Tag: ETS

What is an E6 Pay worth really?

Here at CONUS Battle Drills I keep telling you about the Big Four Questions every veteran absolutely must answer before getting out.  Despite Chad’s very eloquent and convincing reasoning for asking “Why” first, I maintain that if you are not financially ready, or don’t understand the financial ramifications of your decision, it doesn’t matter if you have the best reason in the world; you can’t get out yet.

So what is your pay actually worth?

I asked an E6 friend of mine to send me an LES so I could show what the equivalent pay would be in the civilian world.  I did some analysis to make the take home bi-weekly pay as close as I could get them while still being a near apples to apples comparison.  In the civilian world, you have to pay for healthcare and retirement, so I included those in the civilian column, but only the dental in the military column.

Here is how it shakes out:

pay comparison

So this E6 is making the equivalent of almost $7,500 a month even though his base pay is only $3,719!

Here is the mistake that I made when I got out: I thought a “comparable” salary meant making the same as my base pay and I was WAY wrong about that.  For some reason, I didn’t take into account the additional expenses in health care and retirement and the loss of BAH, that’s why I’m telling you about it now.

BAH and BAS are also not taxed, which means that even the tax burden for the civilian is higher because he’s in a much higher bracket. Some of these numbers can change depending on the number of tax deductions, the state that you live in, your election of 401k, how much your health care costs, etc. but the point remains:  Your base pay is not representative of your take home pay.

There are, however, some major considerations you need to take into account…

Just because you would need to make nearly double in the civilian world to have a similar take-home pay, does not mean that’s how much you’re worth.

Sorry to tell you this, but you’re probably going to start off making similar to your base pay because that’s what your skills will translate to in the civilian world, and for those of you in senior leader positions, expect less than your base pay (hopefully you can supplement with retirement).

I’ve told you before you need to make a budget, and in the book I discuss this in even more detail, and if you look above, you should notice why that’s even more critical when you get out.

Financial struggles are usually where troubles in marriages begin.  It’s the first snowball that can lead to so many other bad decisions.  For veterans, there are even more issues because you don’t even know what to expect from a paycheck, you’ve never paid for healthcare, and you’ve never HAD to save for retirement.

It’s not all bad news, ok, but I want you to be ready for what is coming.  I want you to fully understand the ramifications of your decision.  I want you to see all the cards on the table, that’s what CONUS Battle Drills is about.  The point is to prepare you so this transition isn’t a kick in the nuts.

-LJF

Share this post, it’s possible someone you know is about to get out and make a terrible financial decision.  Let’s look out for each other.





What do You want to be when you get out?

I don’t know why, but so few of you actually ask yourselves about what career you want to get into before you ETS.  It baffles me how many of you get out without a plan.  It’s like someone pissed you off so you said: Now what?

If you get out without a plan you’re going to end up going to school on your GI bill to get some criminal justice degree, or you’ll end up on some .gov jobs site trying to get employment doing your MOS as a civilian. If you don’t like our MOS, if it’s not your dream to be an S6 for the rest of your short time on this planet, then you don’t have to do that ok?  Seriously, you can do something else.

When I got out, I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I knew I didn’t want to work with the government.  I talk about this in detail in the book, but I got to interview with a ton of different companies that make products I use every day like Unilever, and Fidelity, and Diageo.  I finally decided to start my career with John Deere and it has been an awesome ride!

I had a chance to learn all about factory operations, work alongside the United Auto Workers union and learn how to weld. I got to run agriculture equipment all over the US and Canada.  I got to visit factories in Mexico and farmers in California, Arizona, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and more.  I also got to lead the team to bring out the new 459E baler and create the intro videos for it.  Now i’m the lead guy for Tweels and i’ve gotten to work closely with Michelin. That’s a far cry from being a platoon leader and an intel analyst!

I’m not the only one, there are many other veterans with successful careers in companies and organizations all around the world.  Other guys have started their own companies like RangerUp, Warrior Soul, Crossfit Sua Sponte, and Southern Pines Brewery.  Some guys have started charitable organizations like Warrior 360 and 22kill.

Look, the point is that if you get out without a plan like the dude above, you’re going to end up having to go back to what you were doing before.  If you make a plan and think about shit for five fucking seconds, you can do a lot of really awesome stuff.

This is not to disparage the guys who actually WANT to do their MOS as a civilian, i’m talking about the guys who run out of options because they weren’t prepared.

If you are getting ready to ETS and don’t know what you’re doing and don’t know what to expect, get a copy of the book.  There are a ton of details on how to get interviews and other challenges you’ll face when you ETS.  If you’re too cheap, I want to help you anyway, so check out the 4 big questions and read through that at least.

If you’ve already gotten out and realized this was you, please share this post so your buddies maybe won’t make the same career mistake.  Seriously, it takes two seconds and will make a big difference to the guy who needs it.

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“…the best that is in me.”

