Quote Originally Posted by Steve Blair View Post
And how much private sector experience do you have? There aren't that many regular jobs that offer work from home, and the 4/10 schedule is still limited to a few sectors. And if you're in a company or environment that uses a time bank you have to balance any vacation against a possible need for sick leave (since time banks tend to lump all accrued "off hours" into a single pool that's used for both) and possibly any holidays in the bargain (yes...there are some places that make you take your earned hours to get paid for holidays). And if your job requires you to flex out, you have to use those hours to get paid. Last time I checked the military didn't require you to burn leave on a command-designated "down day."

Not saying that the military's policy is necessarily better, but what you read in the "Army Times" about private sector opportunities often doesn't square with the reality. Nor does elite coastal job experience. That's not the norm for folks out here...a point that is often missed.

And as for monoculture...if you think the Army's bad you should try academia sometime.
I have almost a decade's worth of major corporate experience in NY. (Agreed, that doesn't necessarily represent the norm across America.) And I was in academia once upon a time. Gave it up partially because of the monocultural miasma you suggest. Flex time/work from home does seem to be a sharply growing trend across the IT/media/high-tech centers....and I stand by the point that the 30 days (because of the weekends) is really only three weeks off. I don't dispute that the DOD's pass/leave policies are more generous than most private sector jobs (unless you're actually trying to use a pass or leave to actually go anywhere...)...but it's not just academia that offers comparable benefits.

(And, yes, academia is worse when it comes to the monocultural aspect!)