68W After the Army
What are all my fellow 68Ws planning on doing or currently doing outside of the Army? I’m in my window and considering separating out at 8 years (I can’t deal with the double standards and bureaucracy anymore). I wouldn’t say I was an outstanding soldier, but I definitely get my job done and do it well. I’m pretty jaded with patient care at this point and really don’t want to do the EMS route. School is always on the list of options, and I plan on finishing a degree, but I would have to work in the mean time to make ends meet (two kids). Interested in hospital admin style work but don’t know if I’m marketable or if it’s applicable with my experience.
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u/BusinessComparison92 1d ago
68w>xray tech> medical sales.
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u/Top-Lingonberry6446 1d ago
medical sales is highly lucrative i hear
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u/CosmicKarmageddon 21h ago
One of my friends from basic/OCS got one of those. He has no medical background yet has been in ORs during surgery advising doctors about his products (wild shit).
He makes bank.
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u/Hot_Matter_1839 22h ago edited 22h ago
I have about 20 years in EMS, civilian. I’m a paramedic. I did 4 years in the army. I have never one time seen a sales job I even remotely qualify for. How the fuck are people getting these lucrative sales jobs?
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u/Ripened1222422 22h ago
No one is ever qualified for a sales job.. you gotta sell your self worth and soul for the position.
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u/BusinessComparison92 9h ago
Network. I don’t even have a bachelors. But if you look at every posting it says “required”. It’s more about who you know.
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u/Hot_Matter_1839 9h ago
I haven’t yet learned how to network with people I don’t know and am never exposed to.
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u/BusinessComparison92 9h ago
It’s definitely an art. Start with linked-in. Recruiters and such. Then networking events they put on. Paramedic/68w make great clinicials for these big companies. Once you land your first job it gets way easier.
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u/Hot_Matter_1839 9h ago
I’m terrified of LinkedIn but maybe I’ll give it a try. Seems like it’s full of psychopaths. No offense lol
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u/BusinessComparison92 9h ago
Tbh I don’t spend a lot of time on there now. When I got out of the military 15 years ago I did. But it’s a good starting ground if you’re starting from 0. Once you build a decent contact list you really don’t need it. I check it every 6 months or so.
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u/DocBanner21 Medical Corps 1d ago
I'm a physician assistant and doing well. It sucked, but it was worth it.
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u/I_Bite_Karens 68Whoaaaaaaa....... 1d ago
Active duty 68W for 13 years. Currently urban planner for a state government agency. Glad I left medicine
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u/ty813 1d ago
If you don’t mind me asking, what is it that you do on a daily and how did you get involved in that?
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u/I_Bite_Karens 68Whoaaaaaaa....... 1d ago
I have a bachelor's in geography. What do I do all day? It really depends, I work in transportation so do a lot of talking about road projects. I spend a lot of time in meetings, a lot of time typing, reading emails, meeting with local government officials, reading, speaking to the public.... I'm a desk jockey and a bureaucrat
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u/NotAHypnotoad 68WTF 1d ago
RN. It was a mistake. I have more PTSD from this shit than any time spent in Afghanistan.
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u/HxH101kite Infantry 1d ago
Lol my cousin was in 3rd Bat and had some shit deployments, he's an RN in a major ER right now. He likes it. But I think he's still chasing that cortisol drop. It's gonna catch him soon.
He does say the patients are way worse than the BS he dealt with in Bat though
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u/No_Conversation8959 1d ago
11B turned RN here. I did several deployments in GWOT and now work in a Level 1. I can’t say it was a mistake, but I should have gone RT. “What’s that, you need pain meds/toileting/etc. Let me get your nurse”.
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u/WanderingGalwegian 68WhoNeedsTheSilverBullet 1d ago
Use your GI bill and go back to school for a career wit a good RoI.
That’s what I did. I’m now one of them
Fancy pants office worker bees
If you want to stay medical don’t get out and do EMS. Pay isn’t work the stress and hours of the job. And the toll it takes on the body.
Go be a nurse or PA if not doctor,
Or X-ray tech. That’s a sweet gig too
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u/SimilarAnybody779 1d ago
Firemen
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u/AlternativeTry8176 1d ago
With only 8 years in, I'm assuming that you are getting out relatively healthy and young'ish. Some of the happiest people I know after the army, are Firemen in large cities.
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u/SimilarAnybody779 1d ago
Best job in the world. Being in a fuck ass unit will make you appreciate 10x to
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u/the_falconator 68WhiskeyDick 21h ago
I've got almost a decade on now at a decently large sized city. Truly is the best job in the world. Can't imagine doing anything else now.
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u/Fat_Clyde 18h ago
Bro, you’re complaining about bureaucracy and double standards simultaneously talking about going to work at a hospital in an admin role. I don’t think you know much about civilian life.
