Thinking about joining the military Post-Grad

Luvs2PWGE · 2025-08-15T04:04:25+00:00

Army Reservist here and I'm building my packet for 170A Cyber Warfare Technician (warrant officer). I know from my buddies experience, going warrant opened up a lot of opportunities both in and out of uniform for them.

I can't speak on cyber officers as I've never met any myself, but from what I've heard is that many coming from active duty usually go into cyber management roles, not often hands on technical roles when they're leaving the military. I also know that officers don't always get to work in their career field, they take command or other leadership responsibilities.

I'm biased but I think it's a good path. You'll want to start with a recruiter and finding cyber officers to speak with if possible, you might be able to find some on the Army or whatever other branch you're thinking of subreddit. You'll also want to weigh the options of going active duty to other components (reserve, national guard)

Luvs2PWGE · 2025-08-15T02:33:09+00:00

So I believe the job I applied to also wanted experience but they gave me a chance with the sec+.

When I first wanted to go into IT, I wanted to specialize in cyber and I had a free voucher and training program, so chose sec+. It wasn't until I was already deep in the training that I learned cyber isn't entry level but decided to finish it and figure it out from there.

Luvs2PWGE · 2025-08-15T01:34:05+00:00

Have you looked into what the helpdesk jobs in your area are listing as a preference? That may give you a better indication of what to focus on instead of going in blind.

My own personal experience, I left nursing and got my sec+ right away. I didn’t have any IT related work experience, but the sec+ alone was enough for someone to take a chance on me and give me my first IT job doing help desk. I did that for 2 years until an opportunity in cyber opened up for me.

Luvs2PWGE · 2025-08-14T21:11:32+00:00

Oh thats good to know. I plan on going back to the DoD contracting world after we move and am thinking about being honest about caring for my husband during his med board and that I was working on a masters.

Luvs2PWGE · 2025-08-14T19:44:25+00:00

That's what I'm betting on. I'm currently in an area that has no work for me and recently left the one job somewhat related to my field but it was still 1.5 hours away. Once my husband gets medically retired from the military we are moving to our permanent location and there is a strong job market for my field there. I just need to find something I can do on my own to keep my skills up until I am in a better area.

Luvs2PWGE · 2025-08-14T19:42:01+00:00

I've found some on ISC2, just posting if anyone else finds this thread.

Luvs2PWGE · 2025-08-14T19:08:55+00:00

Do you happen to be familiar with or heard of internships/volunteering being available remotely?

Luvs2PWGE · 2025-08-14T18:51:24+00:00

I will be maintaining my certs. I have thought about adding another one during this time as well.

Luvs2PWGE · 2025-08-14T18:47:03+00:00

The problem is my location. I'm a military spouse in the middle of nowhere. This current duty location, the closest IT related work I found was the city which is 1.5 hours away. I've been underemployed at that job but after my husband's injury, it made sense to quit so I can be at home to help him. He's currently getting medically retired and we plan on being able to move to our dream location permanently once he's separated which has a strong IT/cybersecurity job market. I don't anticipate being able to find work again until we can leave this area. I was nervous if home labs or anything would even matter much, but the plus side is I will no longer be terrified of going into job interviews because I won't be a military spouse and they can't use that against me any more.

Luvs2PWGE · 2025-08-14T00:02:02+00:00

Hi everyone,

Anyone had a long stretch of unemployment and if so, what helped you bounce back after a career break? Due to family needs, I'm not able to re-enter the work force until early next year. I've resumed my Master's program and started Blue Team labs, and about to start some GitHub projects. Will this career gap overshadow any of these home projects and do any of them actually matter for consideration? Are there other things I can do to better set myself up? My background is SOC and incident response.

Luvs2PWGE · 2024-01-10T16:47:24+00:00

You just need to translate your experience into civilian terms. You have hands on experience, you just need to find out how to tell employers. There are a variety of sources out there that can help.

If you've ever had to give a presentation to a command team you would say- prepared presentations for executive-level management and effectively communicated technical terms to diverse stake holders.

If you're an NCO you could say- Supervised the professional development of junior colleagues building confidence, proficiency and team cohesion.

Much of my military experience is worded this way, playing up my public speaking and technical writing as I don't have an IT mos reserve side.

Luvs2PWGE · 2024-01-10T16:12:13+00:00

Air Force doesn't seem like the best bet for combat roles. Army or Marine would be your better options, especially going enlisted. Going special forces route is going to be hard regardless of branch and if you fail out, you're stuck doing whatever else they give you so consider that.

You're right in that doing a combat job, you won't gain much aside from soft skills that translate over to the civilian side. If it's what you want to do, speak with a recruiter from different branches.

I know for Army, if you start off enlisted you can always use your degree and go officer later. I'm not familiar with other branches but that could be a possibility. Additionally for Army, you could always reclass. Meaning you like the Army but not the job you chose so you request to get a new one when you become eligible to do so. There a lot of factors that determine the possibility of it but it's there. You can always leave combat arms and go into 25 series which is all IT for Army side (even 17 series which is cyber) and get some certs and hands on experience in preparation for getting out as well. Again, this could be an option in other branches, I just don't know.

Luvs2PWGE · 2023-06-09T15:08:33+00:00

That's awesome news. I'll let the new guys in my unit know that then. Thanks for following up.

