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20 years ago, I never thought I'd say this. But having spent July-Aug of 2017 living in North Carolina, I'll happily take a Chicago winter in return for not dying of heatstroke on the short walk between the front door and the car.
(Mind you, I'd still vastly prefer SoCal, but this is not a viable option for me at present.)
I'll happily take June-early September for no winter. We had 5-6" over the last few days. It got up to 50 yesterday so I could take the car back out. It's basically all gone, I hate winter.
As far as real talk when it comes to jobs, that aren't at Joe P levels. There are many more than can be filled, Ben you could easily come down here, lose winter, get more for your money and add $10k to your salary. Yeah, our politics suck but it's changing.
We have world class museums, a fantastic NBA team, the best new restaurant in the country according to Bon Appetit, people sleep on OKC because it's a flyover state. Any "coast friends" I've taken to OKC and Tulsa have been amazed.
Any "coast friends" I've taken to OKC and Tulsa have been amazed.
It's interesting to read this. Mostly because I turned down an offer to take the #1 chair at KFOR (NBC-4) about three years ago, based entirely on the fact that the job was in Oklahoma.
I will admit that I never actually visited the place. My overall impression was soured during a phone interview with the GM, when he said (bearing in mind that I was living in the Manhattan borough of NYC at the time) that he, too, was from Manhattan. Manhattan, Kansas, to be specific.
I'll happily take June-early September for no winter. We had 5-6" over the last few days. It got up to 50 yesterday so I could take the car back out. It's basically all gone, I hate winter.
As far as real talk when it comes to jobs, that aren't at Joe P levels. There are many more than can be filled, Ben you could easily come down here, lose winter, get more for your money and add $10k to your salary. Yeah, our politics suck but it's changing.
We have world class museums, a fantastic NBA team, the best new restaurant in the country according to Bon Appetit, people sleep on OKC because it's a flyover state. Any "coast friends" I've taken to OKC and Tulsa have been amazed.
If you've had 5-6" in the last few days, you've had more winter already than i had our entire last winter, and about 10x more than we've had this year.
And i want MORE winter. Not no winter. OKC is largely Indy, but even more flat. I DID think it was neat, and i would have many margaritas for breakfast with you, but if we're moving out of here, i'm going back NE or PacNW. NE way more likely because housing is still cheap in the areas i like.
It's interesting to read this. Mostly because I turned down an offer to take the #1 chair at KFOR (NBC-4) about three years ago, based entirely on the fact that the job was in Oklahoma.
I will admit that I never actually visited the place. My overall impression was soured during a phone interview with the GM, when he said (bearing in mind that I was living in the Manhattan borough of NYC at the time) that he, too, was from Manhattan. Manhattan, Kansas, to be specific.
There is definitely still much to be desired compared to somewhere like Manhattan or San Diego or Chicago. Maybe it was a failed attempt at humor?
But it's not nearly as bad as people think. That said, we are still going to look to move somewhere else in a few years depending on the job market and economy in general. If I can get my job title bumped from "Senior Technical Writer" to "Principal Writer" in the next few years, it should open more options as far as going full-time remote vs now where we are in the office 2-3 days per week.
There is definitely still much to be desired compared to somewhere like Manhattan or San Diego or Chicago. Maybe it was a failed attempt at humor?
No, they were pretty serious. I have a reputation with this company for running large technical projects well, and KFOR constructed an entirely new building a year or so ago. They also, at the time, had no chief engineer. The corporate VP wanted me to move out there and take over the place. Even spoke with the station GM about it.
Are we talking about minimum wage still... let me blow your mind... trust me on all the math... it's close enough for Gov't work.
20yrs active duty
24hr days: 42 months deployed (7 deployments of 6month average) (30,240hrs)
24hr days: 6 months as duty officer in some capacity (4,320hrs)
18hr days: 18 months workups/detachments (gone from home... I can't count these as 24hr days because of all the drinking) (9,720hrs)
12hr days: 48 months (best guess for every day I was at work at least that long, including everyday bullshit, every school, conference, training event, etc...) (17,280hrs)
8hr days: 126 months (this will include the 20 months of paid leave I earned and every normal 9-5 type day) (30,240)
In 2019 dollars, progressing from O-1 to O-4 on a normal promotion timeline, I made $6105 month average base salary. You can add another $1800month avearage housing allowance (non-taxed), and another $200month BAS (food allowance).
That's an average of $8105 month for a normal regular old officer with no special pays or bonus's or incentives. (In reality, I also receive flight pay at around $500month average, and have received at various times, Sea Duty Pay, Hazardous Duty Pay, Flight Deck Pay, Eminent Danger Pay, and a few others).
For a 40hr workweek, assuming you work 20 days month, $8105/month works out to: $50.65hr
However, I only worked a 40hr week for well less than half my career, and the math gets hard when you work 24/7, so to convert my hourly salary, need to actually break down the hours.
There are 175,320 hours in 20yrs. Some people trying to prove a point will just say that military are on duty 24/7 and that would make my average hourly salary over 20yrs to be: $11.10hr.