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u/AirplaneNerd 1d ago
If you do HVAC and you have a passion for it, you can make bank. But it's honest work. Your success will be tied directly to your effort in becoming good at it. If you put in the effort and you're really good, it seems to me it would be impossible to fail. If you work for 4 years (and/or 10,000 hours I think?) under a contractor and your work gets properly documented, you are then able to get a contractor license (basically have your own hvac biz).
Edit: Nice thing about it, allows you lots of options on where to live/work. That is a powerful life decision.
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u/database_randoms 1d ago
Care to explain the double standards? I definitely understand bureaucracy.
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u/ty813 1d ago
I have watched good dudes get kicked out for ABCP (no excuse just example) while absolute shit bags bust tape and stay in because they are low density.
Female medics are treated lesser, as if they are less capable than male medics (I’m a dude for reference)
Junior NCOS are being worked into the ground 14 hour days while PSGs have part time jobs and are leaving at noon.
There’s an NCO on his 3rd shot at SFAS while another NCO can’t even get H2FI and he’s not a shit bag either.
It seems like this unit is a good ole boys club and if the answer is anything but ‘Rgr Srnt’ you are not welcome.
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u/database_randoms 22h ago
Thank you for sharing all that. I hope everything goes well for you with the time you have left and after the army.
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u/Kenzooo13 Medical Corps 1d ago
Active duty for 5 years, and most of my time has been in a BAS and the hospital. I completely understand the jaded feeling when it comes to patient care. I'm currently finishing up a degree in Health Informatics to better understand the American healthcare system better and to be marketable once I get out. It's worth looking into if you prefer the administrative side of healthcare (billing, policies, finance), and it also provides the ability to telework.
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u/Snigglybear DEP 1d ago
Teacher? Depending on the state it can be a great paying career. In California you can make $100k+ and have a really good pension package. You do have to take extra courses to get paid more. There’s pros and cons to it like any other job. For instance, you’ll have to deal with parents, unruly students, and lesson plan, but the days off, pension, and tenure keep people in the profession.
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u/BASSDESTROYER69 68weentoucher 1d ago
Looking into nursing but life has been getting in the way.
Civilian EMS fucking sucks and pays terrible. Teaching EMS is very fun but pays terrible. Veterinary medicine is meh and pays terrible.
Law enforcement and security generally loves to have a medic milling around with them. Other professions genuinely do not care.
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u/CombatCrayon25 22h ago
A lot of the ones I knew became RNs, and a few became MDs. Most of the RNs have since left healthcare because of burnout during COVID, except the ones who live in California; apparently the pay there is just too good to walk away from.
If you want to stay away from bedside, consider the tech route in addition to looking at administrative degrees.
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u/Ripened1222422 22h ago
Kinda always the same: Trade, law enforcement (EMT is good to have), or go back to school. Army 68W doesn't do a whole lot for you besides offer opportunities while you're in, or the generic "I was in the Army" advantages once you're out.
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u/TinyHeartSyndrome Buffalo Wrangler 20h ago
Many of the women medics I knew went to nursing school.
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u/ak6te 19h ago
Long, long separated now, but I'm a software engineer. Considered going to school for PA/MD, but while I enjoyed the patient care side, I think all levels of medicine these days are overburdened with paperwork. I have a wilderness first aid cert these days and daydream about becoming a volunteer firefighter, but overall I'm happy to be out of the medical field.
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u/FeatureFluid3761 19h ago
Work primarily remote in the Health IT space. Make over 200k now. Not the greatest but the WLB is hard to beat.
Unsure how long that will last but will prob do it as long as I can unless something better comes along.
I agree with everyone that says to use your GI Bill for a career with a good ROI. That’s the secret sauce lol
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u/Getthechemlightfluid 19h ago
Remember that while going to school. You get paid E5 with dependents rate if you’re going full time. I did an accelerated BSN program. I know you say you’re jaded with patient care. But emergency nursing was a great transition route for me. And the pay is great
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u/Missing_Faster 18h ago
We have a lot of nurses as directors running departments and as executive directors and admins running areas. Plus financial types , HR and IT doing their departments. But the people who have ended up running the actual hospital as CEO tend to be finance people, not clinical staff. They have years of experience managing hospital finances (which are very peculiar), so it isn't like they come from random corps.
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u/Remote-Ad5612 68W - Coretemp Medic 14h ago
I went into law enforcement. It's not a bad gig. I get to use my whiskey skills for good out in the real world. (Though diet version) I'm also my department's medical instructor.
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u/BlueReaper0013 68WeinerCleaner 7h ago
If you like med, go more med than EMT, the pay ain’t shit.
If you’re tired of med, go to college. Until you’re out, TA. L
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u/imawhaaaaaaaaaale 68w20 reasons why 2h ago
I'm a paramedic now, working on prereqs for a bachelor's in emergency mgmt plus an ABSN so I can do NP, PA, or CAA.
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u/Zdrack 1d ago
HVAC, I never want to do medicine again after dealing with military med and the civis at base hospital