Civilian Jobs Marines Do After Service?

Hi all,

A friend of mine was in the Marines. He finished up his service a while back, took some time off, and now he is looking for a job and/or career. What are some civilian jobs that Marines do that appeal to their Marine-ness?

To focus the answers: I’m looking for suggestions along the line of “I served as a Marine and now I’m a carpenter. I like it because it appeals to my Marine sense of …”

I’m not looking for: “I served as a Marine and now I’m a carpenter. I like it because I like working with my hands”. Nor am I looking for “What does your friend like to do?” and other generic career advice. That much he already has.

Thanks all.

Wow…that’s you narrowing it down a bit.

How about Marine Biologist? Only one more word on a resume.

Civil service, Vets get a preference over straight civilians. Tell your friend to go to his local VA office and talk to a Rep. Check out state websites where they post job offerings and requirements.

[quote]Colin Wilson wrote:
Civil service, Vets get a preference over straight civilians. Tell your friend to go to his local VA office and talk to a Rep. Check out state websites where they post job offerings and requirements. [/quote]

^times 1000. And what did he do in the marines? As I do find it fun to think that they just wake up do pushups and talk about the best ways to kill all day that is not the case. Everyone has a “JOB” a Skill that they picked went to school for and developed thru there time in. Find that out and you can help your friend a little better.

I thought Marines either joined the police force, or became alcoholics. Or drift around until they get roughed up and driven out of town by small town police, are chased into the woods and turn the tables on their pursuers using skills they learnt in the Marines. Usually after a few explosions and awesome acts of revenge they arrive home and become a carpenter or something because they like working with their hands.
Shit, sorry you didn’t want to hear about carpentry.

I have no experience of marine or army life, but I’d assume careers like the police force and fire brigade would utilise some of their skills.

Hired goon.

I think the answer to your question depends on your friend’s motivation for joining/being in the Marines. If he liked a sense of brotherhood and helping people, something like a firefighter or police man could be good. If he just liked to shoot things…Blackwater or some group of the like? Or even a hunting instructor.

I don’t think you can decide a job based on his military experience without factoring in his reasoning for everything and what he actually did in the Marines.

disclaimer:I have never served in the Armed forces, this is just my input based on my sometimes skewed sense of logic.

[quote]Wooster wrote:
Or drift around until they get roughed up and driven out of town by small town police, are chased into the woods and turn the tables on their pursuers using skills they learnt in the Marines. Usually after a few explosions and awesome acts of revenge they arrive home and become a carpenter or something because they like working with their hands.
Shit, sorry you didn’t want to hear about carpentry.
[/quote]

John Rambo wasn’t a Marine. He was Army

To appease his “Marine-ness”, you need to figure out if he is looking to do something “Marine-y” or if he’s looking to do something along the lines of what he’s been doing over the past X years. So what’s his MOS? That will give an idea of what type of career field he could look into. He shouldn’t get his hopes up though, because it’s not very likely he’ll get a job that was the civilian version of his MOS.

[quote]gregron wrote:

[quote]Wooster wrote:
Or drift around until they get roughed up and driven out of town by small town police, are chased into the woods and turn the tables on their pursuers using skills they learnt in the Marines. Usually after a few explosions and awesome acts of revenge they arrive home and become a carpenter or something because they like working with their hands.
Shit, sorry you didn’t want to hear about carpentry.
[/quote]

John Rambo wasn’t a Marine. He was Army[/quote]
Thanks dude, I wasn’t sure how to handle that.

They drew first blood, not me!

[quote]inkaddict wrote:

[quote]gregron wrote:

[quote]Wooster wrote:
Or drift around until they get roughed up and driven out of town by small town police, are chased into the woods and turn the tables on their pursuers using skills they learnt in the Marines. Usually after a few explosions and awesome acts of revenge they arrive home and become a carpenter or something because they like working with their hands.
Shit, sorry you didn’t want to hear about carpentry.
[/quote]

John Rambo wasn’t a Marine. He was Army[/quote]
Thanks dude, I wasn’t sure how to handle that.

They drew first blood, not me![/quote]

No problem… The truth must be known!

I will echo what everyone else said that it’s going to depend on what your friend wants to do.

