New Combat Ready Monkey in the Oasis

happypantsmcgee

lol airforce and combat

Lollerskates

GarfieldPendletonDC

I'm assuming you are enlisted and active duty. This greatly depends on what your military occupational specialty is, but regardless the single best thing you can do is excel at your job, get promoted (meritoriously if possible), get good reports, and show value to your higher up leadership (03 and above). These are the guys that are going to be writing you recommendations and using their networks to get you interviews when you separate or are thinking about separating. I would also recommend asking for more finance type work depending on your role. If you are a F22 mechanic, probably not gonna happen, but there is a surprising amount of leeway here if you show initiative and value to superiors.

I would also recommend using tuition assistance and taking a class or three in finance or anything like that at whatever podunk schools are available on or near your military base. The credits won't transfer but the initiative will show.

If you are planning on going back to school after your enlistment, make sure that you do enough backwards planning so that you can hit the ground running the first possible semester (this means knowing your application deadlines and financial situation/GI Bill eligibility).

Cheers,

Garfield

Hey Garfield,

I appreciate the input, but I believe that my situation is a little different. I'm working as a military police, which doesn't have finance type work like you mentioned. I was just hoping to prepare myself by keeping up with the news through the WSJ and the economist, and practicing interview questions. Do you have any other recommendations for me to follow?

Thanks, Razzal2