Advice for a fed civilian engineer going activy duty officer

Military Discussion.

Moderator: Aitrus

User avatar
hytid
Posts: 42
Joined: Fri Dec 02, 2016 9:01 am

Re: Advice for a fed civilian engineer going activy duty off

Post by hytid »

journeyman wrote:@hytid, I will try to take the LSAT at some point.
.



One more thing: once you receive your score, go to every single law school's website and 'request more information.' I received 25+ (iirc) application fee waivers by doing so, and those can add up (and recycle all the info they send you). Ended up going to a decent regional school, but graduated without any tuition debt. Had better options had I been willing to pay something, but I was not; was/am unsure of the career path.

User avatar
mjedlin66
Site Admin
Posts: 1569
Joined: Wed Oct 02, 2013 7:51 pm

Re: Advice for a fed civilian engineer going activy duty off

Post by mjedlin66 »

I definitely recognize that there are reasons for going active duty that don't involve money. That said, the money, at least from my perspective, isn't close.

If I gave up my job as a GS-12 to become an O-3 in (presumably) the <2 years category, the base salary would be 48.5k. At PSNS, my pay was 75k. I recognize that there are a lot of extra benefits such as special pay categories, housing allowance, zero health premiums, and the GI bill, but even still, at best I estimate it would be a wash.

Plus, you can get housing allowance as a GS if you go overseas. Moving overseas allowed me to rent out my house for enough to cover the mortgage and the management fees, and now the service pays for the apartment that my wife and I live in. The housing situation that I have is better than what my O-5 boss has by far. However, I consider this a wash because I took a pay cut (loss of locality pay) to get over here.

I didn't know that you could start as an O-3. That makes it better. But I think I would have to see the same salary and a guaranteed placement in pilot school to make it worthwhile for me.
Owner/creator of TSPcalc.com - "Know your numbers"

Post Reply

Fund Prices2024-03-27

FundPriceDayYTD
G $18.14 0.01% 1.00%
F $19.09 0.26% -0.68%
C $82.11 0.87% 10.42%
S $82.19 1.48% 6.61%
I $42.68 0.56% 6.21%
L2065 $16.38 0.84% 8.36%
L2060 $16.38 0.84% 8.36%
L2055 $16.39 0.84% 8.36%
L2050 $32.73 0.71% 6.94%
L2045 $14.91 0.67% 6.56%
L2040 $54.37 0.63% 6.20%
L2035 $14.34 0.58% 5.77%
L2030 $47.66 0.53% 5.35%
L2025 $13.14 0.31% 3.40%
Linc $25.60 0.24% 2.79%

Live Charts

Pending Allocations

Under development. For now, you may view Pending Allocations by going to "fantasy TSP" and selecting "Leaderboard sort" of "Pending Allocations".