Considering saying yes to EAS.

[baby gorilla]

I have a few questions for Marines who may have done something similar to what I am considering doing. I have been in almost 7 years and I currently have a little over a year left on my contract. I am thinking of getting out and pursuing a career in law enforcement. How far out should I begin my job search? Thankfully I was smart enough to take advantage of TA and I will be very close to getting a BA in criminal justice right as my contract ends. I was just wondering if anyone else went this route and if so how hard was it to get your foot in the door with a police job? Any ideas/advice is appreciated. Thanks Marines.

[Wyoming]

I have a few questions for Marines who may have done something similar to what I am considering doing. I have been in almost 7 years and I currently have a little over a year left on my contract. I am thinking of getting out and pursuing a career in law enforcement. How far out should I begin my job search? Thankfully I was smart enough to take advantage of TA and I will be very close to getting a BA in criminal justice right as my contract ends. I was just wondering if anyone else went this route and if so how hard was it to get your foot in the door with a police job? Any ideas/advice is appreciated. Thanks Marines.

No business of mine, but you want out? Why? Money? In this economy!

Only a suggestion, but their are some folks that stayed for 20, AND as I understand, were able to keep their TriCare.

Stay in, keep your nose clean, make some rank, and check the benefits.

Talk to firedog (John), he, among many others is LEO. His department just had a RIF. Zulu 36 could help also.

Methinks you need to do some 'What If' situations to getting out now. I really do not see any guartantee, going LEO, and staying afloat.

[Komenko]

I was looking for jobs about 8 months out from my EAS. It gets rough if you don't have anything lined up as soon as you get out. Before getting hired on to Civil Service I had applied for the job in October 2007 and didn't get hired until April 2009. Getting past that damn computer is a pain. But if your looking into being a LEO check out the PMO jobs that are now going to Civil Service. Last I checked, Pendleton is still 25 officers short. Only reason why I left the Corps after 10 years of service was that I didn't want to be a recruiter. Make an Account on the Navy's Human Resources website https://chart.donhr.navy.mil and look around. this is what i found on the site.

EA0-0083-07-CP010810-IN

10/11/2010

POLICE OFFICER

GS-0083-05, 06, 07

$37,580 - $60,521

CA, Camp Pendleton

EA0-0083-07-MQ122309-IN

11/30/2010

POLICE OFFICER

GS-0083-03, 04, 05, 06, 07

$24,499 - $49,553

NC, Jacksonville

[Apache]

consider your moves very careully grashopper
Youre in the best spot possible to almost guarentee continued employment.
What happens when the podunk kansas police have to lay off 80 % of thier
city employees (including you )

[USMCM38A1]

They are alot of Law Eforcement agencies are downsizing right now it might be more prudent to see the career planer and find out what mos is promoting and stay where you are the jobs out here are getting few and far between.Just something to think about the ultimate decision is yours.

[hbharrison]

consider your moves very careully grashopper
Youre in the best spot possible to almost guarentee continued employment.
What happens when the podunk kansas police have to lay off 80 % of thier
city employees (including you )

He correct I spent 30 years in Law Enforcment retired as a Chief of police in Kansas under what is considered one of the best reitement systems in the midle of this country and it sucks big time would have gotten just over 890.00 a month so I took it out and reinvested just so I could make a little more jobs in LEO out here are not that secure anymore with mass budget cuts not is all good anywhere. Stay in get that retirement then if you want LEO go for it.

[Vandrel]

I have a few questions for Marines who may have done something similar to what I am considering doing. I have been in almost 7 years and I currently have a little over a year left on my contract. I am thinking of getting out and pursuing a career in law enforcement. How far out should I begin my job search? Thankfully I was smart enough to take advantage of TA and I will be very close to getting a BA in criminal justice right as my contract ends. I was just wondering if anyone else went this route and if so how hard was it to get your foot in the door with a police job? Any ideas/advice is appreciated. Thanks Marines.

If you are at Lejeune during SEPS/TAPS a few police recruiters come by and take applications for employment. The Charlotte NC department actually brings a written exam with them and lets you take the test at SEPS/TAPS, that's what I did. Best part about that test is if you pass your score is good up to 1 year and you can go straight in for employment during that time.

My advice, as soon as you step out the door on terminal leave you need to have a no **** plan laid out and try to jump right into another job with no gap in pay. Try to get your pay to overlap while on terminal and in a new job.

Another set of advice, if you really want to do law enforcement you need to keep in mind that you DO qualify for the GI Bill while going through the academy AND the first year and 1/2 of probationary period of employment. That means you can work as a cop, get paid your cop paycheck and draw close to 2 years of GI Bill payments at ZERO cost to you because the department will generally cover all costs. That is covered under the GI Bill apprenticeship program.

