Career Advice

[♠SARKID♠]

I need some help in deciding a career path.

As of now, I'm a music education major, but am finding that its not what I want to do.  I like to play in ensembles and such, but I dont think I want to make it my career anymore.

What I'm looking at is a career in SAR.  I love what I do in CAP, and want to be able to do it all the time.  I thought about the Air Force/Coast Guard, but then I wont be able to do CAP anymore.  Is there an organization that I can professionally do SAR in?

Another idea I had was something to do with radios.  I have fun working with them, and thought maybe I could get into repairs or something similar.

[flyguy06]

Why would you not be able to do CAP if you joined the Air Force?

[John Bryan]

Air Force and Coast Guard (and all other uniformed services) allow their members to have a life outside of work. So you could still belong to CAP and be in the USAF or USCG.

We have a member who is in the USCG....he enjoys it most days. One recent 48 hr shift his crew saved 14 liveds.....3 different SAR cases and made a 3 drug arrests. Other days he cleans , cleans, cleans

I know there are other federal agencies that you could work SAR in.....for example I believe National Park Service, Park Ranger do SAR. US Park Police does some too I think.

Of course you could do ES for a local government.....Many Fire Depts also run SAR and EMS operations.

Good luck

[♠SARKID♠]

Why would you not be able to do CAP if you joined the Air Force?

Kind of hard if I'm in a war.

As for non-wartime, I dont know how it works with living on base and leaving to go to CAP.

[star1151]

Why can't you still do CAP if you're in the military?  If you deploy, sure, you'd have to put CAP on hold, but when you're in the US, I don't seen an issue.  My brother knows a couple active duty Marines who are in CAP.  I don't see why living on base is a barrier to participating.  First, you don't HAVE to live on base, and second, if you do, it's not a prison.  You're allowed to leave.

If you like radios, I don't know, you could get your A&P and focus on avionics.

[John Bryan]

The nice thing about the USCG is there maintenance people also are aircrew and get to fly.....so it is a win , win.....were as other services aircrew flys and ground crew does not.  So you could do A&P or avionics work and still fly SAR and save lives

[Slim]

I need some help in deciding a career path.

As of now, I'm a music education major, but am finding that its not what I want to do.  I like to play in ensembles and such, but I dont think I want to make it my career anymore.

What I'm looking at is a career in SAR.  I love what I do in CAP, and want to be able to do it all the time.  I thought about the Air Force/Coast Guard, but then I wont be able to do CAP anymore.  Is there an organization that I can professionally do SAR in?

Another idea I had was something to do with radios.  I have fun working with them, and thought maybe I could get into repairs or something similar.

Of course you can stay active in CAP while on active duty in any branch of the service.  Granted, it would be a challenge to juggle your duty schedule with CAP, especially right out of intial entry training.  Then, particularly in the Coast Guard, depending on what type of unit you get stationed at, it would be especially tough.  Small boat stations typically work 48 hours on duty/48 hours off, with rotating weekends.  If you got a cutter, it would depend on the type; big white ones usually mean long cruises/patrols, while black hulls (tenders-bouy, construction, etc) tend to be shorter deployments, but very intense.  Air stations are somewhat varied in the duty sections that they work, but would be the easiest to balance a somewhat normal life outside of duty.

Other than the western states where SAR is much more common, there really aren't a lot of opportunities to do it as a career (defined for this purpose as a job where you get paid).  Look into emergency management/disaster preparedness/homeland security.  Most counties (at least in my state) and states have an Emergency Management Division or Office of Emergency Management.  EMD/OEM/HLS is the current hot button topic, and could be an opportunity to get in on the ground floor of something.

Best career advice I can give is to find something you enjoy doing, and do it well.

[SarDragon]

I was on AD and still participated in CAP at three different locations, including an O/S unit in Japan. I had no problems at all, including being a Navy PO, and wearing an AF officer looking uniform. When asked, i explained, and all was kool.

[isuhawkeye]

An excellent little known SAR entity is run by the US border patrol.  The specially trained STAR members spend much of their time rescuing people attempting to cross the border

[♠SARKID♠]

Okay, I didnt think that it would be that lenient in the military. Thanks

Anybody have any more info on the radio side of things?

[SarDragon]

Avionics. Ground Electronics.

[star1151]

Anybody have any more info on the radio side of things?

When you say radios, what exactly do you mean?  I have a quasi-minor in avionics, but I haven't touched the things since then.

[flyerthom]

We have several Nellis guys/gals in our squadron. That being said is you may end up in a plane with me  

EMS and fire agencys also do SAR. The NPS also has SAR teams but a science BS or History BA are the degrees they want.

[♠SARKID♠]

Anybody have any more info on the radio side of things?

