, I, like most retired military I am sure, am having a difficult time transitioning from Marine grunt leader to civilian employee. Don’t get me wrong, I am blessed to have a job and to have put present under the Christmas tree this year, but this is not what I want to do. A couple options I have looked at, going back to school and getting my masters. I was thinking of going back to AMU, but then I saw that Missouri State University has a Defense and Strategic Studies program in Northern Virginia that looks very interesting. I was also thinking of taking some language courses, not sure which ones, maybe Arabic, Chinese, or maybe Russian. So basically I was looking at building up my resume while I have a job, and after a year or two, look for a job involving national security or something warfighting in nature.

Again any advice is greatly appreciated.

[Entropy]

What is it that you want to do?

[calebjohnson001]

Hi,
I'm studying Arabic and Russian at Johns Hopkins in hopes of pursuing a career in national security as well at some point. While both languages are critical, I would recommend you consider Farsi or Urdu, as Russian and Arabic arecritical but more widely spoken. As I am from Missouri, I am interested to see whether or not you pursue their program in Northern Virginia. Please consider letting me know what you end up doing via PM.

[infntryldr]

I guess I want to do something that relates to the military. Whether that is an analyst of somesort, or intelligence, just not sure what there is out there, and if I have the right experience.

[marct]

I guess I want to do something that relates to the military. Whether that is an analyst of somesort, or intelligence, just not sure what there is out there, and if I have the right experience.

One technique that works pretty well is to start listing out what you want to do, in terms of tasks and, ideally, some rough type of ends. Forget about job titles, positions or organizations; just concentrate on tasks and ends. Once you have a decent list, then prioritize them along a "must have; like to do; and okay with scale" - anything rating below that, just drop. Then do the same with your ideal type of working environment, including all of the HR stuff (pay, benefits, etc., etc.).

What this does is to give you two lists - one of tasks and one of environment. This is when you start looking around for positions that match those tasks. This, in turn, should do several things. First, it should identify what types of additional skills / tasks that you missed, and second, it should start giving you a very preliminary list of organizations (and position names) that roughly match what you are really looking for.

When you've done that, PM me for more :D.

Cheers,

Marc

ps. Yeah, i used to be a career counsellor in a previous incarnation :cool:

[Stan]

Hello,
I just wanted to get some input and advice on my current situation. First a little background, I just retired from 20 years as a Marine infantrymen.

Hey Greg,
Why not pursue both a foreign language and challenging job ?

Have you checked out DTRA (http://www.dtra.mil/be/employment_opp/index.cfm) for example ? Tons of us retired military already there and lots of foreign duty and TDY (TAD).

Good luck, Stan

[Schmedlap]

Hi,
I'm studying Arabic and Russian at Johns Hopkins in hopes of pursuing a career in national security as well at some point. While both languages are critical, I would recommend you consider Farsi or Urdu, as Russian and Arabic arecritical but more widely spoken. As I am from Missouri, I am interested to see whether or not you pursue their program in Northern Virginia. Please consider letting me know what you end up doing:

Sounds like you need to cast a vote! See here (http://council.smallwarsjournal.com/showthread.php?t=8125).