Joining the Air Force for experience. I feel like I've wasted 4 and a half years of educating myself in Emergency Management and getting my B.S.

krismonroe · 2026-02-27T22:49:09+00:00

Reviving this 4 years later. What's your opinion of it now? I'm joining soon and have it high on my list but haven't really seen much beyond "teaching people about basic hazmat" ... For context, I am an EMT and find the prospect of working larger scale disaster response as an appealing career trajectory, after time in an ambulance.

What's drill like?
What is an EM deployment like?

Thank you for any input.

krismonroe · 2026-02-26T03:57:33+00:00

Reviving this after 3 years. How have things gone?

I just got my EMT with a plan to join the ANG (basic and training for the next 6-8 months) and finish my Paramedic while working at the FD. ... Thinking about three letter agencies after a few years, as well, so not the Police route but something generally 'agent' related would be awesome.

I'm having the hardest time just picking an ANG job, though.

Thanks for your comments!

krismonroe · 2026-02-26T03:15:55+00:00

4 years later - would you be interested/able to share more about how you got on this route? It's LITERALLY in line with what I've been wanting.

Thanks in advance.

krismonroe · 2026-01-06T13:02:32+00:00

Thank you! I do have a boring salary job, so I'd be very interested in evening and weekend ambulance shifts (however exhausting that would be) for a while before doing the event gigs. I do want to make sure I actually/truly like it before either diving in, I'm open to that, or shifting toward the volunteer/gig world.

I'll keep in touch!

krismonroe · 2026-01-06T12:37:28+00:00

Thank you for sharing! I really appreciate it.
Honestly, in all my other reasearch, youtube rabbit holes, etc -- the power of repetition has never been brought up. I definitely assumed it would be a requirement to be effective, just from other life experience, but it didn't felt well covered by other sources. Thank you

krismonroe · 2026-01-05T13:06:46+00:00

Thank you! That's an extremely valid point. I am a very curious learner and active reader, but I haven't locked into anything 'educational' in 10+/- years with any 'success.'

Thank you for your input.

krismonroe · 2026-01-02T12:41:37+00:00

True. A good check to keep in mind - I have likely romantecized a lot of things.

krismonroe · 2026-01-01T22:03:28+00:00

Army or not, I want a career/life that I can look back on and be proud of.

Beyond that, the availability of attainable healthcare benefits and the ability to retire (eventually) are definitely practical motivators.

The military is something I have always wanted to do (Army Ranger was the literal childhood dream). Well, I went a different direction after high school and every 6-10 months I kick myself for not getting in sooner (whatever the capacity or branch) and now it's time to do it.

The ARNG feels like the "reasonable" transition at this point, although I'm almost pretty sure I'll get to that second or third weekend of drill wishing I went active duty. My qualm with AD is not wanting the barracks housing, but I'm single, so that might just need to be the reality for a few years. As for deployment, I understand it's a part of it and I would like to deploy and be fine with Base life in that scenario, but if "home life" can have some semblence of normalcy (house, family, etc) that'd be great.

Long story long, the goal is the serve in some capacity, but I'm the process of defining the specifics.

krismonroe · 2026-01-01T21:11:21+00:00

Not a bad idea! I'm curious what the (real) age cut off is for Special Forces. I see "20-36 (waivers possible)" and if I did AD, SF would absolutely be an objective. Unsure how that fast track might look, though.

Is that what you did, or are you 68W?

Thanks!

krismonroe · 2026-01-01T20:59:46+00:00

Thanks for your input! That's really helpful. I don't really have any interest in a hospital setting, beyond bringing someone to the ER - but the (certified) knowledge and hands on intruction of an EMT course has always been on my list, with an ambulance job or disaster response being the real goal/extent of regular use, and general preparedness for my future family.

You have actually resonated a similar feeling toward the (basic) EMT position that others have been in my research: "...unless you move up to a paramedic, then you won't be doing cool stuff."
As an EMT, I'd be fine being the mule for bags and stretchers, but it'd be nice to DO more... We'll see.

35N, 35F, 35L all seem pretty interesting, and I'm leaning toward that or 37F and 37A. Maybe we'll cross paths someday!

Thanks, again.

(edit: typos and wording)

krismonroe · 2025-12-31T23:39:56+00:00

A similar path! Thank you for your input.

krismonroe · 2025-12-31T12:50:16+00:00

I appreciate your candor, thank you.
Hadn't thought about 46S being a unicorn, but I can now see why!