When you say radios, what exactly do you mean?  I have a quasi-minor in avionics, but I haven't touched the things since then.

HAM, land-mobile, that kind of thing.  Never worked with avionics before.  Maybe do radio repair.

[star1151]

HAM, land-mobile, that kind of thing.  Never worked with avionics before.  Maybe do radio repair.

You're out of my area of expertise, then. :-)  Good luck.

[mikeylikey]

Okay, I didnt think that it would be that lenient in the military. Thanks

Anybody have any more info on the radio side of things?

hmmm.......it could be.  Sounds like you have your mind made up.  I suggest you talk to a career counselor or ADVISOR at your College/University. 

I was going to suggest searching the federal job database, but I don't know if I will now.

[♠SARKID♠]

Okay, I didnt think that it would be that lenient in the military. Thanks

Anybody have any more info on the radio side of things?

hmmm.......it could be.  Sounds like you have your mind made up.  I suggest you talk to a career counselor or ADVISOR at your College/University. 

I was going to suggest searching the federal job database, but I don't know if I will now.

not really, I havent made any kind of decision. 

[Pylon]

HAM, land-mobile, that kind of thing.  Never worked with avionics before.  Maybe do radio repair.

Well, first off - you should always pursue a career path that you personally will find rewarding and worthwhile to have spent your life on. 

As for radio repair... you may want to look into the broader spectrum of electrical engineering.  Think of the career field, not the job.  You'll eventually want to advance up the career ladder.  If you focus on repairing radios, do you really want to still be making the technicians wages repairing equipment after 20+ years?   If tinkering with electronics and radio technology both interest you, however, look into electrical engineering.  You might start out repairing or working on equipment, but the career field will offer advancement opportunities including manufacturing and designing equipment. 

But a career field in EE will require solid math and science knowledge.  Make sure that you match up your intended career paths with your skills.   For example, I'm terrible at math and hate it, so I would never pursue an advanced degree in, for example, statistics even if I liked making pie charts.

To throw one more piece of advice into this pile:  What you get your bachelor's degree in doesn't always matter a lot, if you're not trying to get into certain specialized fields (medicine, law, education and many natural sciences for example).  For example, I got my B.A. in history and French, but I now work in communications, marketing, fundraising, & PR.  Though Master's degrees generally don't follow this rule as they tend to be much more specific, your bachelors (and associates) degrees are often simply a mark of accomplishment demonstrating to employers a certain set of core competencies and abilities (critical thinking, problem solving, writing, etc.) are a level commensurate with a college grad.  In other words, if I were hiring - generally speaking I'd know that, for example, a college grad's writing levels will be higher than the high school grad's writing levels.  It's better to have a degree, any degree, than to not have one at all.

Career counselors and particularly the career advisers at your college/university will be able to give you better and reliable advice.  They deal with this all the time.  Your college/uni. should certainly have a career center or something similar offered, so check into it!  I found them to be a great help while I was in college.

[Cecil DP]

Why would you not be able to do CAP if you joined the Air Force?

As for non-wartime, I don't know how it works with living on base and leaving to go to CAP.

The military actually wants you to do volunteer stuff on your off time and will even grant you administrative leave to participate in encampments and training. They even have the Military Outstanding Volunteer Medal to award you if you make a difference. As far as how much time you can get to do CAP, as much as doesn't interfere with your training or duties. Good example is Brigadier General Rich Anderson, His entire career as a Senior was while he was an AF officer. including time to serve as Wing, Region, and National Commander. He still made it to Colonel in the Air Force.

[sardak]

Looking for a paying job in SAR?  I use paying job because we should all consider ourselves professional, being a volunteer doesn't preclude this.  Volunteer just means we're not paid.  There are paid and unpaid SAR professionals.  Unfortunately, the paid SAR professionals are rare.  Here are the the first lines from FAQs on paid SAR positions from several SAR organizations.

Ah, livin' the life, huh? The vast majority of SAR is performed in the U.S. by volunteers. Paid positions in SAR are most unusual and are almost always within a government agency.  Colorado SAR Board

Sadly, while we are frequently asked this question, we have not yet learned a way to quit our day jobs. There is exactly one full-time, paid Search and Rescue position in New Mexico...  Cibola SAR

It has been estimated that in excess of 50,000 SAR missions are conducted each year in the United States. Remarkably, over 90% of these missions are executed by volunteers.  NASAR

In Canada, there are not many paid careers exclusively in search and rescue (SAR), nor many that permit direct entry into front-line SAR duty.  National SAR Secretariat

These sites continue with explanations that most paid SAR jobs are military, park rangers, law enforcement, fire, EMS, etc.  Of these jobs, only a few of them perform SAR as their primary function.  From 28 years of experience in SAR and emergency management, I can say that these statements are true.

Mike