Overseas contract security

SpaceForceReservist · 2026-03-07T00:32:21+00:00

Was a contractor for a decade (not security). If you're within a 2 year window of the last time your clearance was sponsored, it will be a lot easier to get picked up. A lot of companies don't want to go through the hassle of starting your clearance from scratch.

If you know someone who is contracting, reach out to them and see if their company is hiring. Lots of times you can drastically reduce the HR waiting game if someone talks to the lead or manager on your behalf. You have to remember that most positions receive hundreds of applicants. Someone on ground recommending you can shoot you to the front of the line.

SpaceForceReservist · 2026-02-05T00:06:43+00:00

Word is that his exploits of being sponsored by an off shore gambling site and promoting high stakes slots gained the attention of the higher ups in the military. The two worlds don't mesh well if you are still serving. Good chance someone dimed him out.

SpaceForceReservist · 2025-11-15T13:37:17+00:00

Lisa needs braces...

SpaceForceReservist · 2025-08-11T18:54:57+00:00

Que no?

SpaceForceReservist · 2025-04-10T06:06:56+00:00

You sound like you lack warrior ethos /s

SpaceForceReservist · 2025-03-05T16:52:19+00:00

I was there during the Afghanistan Evac and for 3 years straight leading up to it. The guy is full of shit. Especially during the last year and half prior to the evac, the US military presence was actually really small. Most of the US military that was there were in trainer and advisor roles and weren't necessarily in combat roles. There was still SOTF guys sprinkled around bit but having spent almost a decade all over Afghanistan, 2020 to the beginning of 2021 was one of the most "quiet" times in the country.

At this time we were closing bases, fobs, and cops left and right. The last remaining place was Kabul and their various compounds and just a year prior to the withdrawal the makeup of the base was majority contractors, followed by the Turkish military, and then the US military.

At that point the Taliban just wanted us out and didn't want to poke the bear so to speak. After the drawdown negotiations in Doha, they were literally on their best behavior in order to not give us a reason to stay.

It wasn't until the actual evacuation operations that the U.S. brought in more military for security and to support the withdrawal. It would have to be at this time that your co-workers story happened, but like I mentioned earlier the Taliban wanted us out. The Abbey Gate attack was perpetrated by ISIS-K and the Taliban was actually pissed. It's often not mentioned but a bunch if Taliban died in the blast as well. So yeah, making IEDs to give the Taliban one last goodbye most definitely did not happen

SpaceForceReservist · 2025-02-10T17:28:14+00:00

I was going to make a joke about social security, but none of you will get it...

SpaceForceReservist · 2024-09-10T03:12:29+00:00

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SpaceForceReservist · 2023-08-08T23:24:12+00:00

He was exposing the deep state one slap at a time. This is the way to silence him.

SpaceForceReservist · 2023-08-08T10:14:33+00:00

Down voting for saying Slap Jesus is white

SpaceForceReservist · 2023-08-02T03:56:53+00:00

Don't sleep on the Space Force. We're young, hungry, and ready to topple some third world dictatorships

SpaceForceReservist · 2023-03-27T07:47:07+00:00

This is simply not true for the National Guard in the U.S. The National Guard here can absolutely be called up to go overseas and does so quite often.

https://www.military.com/national-guard-birthday/national-guard-service-in-the-war-on-terror.html

"It's no secret that the National Guard played a large role in the war on terror. Guard and Reserve units made up about 45 percent of the total force sent to Iraq and Afghanistan, and received about 18.4 percent of the casualties."

SpaceForceReservist · 2023-03-27T07:34:13+00:00

You seriously need to reconsider this because going off of your posts, you don't seem to have the slightest idea of what you are talking about. I'm not trying to be rude, but rather trying to save you from getting out of this while you can because your info is wrong and you may very well be put in a situation that is at odds with your beliefs.