Guys don’t become soldiers for the paycheck, they do it because they believe in something.  As a soldier it is easy to find meaning and purpose in what you do. There is plenty of symbolism and history for us to hang our hats on.

I still get goosebumps when I stare at a flag during the national anthem.I remember reading about the 504th Parachute Infantry 82nd Airborne and how our unit was named The Devils in Baggy Pants by a German soldier in WWII.  Jumping in Arnhem with men that were there that day, and fighting alongside my brothers are all things that give me pride in what I accomplished in my time in uniform.

That part is easy.

What about when you get out though?  Not only does that camaraderie not exist, but few companies have a rich an awesome history for you to be a part of.  Some guys like my buddies John Dill and Micah Neibauer decided to venture into the great unknown, take huge risks, and start their own businesses.  Crossfit Sua Sponte and Southern Pines Brewery are both successful businesses and each of them can be proud of that accomplishment. By the way, if you’re in the Raleigh or Ft. Bragg area, I recommend both!

I guess it shouldn’t surprise me that I chose John Deere.  Deere is a company rich in history and symbolism as well.  It’s a logo that is recognizable and stands for quality products.  It’s a market leader and a company that I can say I’m proud to work for.  It’s been around 175 years surviving a number of recessions and depressions, and has always been at the forefront of innovation.

Every day, as I walk in to start, I’m greeted by this picture below:

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“I will never put my name on a product that doesn’t have in it the best that is in me.” -John Deere

Every time I see it, I want to go back through time and high-five him.  It’s the civilian equivalent of this:

 

Airborne!  Nothing Runs Like a Deere!

 

 




ETS Points of Performance

Do you know the points of performance for when you ETS?

As soon as the light turned green the anchor line cable began to hop up and down as troopers jumped from the C-130 Aircraft.  I was in the middle of the stick, so I really couldn’t see much except the parachute of the guy in front of me.  The whooshing of the cold winter air was already enveloping the plane and I could hear the distinct roar of the planes engines.  Finally we started to move forward.

I had my fist firmly in the pack of the guy in front of me as we shuffled towards the back of the plane.  Even though we were in the dead of winter, being rigged up for so long, I had beads of sweat collecting around my eyes.  I blinked furiously to keep the salty water out of my eyes since one hand held my static line and the other was on my reserve.

I was already looking past the guy in front of me at the safety when he stopped.  I tripped and bumped into him, feeling the tug of my ruck on my waist as the rhythm I had going was halted.  It had been a while since this guy jumped, and apparently he had a last minute second thought…didn’t last long though, only about a second and he jumped.

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As I handed my static line, I shot a fleeting glance to my left as I turned to my right and jumped out the door.

“Shit.”

I jumped almost at the same time as the other door.  As soon as I buried my chin into my chest, my helmet fell forward and covered my eyes.

“Shit.”

Any of you familiar with the ACH helmet know that the pads are hard as a rock when it’s cold, then as you warm them up they get soft.  My chin strap was no longer tight, and my dumbass didn’t fix it in the plane.

“One Thousand…Two thousand…Three thous…”

I felt the opening shock and lifted up my helmet to quickly check my chute.  All I saw was canopy in my face.  I was directly on top of another guy’s parachute.

“Shit.”

I tried to stand up and run off his chute, but I couldn’t get my footing with my ruck and I began to slide off the center towards the edge of his chute.  Then his canopy began to taco around me.

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“Shit.”

I reached frantically for the edges of his parachute and pushed myself off.  He was already pulling slip as I got under canopy again.  I looked up and realized quickly that I was drifting backwards towards him again.

“Shit.”

I spread eagled as wide as I could and bounced off of his risers.  It worked!  I bounced off and was about to be on my merry way when it felt like someone cut my chute off.  When I bounced off, I lost all my air and began to free fall again.

“Shit.”

Instantly I went from spread eagle back to tight body position and wrapped my hand around my reserve handle.  A millisecond before I pulled it I felt a second shock.  Without letting go of the reserve handle I looked up and saw I was under a good canopy.  The other guy was more than 100 feet above me vigorously pulling slip when he yelled down, “You ok?”  I responded, “Yeah, you?”  “Yeah, get the fuck away from me.”  I smiled as I looked down, the ground was already less than 50 feet away, I released my ruck and realized I was hauling ass backwards.

“Shit.”

 

When I jumped that day, a lot of shit went wrong, but I was trained and prepared for every scenario.  All of that happened in probably less than 30 seconds; I needed almost no time to react.  I can also guarantee that probably every paratrooper that read this knew exactly what to do as he read the story as well.

Being prepared is the difference between life and death.

Knowing that, you still have no fucking plan on what you are going to do when you get out?

You need to have your finances in order, know why you’re getting out, know where you want to live, and know what you want to do, and you need to do that at least six months out.

I’ve seen far too many soldiers think that getting out of the military is going to magically solve all their problems, it’s not.  You need to get yourself ready before you become another statistic…you need to be prepared for that shitty jump.

-LJF