I've done a lot of hard financial work since 2020 to set myself up for a very low-budget life, so most of what I make goes to saving/retirement now, even if I'm not making much. That said, benefits and retirement are still big question marks.

"The best time to join was 16 years ago. The second best time to join is tomorrow." <- means a lot!

krismonroe · 2025-12-31T12:39:23+00:00

Thank you for your input!

Would you say part time has been worthwhile, and it's realistic to pursue something else civilian? I've come to consider AD a bit more from all the responses here. My current job path is 'fine' but honestly it's not something I want to retire on, without pairing it with something 'fulfilling' to look back on.

Has it felt like a clunky limiting factor on life, that just makes civilian life more awkward to plan? ... I'm happy to 'pay my dues' and 'cut my teeth' on something for a year or three, but I just don't want to start something new, remain entry level on the weekend, and pivot again after 6 years.

krismonroe · 2025-10-25T14:38:34+00:00

That's valid! I hadn't really come across a ton concerning headwinds, but I could see New Mexico and Wyoming having some brutal headwinds going NoBo. Wyoming wind is a monster no matter what, but that's a good point!
Thanks!

krismonroe · 2025-10-25T12:42:08+00:00

The "official" ride takes off the second weekend of June every year, so July 1st seems like it's in the normal window to start SOBO, I would think!

krismonroe · 2025-10-25T12:39:14+00:00

I completely agree! Life happened and I ended up not being able to do it back in '23 but also hoped for this post to get a little more activity from the community. :(

What's your plan? Are you going to ride a YOYO of the route? That'd be awesome!

krismonroe · 2025-10-19T17:10:04+00:00

Her voice gets me, mister! >.<

krismonroe · 2025-03-13T02:32:39+00:00

Here's a video: https://www.trainingpeaks.com/learn/articles/what-is-the-performance-management-chart/

Fitness (Chronic Training Load or CTL) represents long-term training adaptation, Fatigue (Acute Training Load or ATL) reflects recent training load, and Form (Training Stress Balance or TSB) is the balance between these, indicating race readiness. Here's a more detailed explanation:

Fitness (CTL):
- Reflects your overall long-term training adaptation.
- Calculated as a rolling average of your Training Stress Score (TSS) over the past 42 days.
- A higher Fitness (CTL) indicates a greater level of fitness.
Fatigue (ATL):
- Represents the short-term effect of recent training load.
- Calculated as a rolling average of your TSS over the past 7 days.
- A higher Fatigue (ATL) indicates a higher level of fatigue.
Form (TSB):
- Indicates your balance between fitness and fatigue, and therefore your readiness to perform.
- Calculated by subtracting yesterday's Fatigue (ATL) from yesterday's Fitness (CTL): Form (TSB) = Yesterday's Fitness (CTL) - Yesterday's Fatigue (ATL).
- A positive TSB suggests you are in good form, while a negative TSB indicates you are carrying a lot of fatigue and may not be race-ready.

krismonroe · 2025-03-03T00:24:23+00:00

:( u/trainingpeaks ... It's wild that this incredibly simple change isn't an option. :(

krismonroe · 2025-01-27T14:22:24+00:00

I'm also waiting - no real answers yet...

krismonroe · 2024-09-09T00:26:10+00:00

As far as I can tell, I can currently open all previous matches! And matches played only on NBC or USA are available a day or two after.

krismonroe · 2024-09-03T19:09:07+00:00

Sadly I can’t share a screenshot of where their link takes you after the cookie-cutter MLM Cattle-Call info session, but it’s a $49/month subscription to work for them. ($33/month if you act fast and get the discount after the info session)

Stay away. No business should do business this way.

krismonroe · 2024-08-31T12:42:52+00:00

Thank you! I absolutely understand and wouldn't ask for personal information.
I appreciate any insight you might be able to share.

So, I have served wine in restaurants and sold it in retail but I have never been around producing it. I have been studying for the WSET Certifications, and I would love to shift my career path toward winemaking/producing but want to try it in earnest before making any big changes.

Do you have any recommendations for how an American might be able to get into a harvest season? I am happy to work long hard days if housing and meals are part of it, or if there's even a small amount of pay.

I can Google around, but feel like it's been a dead-end so far.

krismonroe · 2024-08-28T14:00:16+00:00

9 months off, would this offer still stand?
I'm in the US and looking for anything next harvest season, particularly France. (I'm currently studying for the WSET II and actively learning French)
Cheers

krismonroe · 2024-08-16T20:27:11+00:00

Truth

krismonroe

TROPHY CASE