Quote Originally Posted by Uboat509 View Post
You got me, Selil. I am actually pursuing a degree in military history with an eye towards a masters so that I can eventually teach. But other than academia, what jobs give you that time off?

SFC W
If you want teach you have to have the PhD. Just sayin.

Basically as a systems engineer working in implementation I negotiated at my last employer an embarrassing salary and 6 weeks of paid vacation (plus all weekends home). That was with 15 years of experience in the industry though and a huge funnel of work coming in (none DOD type work). I left that job for a lot less money because I was on the road monday through friday most weeks with a family at home. Might not be an issue for a military guy, but then again I'm not military anymore. Those jobs are out there.

For me, I always wanted to go back into the military but never seemed to get it done. The commercials hit a soft spot. The same spot that had me enter academia versus taking a CSO position in any of the corporations that offered. As a prof I might still get to serve the community. Those commercials play on that egalitarian thread. That same thread that we respect and honor in the military officers and enlisted soldiers and sailors that currently serve.

Service with honor and a creed of respect for America as a nation is a big deal. The commercials speak to that quite convincingly. You know there are a lot of jobs out there that you can have but the military is a career you live. It is likely one of the largest mistakes of my life (right up there with the first wife) that after breaking my back in the Marine Corps, after healing up and walking again, I didn't petition to get back in. Then again woulda, shoulda, coulda, life is what we've done not what we wish for. So, I did pretty good in law enforcement, and really good in international telecom, and now I'm moving up the ladder in academia. I'm not much up on what it means to be an officer in the military I never was one.

The commercials speak to team work. I've ran telco implementations teams with a cast of thousands and filled them with veterans from different services. Those veterans become the fulcrum where talk becomes success. On world wide projects those veterans represented a huge resource for understanding culture and foreign societies. Just my two cents on the outside world. The commercials are important to serving soldiers because for those getting out, this is how employers are going to think about you. The Army of One running through the desert all alone was bad because it said they don't play well with others. The big world of non-DOD commercial interest is about relationships. These commercials are much better.