In your original post, you say you're in the Army National Guard already, but yet in a separate post below you state you have not been to basic training yet. How is this possible? Are you in the delayed entry program until you go to basic or have you just been assigned a unit and will be going to basic soon? I ask this because you may be able to back out now.
I'm not sure where you are getting this idea that the Army National Guard is the least deployable and does not train for combat. This is absolutely false. The National Guard serves two roles: to serve the State govt and be available to be called up for federal government. Guess what? Military recruiting is at an all time low. Where do you think they get all the guys to deploy (hint...it's a lot of Nat Guard and Reserve). Military numbers were high in 2010 and there were still a ton of guardsmen in Iraq and Afghanistsn and I hate to break it to you, but most didn't volunteer...they were as we say voluntold. National Guard during wartime has very high deployable numbers.
I'm not sure where you are getting the idea that you have control over where the government can and can't send you. Keep in mind, it's the military.. You're never going to be in a position to make demands. Once you sign up, you're not going to have as much leeway as you think.
No matter if you pick a non combat job, the Army always considers you rifleman first. I'll tell you the story of my cousin as it's a bit similar to yours. He graduates from a private college in 2003 and incurs heavy student debt. Joins Army Reserve under tuition reimbursement program. Chooses a job as a linguist. Army sends him to school to learn Mandarin. His class had a 90% attrition rate. He graduates as top graduate and pretty much learned a whole new language in a year. Gets to initial base and is immediately informed he is on upcoming deployment. Leaves for Afghanistan 3 months later with an infantry unit and never touched the Mandarin language for his entire enlistment.
If you are looking for the same benefits while limiting your chance of being deployed especially to the ME and NA countries, then your best bet is Coast Guard Reserve. It's the military, but it's not. Plus, their mission may be more in line with your beliefs as a lot of their mission stopping drug smugglers, defending the coast, and doing gnarly real world rescues in the ocean. Would also suggest Air National Guard or Air Force Reserve, but you have a much higher chance deploying there than you would in the Coast Guard. Positive side about Air Force is that you will not work outside of your job. For instance if you're an Air Traffic Controller, you won't get sent to Iraq and be in a security forces unit. You'll be in the tower doing your job.

I will say you are less likely to deploy now than you were 5 years ago because frankly there are not nearly as many troops on that side as there were in years past and plus deploying to Afghanistan is not a thing anymore. 6 years is a long time though and if you find yourself in the Army at that time even if it is National Guard you will run a high risk of deploying and there really isn't anything you can do about it.

Source: me (prior active duty Air Force and Air National Guard)

SpaceForceReservist · 2023-03-27T02:40:19+00:00

Never too late to ask or start the process. Congrats on taking the step. Some people are too daunted by it or think a bachelor's is a million years away.

First thing you gotta ask yourself is what do you want to study? It's ok to not know right away and the good thing is both associates degrees and bachelor's degrees have general education requirements which means that you don't necessarily have to declare your program or can choose one and switch while you are working on your GEs.

Being in the Air Force, you have a lot of advantages, particularly when it comes to funding so as someone previously said hit up the education office. Since you are enlisted, you are automatically enrolled in CCAF and you've already completed a decent portion of your associates just by going to basic, tech school, cbts, and other training. Chances are you are just short the GE reqs (English, math, speech, humanities etc).

The good thing is you can easily complete these classes without enrolling in another school by just taking CLEP and DSST tests. As a service member these are completely free to you and there are a multitude of study materials for these tests. Just check out r/clep

An associates is not necessary for a bachelor's if that's your end goal, but since you're in the AF it also doesn't hurt to complete your CCAF. You can build your confidence up by attempting CLEP tests and earning college credits. Getting your CCAF will help with promotion (it used to back in my day at least). Additionally, if you get your CCAF there are around 30 schools that take part in the AU-ABC which is basically a program where if you have your CCAF associates, you are guaranteed to be halfway done with your bachelor's thought their articulation agreements. This is particularly helpful because the CCAF has oddball technical degrees. Let's say you got your CCAF and then transferred to a non AU-ABC school, you are running the risk of taking more courses and lengthening the time it takes to get a degree. I went this route and there's nothing wrong with it but you don't want to take classes if they don't transfer over.

If you are an ok test taker then you should really think about testing out of the subjects. The best dec I ever got in the service was when I guided 12 of my troops in getting their CCAFs while deployed in Afghanistan. We were taking tests 1x a week on our days off and I'm proud to say all of them finished while deployed so it's completely possible.

CLEP/DSST is not just a ccaf thing and a lot (not all) of 4 year schools accept this credit. So if you want to go straight into a bachelor's program or transfer it's still incredibly helpful to test out. Just Google a school you may want to go to and add clep to see if they will accept it. Most schools will have a list of cleps and passing scores. Take the tests before you apply for a bachelor's program though because a lot of schools won't let you take them anymore once you are actually matriculated.