Definitely have him check out the VA. They have lots of job placement programs and can hook him up with something good.

I’ve got a couple buddies who got out and are doing police officers. Doesn’t really appeal to me. It’d only be cool if it was SWAT (even then you wouldnt be doing much of that unless you were in a major crime city. Youd probably mostly be issuing ‘high threat warrents’) but the rest would be boring IMO.

I’m in the process of trying to do the firefighter thing right now… So we’ll see how that goes.

I’ve got quite a few buddies who I worked with who are doing the contractor thing overseas. Pretty cake job for the most part and they’re making a shit ton of money. If you don’t mind sitting in some FOB pulling security all day then it’s a decent gig for a while IMO

[quote]gregron wrote:
I’ve got a couple buddies who got out and are doing police officers. Doesn’t really appeal to me. [/quote]
Yeah, doing police officers doesn’t appeal to me either, the ones here are real manly.

I second civil service. Unless he’s picked up a trade skill in the Marines (Aircraft maintenance, computers or communications, etc.) it’ll be tough for him to find a way to utilize his training outside of the Law Enforcement or Military community. Civil service is one area where you can get a regular type job and have your military experience count.

As far as types of jobs, just about anything can appeal to an individual’s sense of Marine-ness. That all depends on your buddy.

I knew a former Marine who enjoyed working as a supervisor in a customer service call center I worked at in college. His favorite part of serving was leading and mentoring younger Marines. Directly supervising people appealed to him because of that. He would have been happy as manager just about anywhere.

[quote]inkaddict wrote:

[quote]gregron wrote:
I’ve got a couple buddies who got out and are doing police officers. Doesn’t really appeal to me. [/quote]
Yeah, doing police officers doesn’t appeal to me either, the ones here are real manly.[/quote]

hahahahahahaha you beat me to it I was going to ask Greg who is he hanging with. Are they from San Fran?

Why not college?

[quote]DJHT wrote:

[quote]inkaddict wrote:

[quote]gregron wrote:
I’ve got a couple buddies who got out and are doing police officers. Doesn’t really appeal to me. [/quote]
Yeah, doing police officers doesn’t appeal to me either, the ones here are real manly.[/quote]

hahahahahahaha you beat me to it I was going to ask Greg who is he hanging with. Are they from San Fran?[/quote]
I was hoping that my delay in posting it didn’t allow someone else to swoop in in post that gem

haha

[quote]gregron wrote:

[quote]Wooster wrote:
Or drift around until they get roughed up and driven out of town by small town police, are chased into the woods and turn the tables on their pursuers using skills they learnt in the Marines. Usually after a few explosions and awesome acts of revenge they arrive home and become a carpenter or something because they like working with their hands.
Shit, sorry you didn’t want to hear about carpentry.
[/quote]

John Rambo wasn’t a Marine. He was Army[/quote]
I thought he was talking about the movie The Marine… but I haven’t seen it lol.

[quote]inkaddict wrote:

[quote]DJHT wrote:

[quote]inkaddict wrote:

[quote]gregron wrote:
I’ve got a couple buddies who got out and are doing police officers. Doesn’t really appeal to me. [/quote]
Yeah, doing police officers doesn’t appeal to me either, the ones here are real manly.[/quote]

hahahahahahaha you beat me to it I was going to ask Greg who is he hanging with. Are they from San Fran?[/quote]
I was hoping that my delay in posting it didn’t allow someone else to swoop in in post that gem

haha[/quote]

FAIL :frowning:

I was trying to say “ive got a couple buddies who are doing the the police officer thing.” whooops!

So, anyways, if your friend isn’t a dick and truly likes helping people, a sense of brotherhood (as one said earlier), and likes carrying a gun and having power, then tell him law enforcement (even campus police)…but that may be a long road right now what with the public service cuts and all, so he should be doing something in the mean time. It doesn’t have to be local LEO though, tell him to apply to some Federal agencies… Border Patrol is on a hiring blitz, ICE is about to hire, Secret Service (SA or Uniformed Division), Capitol Police, DEA is hiring soon, US Marshals, FAMS, etc.

Or he could do a trade, especially carpentry, I heard Marines were good at that.

And college is also a possibility if your friend has an interest in a particular major/career route.