Options after the military

[frodo_monkey]

Good evening everybody,

I'm after a bit of advice please and I thought I would throw myself upon the mercy of fellow Pistonheaders... I'm currently serving in the RAF and sit in the back of Tornado jets. While I know that for many this is a dream job, and indeed I've had great times and done things I could only have dreamed of otherwise, it might soon be approaching the time to move on. I'm in my early thirties, recently married, and have been in thirteen years having joined after A Levels. I could 'press the button' tomorrow and be out in slightly less than six months, or stick at what I do now for the next six years and walk away with a reasonable payout and a smallish five figure pension.

What I like about my current job is the sense of purpose, being part of a team and experiencing proper esprit de corps, the money (never going to earn millions but c £50k pa), and working with a variety of keen, clever people both flying, supporting, and maintaining the aeroplanes. What I don't enjoy so much is living apart from my wife (she is also in the Services, and has to work away Mon-Fri), and spending an ever increasing amount of time in dangerous places. Because my part of the RAF is shrinking, and indeed my role will disappear once the Tornado goes out of service, promotion opportunities are limited and I will struggle to get a posting away from the frontline in order to get some quality of life back. I should add that my wife is also considering her options, but her getting a job where she could live at home most of the time doesn't appear to be an option.

The problem I face is, regardless of whether I leave tomorrow or at my pension point, is that I don't really have much of an idea what I could do after or what I might be suited to; I guess I might have become a touch institutionalised over the last decade or so! I got reasonable grades at school but don't have a degree which might have pointed me down a particular path. I would like to think that, having been a commissioned officer and flown in fast jets, that I might have a few skills which would make me appealing to prospective future employers, but I'm struggling to narrow down my options if that makes sense. Right now my preferred option is to stay until my pension point (so long as the work/life balance is tenable), and use any time away I get to get some relevant qualifications for the future.

Does anybody have any advice, sage or otherwise, that might help?

Thanks for any advice you can offer

[frodo_monkey]

Thank you everybody for taking the time to reply - I appreciate it. I think it has reinforced my opinion that I'd be a bit silly to overlook the security and flexibility that my immediate pension would offer (I'm on AFPS75 btw for those ex-mil types, so have a few years of the old deal which makes my 'pot' reasonable rather than the new deal).

Using the next few years trying to work out exactly what it is I'd like to do and then gaining some appropriate quals and work experience is exactly what I had thought would be the way forward; it just means I need to examine a few different jobs and see what it is that would suit and that I'd enjoy...

I think I'd prefer to do something practical or outdoors, rather than being behind a desk - although the link to Barclays is interesting and not something I'd considered before. The ROV/offshore option is something I know a lot of my ex-colleagues have gone to do, but I think that despite the excellent money/time off, it wouldn't suit our domestic situation - I've done nearly a year and a half in Afghanistan/over Iraq, so I think sleeping in the same house (or country!) is much underrated!

Thanks again all for stimulating a lot of thought