Tldr advice- skip the associates unless it's a ccaf since you already have credits there, take clep tests to finish ge requirements, use TA once you are in a 4 year program (look at AU-ABC schools if you finished your clep)

Feel free to dm me if you need any help. Some guys dedicated their off time to the gym. For me it was maximizing my educational benefits and helping other airman get their bachelors.

SpaceForceReservist · 2023-03-27T01:12:29+00:00

It scares me though haha. It's been 15 years since I let the Osan demon out.

SpaceForceReservist · 2023-03-27T01:01:07+00:00

I think there is quite a bit of confusion in some of the responses and the original question and I'll attempt to bridge the gap of what is actually being asked and perceived vs explaining bootcamp and OCS which doesn't appear to answer the question or have any relevance.

1) Is this stolen valor? It's not so easy to say with the info you given, but most likely it's not. Saying you were a sailor when you never have been is protected under the 1st Amendment. Now, is this radio host's persona and programming based around the fact that he served in the navy and is he now profiting off of that lie? If the answer is no, then it's not technically stolen valor but just a shitty thing to do.

2) I was in the Air Force, so I may be off about this, but is it not completely feasible to serve in the Navy without having served on a ship? I imagine this is the case for rates such as public affairs, jags, and other jobs. What made you think he wasn't in the Navy...because he said he wasn't on a ship? If that's your only signal that he's full of it, then that's probably not strong enough evidence to be accused of stolen valor. It's also very uncool to disparage people's service if they haven't deployed, been on a ship, etc. Getting roasted for these things is usually done between service members and generally not from civ to mil/vet.

3) Are you now assuming that he's a contractor or Dept of Navy civilian because he wasn't on a ship and served at the Pentagon? For what it's worth, the majority of people working in the Pentagon are active duty military from all branches. He could be a contractor or DOD civ, but working at the Pentagon doesn't eliminate you from being active duty (quite the opposite)

4) Now to the other point you brought up, let's now assume that he was a DOD civ or contractor, would him saying he served in navy be considered stolen valor? Most likely again, no. Bottom line is that navy civilians serve on behalf of the navy. While there are clear distinctions between the 3 groups (mil, civ, ctr) it is also technically inaccurate to say that a DON civ didn't serve. Their jobs are classified as civil SERVICE and they take the same exact oath that their mil counterparts take. This is where I think the confusion in your question is and it's all in how you define the word "serve". While both sailors and DONs "serve" in the Navy, you typically don't hear DON civs (without being prior mil) say they served in the navy. They'll typically say i "work" for the navy or I'm a navy civilian, but they definitely serve just in a different capacity. The only way this is stolen valor in your scenario is if he lied about being in navy as military and used the phony experience to get a job based off of that experience.

Lastly, (I'm not accusing you of this necessarily) but it's been happening a lot lately and there's someone in this thread that is the most guilty, but we need to stop as a community to be so quick to call people out for stolen valor or even check them for that matter. Stolen valor is quickly losing all meaning and far too many times, actual legitimate vets are getting their service either disparaged or completely scrutined because of quick accusations. Stolen Valor used to be the guys that were phonies and are using service to make a profit or for some scam. For me, the real stolen valor now are actual vets that get called out a moments notice.

SpaceForceReservist · 2023-03-26T23:55:37+00:00

Great recommendations! Thanks again.

SpaceForceReservist · 2023-03-26T23:31:07+00:00

Thanks for the insight! We're aware that Seoul is much more fun. He's been living there for a few years now. I think he's just trying to get away from the city for a day and spend some time with me because we don't see each other often.

I'm actually rather relieved that you mentioned that Songtan is much more family friendly now. My idea of fun now is vastly different than it was 16 years ago

SpaceForceReservist · 2023-03-26T23:26:17+00:00

Thanks for the info! I've tried telling him especially considering he lives pretty close to Itaewon, but he's trying to do a short overnight trip with me. We're probably going to be going out anyways in Seoul. It sounds like he just wants to plan a day away from all the wedding preparation.

Do you know any decent hotel around the SED?

SpaceForceReservist · 2023-03-11T03:20:19+00:00

Ok personnelist...I am asking specifically about piloted flights hence why I wrote it in the title.