In reality, the math above (trust me) shows I "worked" about 91,800 hrs: $21.18/hr
I feel pretty confident that I'm a bit low... perhaps a dollar an hour? Like I said, I make flight pay and being an officer has other perks. But you can be damned sure that a guy who enlists at 18yrs old, has a good career, and leaves at 20yrs as an E-7... that guy who absolutely more hours than I did and makes about 1/3 over his career... that guy no **** probably is down in the legitimate $3-$/4hr over the duration.
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So now lets talk about retirement... summer of '19, I'll retire as an O-4 w/20yrs. My average salary (BASE SALARY, not counting housing or flight pay or nuthin') over the last 3 yrs is within a few bucks of $8000mo... 50%= $4000mo... assuming a 40hr workweek over 52 weeks/yr... I make $23.07hr. NO ****, I WILL MAKE MORE HOURLY IN RETIREMENT THAN I DID DURING MY CAREER!
Also, I get a yearly raise. I'll probably also qualify for a 20%-30% disabled rating for hearing loss, knee and shoulder stuff, and likely sleep apnea (I go for sleep-study next month) Also,I and my wife (and my kids until 21) get TRICARE, which is basically the best insurance plan in the world, for basically free. And I get to shop tax-free and travel Space-A around the world for free. And I get tons of free **** and discounts on practically everything everywhere I go.
I have a bullshit degree in sociology. Prior to joining the Navy, I worked as a flying trapeze artist. I drove a Miata for 6 years. If I can do this, anybody can.
^Yup, there's a lot of hard work and suck'age. I was lucky being one of those guys who married way up in life to the right woman. I didn't have to worry about anything when I was gone, which was a big reason I truly enjoyed all my deployment time.
Breaking it down over 20 years...
10% Pure and complete off-the-scale miserable bullshit wouldn't-wish-it-on-your worst-enemy SUCK.
10% This really sucks, but at least I don't look like that douchebag Air Force guy over there.
70% Meh, just a job, getting to wear pajamas to work every day is cool though.
9% I really hope we don't get caught.
1% Holy ****, I can't believe we just lived through that, nobody better say a word about what just happened, so ******* awesome though, who got a picture, **** I hope nobody saw, **** that we're gonna be famous!
10% This really sucks, but at least I don't look like that douchebag Air Force guy over there.
Hahahaha! Growing up on and around military bases it was always interesting to see the differences in dynamics between the branches. The type of units assigned to a particular location certainly made a difference as well. You could tell who was doing higher-level work.
Currently, a brand new E-1 (Private or Seaman Recruit) in the Armed Forces makes $1680/mo the day they graduate from boot camp and enter the actual service. Likely, the only other pay they receive is BAS (food allowance), which is taken from them because they eat in the galley. They probably don't have any other pay because they're in some sort of schooling for the first 6 months at least. Some lucky dogs go straight to a ship or unit in the field for OJT if there are no classes. Some even luckier dogs get stashed at the base beautification command and pick up trash for 6 months until they can get to school. They may or may not have a car, and almost certainly live in the barracks or on a ship. Ie... could very easily have zero expenses beyond a cel-phone bill (they make too much to qualify for an Obamaphone).
Thats $21,160yr. Translated to an hourly salary in a 40hr workweek: $10.17hr
In reality, they're probably up around 0530 for mandatory PT, and then in class from 0700-1130. Lunch is an hour and then back to class from 1230-1600. Then likely a break before dinner. Then maybe mando study from 1800-1900. Then liberty... but since nobody has a car, they just go to the base bowling alley or play video games. At a minimum, there will be PT and probably another "event" that consumes Saturday mornings for 6hrs. Sundays probably require a couple musters, but otherwise liberty. That's closer to a 70hr workweek for the first 6months to a year in the armed services... $6hr.
Then, after 10yrs, when a lot of enlisted guys are looking at their second re-enlistment, are likely E-5's($3376/mo) + BAH ($1500/mo) + BAS ($200/mo) + random other pays? ($300/mo)... $5376/mo or $64,500/yr... of which $18k is non-taxed. If he's smart, already has a bachelors which he got mostly for free through various opportunities. Almost every military base has an extension campus from a local community college that partners with a 4yr school. Hopefully he/she married right and didn't go too crazy with the lift kits and credit cards... and bought a house (or two) in the right school districts so they're easy to rent out. A real hard-charger might be an E-6 at 10yrs in a fast-promoting rate... earning close to $70k/yr.
It is now 11:13pm, and I have finally logged out of work. Been doing designs for the network-control portion of a new camera system which we're already in the process of building.
This is why people like Sam and myself will never have to protest for a wage-increase.
01-04-2019, 07:47 PM
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OKC is largely Indy, but even more flat. I DID think it was neat, and i would have many margaritas for breakfast with you, but if we're moving out of here, i'm going back NE or PacNW. NE way more likely because housing is still cheap in the areas i like.