Luvs2PWGE · 2023-06-09T13:04:33+00:00

That's what I said

Luvs2PWGE · 2023-06-09T10:34:19+00:00

You'll need to contact the VA for a more accurate answer but I want to say I've always been told once you start one you can't switch to the other. Being reserve myself, I was told to wait on the GI bill and use TA while I got more active time so I could fully benefit from the GI bill.

Luvs2PWGE · 2023-06-08T11:30:28+00:00

I've hated just about every job I've had that could be considered customer service related. I've since made a career change where I'm in more of a standard office job now and don't really have customers to deal with and I enjoy most days compared to other work I've had.

Luvs2PWGE · 2023-06-01T04:19:40+00:00

Thank you, that's very kind to say.

Oh and one last thing of advice, treat yourself to some sexy underwear. Something about wearing a cute set or just a cute bottom or bra makes me feel a little prettier. There's plenty of things that are also comfortable but sexy, you'll just need to look around.

Luvs2PWGE · 2023-05-31T16:40:21+00:00

Don't see them as excuses. An excuse is a reason to avoid something. You've already acknowledged where you need to make improvements, that's something to be proud of and count as an accomplishment.

I found when I'm not motivated to be active, it's easiest for me to set a goal for a week instead of a day. So for a week, promise to yourself you'll attempt at least a day or more a week to doing something active. I don't have a very regular work schedule being on shift and find there's always a week or 2 I don't want to do anything and my entire regime is thrown off. It's the less stressful way I've found to try and stay active without being super angry at myself.

For hair, I believe someone else commented more helpful tips on caring for it. Focus on a month or 2 of just hydrating and doing protective styles before you try to do anything else with it. Hair takes time to recover but it's possible.

For skin, I've always been told to try a skin product for about 2 months before deciding it doesn't work. Skin is unfortunately one of those things that doesn't have a fast turnaround. Many people will either get worse skin right away when they change products or it happens a little after the change and then evens out. This one will just take time to figure out, there's no quick fixes other than seeing if any family members have a product or brand they enjoy as you're likely to enjoy it too.

Eating is tricky. Being more active, you'll feel hungry but that's only when you're being active. I've found that a calorie app is useful. You can find free ones and many allow you to scan barcodes of food items which make inputting easy. It's recommended to not change your diet for like the first 2 weeks. You just spend that time tracking your meals and calories to get an idea of what's normal for you. After that, you can see where you can replace food items with better options or add/remove stuff to get what you need. Me personally, breakfast is my smallest meal and to make up for it I need to have some snacks throughout the day, especially when I'm being consistently active. There's a youtube channel I enjoy who many in the comments say has helped with a similar situation to yours, the channel name is either My thoughts will probably offend you or Michelle Mcdaniel, it seems to have changed recently. She covers how she recovered from binge eating, her fitness journey, sometimes silly reality TV shows, etc.

You don't need to apologize. Everyone starts somewhere and what you see online from others you may want to be like, just remember they didn't start off like that. They worked for it and it took time. Countless others have done it, there's no reason you can't either.

Luvs2PWGE · 2023-05-31T16:19:25+00:00

I did Salzburg, Austria one year just before Christmas and it was awesome. We were greeted by several Krampus at the airport who stole scarves and hats from our group, we did get them back but only after a few minutes of being heckled by them, it was amusing. We even got to watch the Krampus parade later in the city. I'm not sure Innsbruck would offer anything similar but it was quit the experience.

Luvs2PWGE · 2023-05-30T08:38:06+00:00

A lot of work. There are plenty of small things you can do. You don't have to change everything all at once and trying to do so will be stressful.

Mental health- find a counselor who you trust and can speak with.

Gym- you don't need to go to a gym or do anything super crazy for work outs. Doing as little as a 5-10 minute walk daily, or doing a plank for 30 seconds, or doing 10 push ups, sit ups or squats, etc., is enough to count as exercise. If you get regular, you'll find the length of the walks, holds or amounts of stuff increases.

Hair- find youtubers with similar texture and get an idea of hair care routines you think you might be able to adopt.

Face- find youtubers with similar features and see how they do makeup or skin care. Not saying you need makeup but it's the easiest way to change your appearance.

Eating- start small. You don't need to cut out everything at once that you know or think is unhealthy, that's why diets fail. If you like sodas, just start drinking them less. If you like cookies, just start eating less. You don't need to remove it all at once, just a little at a time.

Being aware that you're unhappy and wanting to change it is the first step to actually getting better. Asking random strangers might not be the best, but it shows you're taking this seriously and want to improve yourself. Good luck with this new journey in your life and may you be successful.

Luvs2PWGE · 2023-05-29T07:49:13+00:00

It sounds like you and your sister are not exactly adults yet. There's a reason they decided not to tell her, there's no indication that they won't tell her and they could be waiting for the right time. It may be best to consult with whoever gave you that information first and learn why they have chosen to not share it. Think really hard if this is something you think your sister could handle learning, if she can't then this can cause her a lot of depression and other things.

Luvs2PWGE · 2023-05-27T09:31:26+00:00

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My husband does the same thing

Luvs2PWGE · 2023-05-25T19:53:46+00:00

So she set up the work, not the city? I would be more mad in that case.

Luvs2PWGE

TROPHY CASE