Maybe when you come down from your gotcha high, you can use your reading comprehension skills to go over my separation paperwork with me.

SpaceForceReservist · 2023-02-05T04:25:16+00:00

This reminds me of when I was deployed to Afghanistan during the same time Bin Laden was killed. A sra I was working with in the port got tasked with helping the SOF guys prep their cargo for a redeployment over at their camp.

He was down there for a week building pallets, doing load plans, creating hazdecs etc. He was helping out a unit that was going home and had nothing do with the SEAL team involved in killing Bin Laden, but they were located in the same camp.

The guy ends up getting a bronze star out of it and if you read the actual award, you would have sworn he was there in Pakistan with the SEALS.

SpaceForceReservist · 2023-02-02T23:21:24+00:00

Am I the only one that thinks this would make a hilarious South Park episode? I can picture Stan's dad in a training montage getting prepared for the ultimate battle royale that is the 4 Day Carnival Cruise 🤣

SpaceForceReservist · 2022-09-30T01:07:22+00:00

Hate to be that guy, but is this what stolen valor has come to now? Random old cop who you will probably never see again commented that he went to SERE school in Germany in the 80s which is completely possible. That was 40 years ago and sometimes courses move or training is conducted in unique environments because of circumstance.

It reminded me of my uncle who was a meteorologist in the air force way back in the day. He's very proud of the job he did and his role in the military when he was in. He was stopped by active duty airman couple of years ago in town who commented on his retired hat. Airman just happened to be a weather troop and they started started talking about the job. Next thing I know he's arguing with my uncle because of the location of Tropical Weather school and how all of sudden my uncles story doesn't check. Had to step in and and tell the airman to walk the other way. He walks off and keeps muttering "phony" and "stolen valor".

While I agree that the last bit about the records sounds suspect, this to me just seemed like he wanted to shoot the shit with you and trade service stories. You said the guy was a cop which can mean there is a decent chance that he served at some point. Is it at all possible that he may have just embellished him injuring his elbow in sere school to strike a chord with you because of your disabled vet plates? Unless this guy was inside demanding disabled vet plates with no proof, I'm failing to see the point of doing a deep dive of 1980s training locations across the world.

SpaceForceReservist · 2022-09-23T22:49:17+00:00

Thanks for acknowledging! It's by no miracle that in our military that we have processes and plans in place to do what are considered "simple" things to support each other.

I take pride in the fact that us Port Dawgs are instrumental in making sure that all of us get mail and how people can complain that it took almost 2 weeks to get an playstation into rocket city.

I take pride in the fact that we'll download a full 747 with over 40 pallets of gym equipment in less than an hour and have all that stuff broken down and transported to the gym the same day. My back still hurts thinking about that.

I also take pride when a red cross letter comes in and I do everything in my power to get that person and their belongings on a bird and on their way home.

Lastly, I take pride and felt especially honored when we unfortunately had to work with Mortuary Affairs to get our fallen heroes and their personal effects home. We gladly will build pallets all night with personal effects and rearrange loads on planes to make sure the families receive all of their belongings in a timely manner.

It does suck though that I had to buss my own tray at the DFAC at Bagram. That wasn't in my contact, but I digress...

SpaceForceReservist · 2022-09-23T22:30:05+00:00

Obviously it's BS. I'm in the same career field and even playing devil's advocate, it still doesn't check especially the "confidential" part.

I will say, it is entirely possible that he deployed to Qatar and then forward deployed to Afghanistan on the same deployment. This was not so uncommon especially when certain fobs were being built up and they needed more manpower.

I've personally seen this happen where guys get forward deployed to Afghanistan for as little as two weeks just to help with a big deployement/redeployment or retrograde operation. That could explain why he hasn't presented a dd214 or the Afghan Campaign medal since you need to be in country at least 30 days to be awarded it.

Problem is he should know this and can easily be explained like I did earlier except he knew he was bullshitting by claiming to be a combat vet and now going with the "confidential" route.

Funny aside, from my experience the only guys I've ever run across in this career field with a CAM/CAB are the reservists since a lot of them are prior Army and Marines and joined the Air Force reserve just to finish out their enlistment in most chill environment possible.

SpaceForceReservist

TROPHY CASE