So let's say you get hired on with Charlotte PD, you start out at $38k a year, the 1st day on the job at the academy you start to draw your GI Bill up to graduation from the academy AND the first year and 1/2 on the job under probationary status. You'll draw either the standard GI Bill payment or the post 9/11 and get BAH, which either way you'll be tacking on an additional 100% profit of over $1,000 each month. That puts you at around $56,000 STARTING OUT for nearly 2 years.

[Old Marine]

So you are going to sacrifice 8 years when you have one of the most stable jobs in the country right now. You should take this last year you have on active duty and think long and hard about what decision you are going to make.

You will probably only be around 38 or 39 if you stay in and retire, then you can pretty much pick your next career. With a little luck, by the time you retire, maybe this country will be in better shape.

I can guarantee you that the bennies you receive after retiring from the military, far out weigh the non-bennies.

[Vandrel]

Only a suggestion, but their are some folks that stayed for 20, AND as I understand, were able to keep their TriCare.

Actually.....

Anyone who seperates and does not retire RATES Tricare for an additional year after their EAS. It's called the Tricare extended program and mine just expired. You still have to pay the costs which for me and my family it was not cheap (of course my employer paid it all) but it kept us on Tricare until my employer was able to get a full package together for us.

I can guarantee you that the bennies you receive after retiring from the military, far out weigh the non-bennies.

Not to be Mr. Negative on the issue but I disagree to a extent. Working contracting right now on base I have tons of retired Marines around me and I can say from experience they get paid 10x LESS then I do because they draw a retirement check. Their gross doesn't even come close to mine AND I also get $1634 a month from the VA. That doesn't even factor in if I were to draw GI Bill money. Plus I have full benifits covered through my employer at no cost to me. While not everyone can swing the same job it does shed light onto those who stay in because they don't know there are better options outside the walls.

[baby gorilla]

Thanks for all your opinions, that is what I was looking for. I realize I have some time to figure out what I want to do, which is why I asked this question with so much time left. Deployments are starting to take a toll on my family life, so that is one reason. I am sure I will spend the next year analyzing my pros and cons list.

[Wyoming]

Thanks for all your opinions, that is what I was looking for. I realize I have some time to figure out what I want to do, which is why I asked this question with so much time left. Deployments are starting to take a toll on my family life, so that is one reason. I am sure I will spend the next year analyzing my pros and cons list.

Ok, last comment, you say that deployments are starting to take a toll on my family life.

Reckon how much of a toll umemployment would take?

[ArtyOps]

There are towns in Maine that have lost their entire police departments due to budget cuts. I was fortunate as I got out before this whole fiasco and made it through two rounds of layoffs at my company. Unfortunate though because I bought my house before the bubble popped. My house has only depreciated 15,000 though, my father in law just moved from Navada, his house dropped from 320,000 to 130,000.

1. If you are going to get out though MAKE SURE YOU HAVE A JOB BEFORE. I took 57 days of terminal leave. Started working two weeks before my EAS. USAJOBS.gov and https://chart.donhr.navy.mil are two awesome resources. When you can start on those jobs is all based on where you look. Each place will have it's own policy regarding active duty personell, so look at their online listings and call people if you have too. I started looking about two years before I got out.

2. Go to TAP/TAMP as soon as you can get there, even if you're toying with staying in. There is a lot of good information about benefits that would have been nice to have in basic training. Stuff like make sure your medical record is immaculate nd anything that has gone wrong with you since you've been in is well documented. For example, if you have a bum knee that started since you've been in make sure you have it checked again before you get out. The VA will cover all of your medical for it after you get out and they may pay you for it under Service Connected Disability. Now, don't tell me something like "I'm not doing that because it's taking a hand out" or some other reason like that. I read through my companies health insurance policy and it doesn't cover "pre-existing conditions" or "service connected injuries". If you choose not to go with the VA, no one may cover it.

Thats all I can put for now... The wife is hounding me to get off the computer.

[HurricaneRJ]

My EAs is 1.5 years out but I'm on the rope when it comes to getting out. I've grown as a Marine these past eight months of being in charge and now I see what stupid suit that happened last year that I just didn't allow to happen this year. I'm on the fence though I kinda want to do DEA or ATF work. We'll see gotta get my ass back from Afghanistan.

[Wyoming]

My EAs is 1.5 years out but I'm on the rope when it comes to getting out. I've grown as a Marine these past eight months of being in charge and now I see what stupid suit that happened last year that I just didn't allow to happen this year. I'm on the fence though I kinda want to do DEA or ATF work. We'll see gotta get my ass back from Afghanistan.

Raymon, you are finally growing up.

Semper Fidelis, My Brother.

[AdirondackDog]

The junior ranks are plagued with the idea that life is better on the outside. I hear it all the time. " I cant wait to get out of here". I just shake my head, because arrogant 19-25 year olds dont want to hear the truth.