Thoughts on coming over from being an Army officer

[Wake27]

A variant of this thread was posted on M4C a few years ago so some of you may have seen it already. Its pretty open-ended, and wouldn't take place for a few years, but I know some agencies have a very long hiring process. Also, the chances that I'll do anything outside of the Army are pretty rare, but I want to be somewhat knowledgable on other options.

I'm currently an active duty logistics officer and unfortunately just had to make a decision to not pursue my dream career in the Army due to a serious knee injury. The effects of the injury will be permanent, though I think they will be manageable to where I can still be in good shape, just not rucking 20 miles with 80-100 pounds on my back type of shape. LE has been one of the more appealing career choices to me over the last few years, but my guess is that there isn't anything that'll be what I'm looking for because my preferences are just unrealistic. I figured that I'd throw them all out there with the hopes that you guys with experience can let me know what is available that meets at least some of the preferences.

1. Pay/benefits: it pains me to put this as number one, but I have a family and expensive hobbies. Salary, healthcare, benefits, etc. are all pretty good and I think I have a decent shot at making 20 years and collecting a pension from the Army if that's what I decide to do. In order to get me to switch, I'd have to be able to start somewhere that is comparable with pay and benefits. If they could account for my retirement as well (federal side maybe?) that would be even better. Based on common sense and what I've heard from others, finding something that checks this box is hard enough. I have considered switching over to the guard though, so that would help with some of this.
2. Relevant/rewarding: one of my biggest complaints with my current job is that it just doesn't feel rewarding to me. I'm not looking for lots of appreciation from people, I just want to feel like I'm actually doing something good for my community/country. Typically, this has always been a romanticized idea of fighting bad guys but I do realize that life isn't like the movies. I think that I'm pretty good at interacting with people, though I'm absolutely foreign to conflict and appreciate the valuable skills that can be learned by having to deal with those situations.
3. Cool/interesting: kind of goes along with the above, but I love the cool guy stuff like SWAT, ERT, etc. I wanted to go SOF, so you get the point. I also think that counter-terror would be fascinating work. I do know that you can't just jump into any of that stuff, so agencies where that could be fast-tracked would be ideal as I'd probably be around 32 or so by the time I'd switch over.
4. Location: would have to be in a free state. NC, VA area would be great, but not a requirement. I don't like living in a city so somewhere that has a nice balance of city and suburbs with land would be great, but that's hard to find already.

I've heard that USSS has been running people into the ground. I've also heard that smaller agencies like local or maybe state would be better for 2 and 3, but maybe not so good with 1. But, I have heard that some of the larger metropolitan areas actually pay pretty well, so I'm not really sure. Its easy to jump on USAjobs and compare stuff there, but much more difficult at the lower levels because there isn't a common system where you can look at all of the open positions, requirements, salary, etc. Also, I've heard next to nothing about the Marshals, DHS, etc. FBI sounds like it'd make the most sense for some aspects, but I've heard that the hiring process is around two years and its still mostly desk work. I have a little bit of info on the DEA, but for some reason never really wanted to deal with narcotics. I'd appreciate any advice you guys can provide.

[TGS]

How about ALL of that, with the addition that you'll have to get a new assignment every 2-3 years and live overseas for a minimum of 1 year every 6 years as well?

[Wake27]

How about ALL of that, with the addition that you'll have to get a new assignment every 2-3 years and live overseas for a minimum of 1 year every 6 years as well?

Not sure about living overseas that much but I'm definitely curious.

[Duelist]

If you go federal, you take your Army time with you toward retirement. Might not be a perfect 1:1, but beats starting over in local LE. But local LE can be really good, if it’s where you wanted to live. Otherwise, I’d say stay Army and shoot for something else cool while you do your 20. Like being a FAO or an embassy attaché. There are tons of ways to be a soldier. And logistics is important. No army can run without a good logistics chain. So you are contributing, even if it’s not in the way you wanted to.

[TGS]

Not sure about living overseas that much but I'm definitely curious.

Standby for a PM.

If you go federal, you take your Army time with you toward retirement. Might not be a perfect 1:1, but beats starting over in local LE. But local LE can be really good, if it’s where you wanted to live. Otherwise, I’d say stay Army and shoot for something else cool while you do your 20. Like being a FAO or an embassy attaché. There are tons of ways to be a soldier. And logistics is important. No army can run without a good logistics chain. So you are contributing, even if it’s not in the way you wanted to.

Actually, we have to buy back our military time. For people who served 4 years, especially enlisted, it's not that much.

For an officer with a decade of service, it's going to be a lot of money....especially if you did a lot of deployments, as its calculated on how much money you earned. It can be well over 10 grand in these cases.

As for FAOs, that's more like an internship from how it has been explained to me. My freshman year roommate is now a FAO in West Africa.

[KeeFus]

Standby for a PM.



Actually, we have to buy back our military time. For people who served 4 years, especially enlisted, it's not that much.

For an officer with a decade of service, it's going to be a lot of money....especially if you did a lot of deployments, as its calculated on how much money you earned. It can be well over 10 grand in these cases.

As for FAOs, that's more like an internship from how it has been explained to me. My freshman year roommate is now a FAO in West Africa.

Ten grand for 4 years is cheap. I bought 3 of my 4 years back a few years ago at about $8500.00/year. That last year will now cost me $30,000.00.

NC is a 30-year-full-pension retirement system. There are other options depending on your age but I started young and they are not applicable to me. They just came out with a 25 year LEO retirement “option” which starts July 1, 2019. Im at 26.5 years now but would lose a retirement supplement (it’s worded as if the employer could negotiate with you...yea, right) that the municipalities have been wanting to get rid of for years. The supplement equals about $1500/month in addition to a full pension. I think I will just stay 2.5 more years and burn my sick time to make the 30.

[psalms144.1]

On the Federal side, pay/benefits are the pretty much the same across the board, less locality adjustments. You want to look at 1811 positions - criminal investigators. Most agencies have journeyman GS-13s, meaning you promote to GS13 without competition. Some still have journeyman GS12, though, so you'll want to know what you're getting into. Typically, agencies will hire new hires at GS7 or GS9, with annual promotions through the odd numbered GS levels (e.g. one year to 9, one year to 11, then 1-3 years to GS13). Any of these 1811 positions are going to include Law Enforcement Availability Pay (LEAP), which is a flat 25% bonus to cover unscheduled overtime.

On the issue of military buy back, it's 3% of your base pay received over the course of your active duty. I was active for 12 years as an officer, and that equaled $11K for my buy back. The buy back adds TIME to your retirement PAY, but not your required service - in other words, you still have to work a minimum 20 years to collect a federal pension, but your pension will be based on your civiilan time + the number of years served on AD.

You need to be cautious when looking at agencies when it comes to location and mobility. My agency's policy is we move people every 5-8 years "on average," but I've moved four times in 18 years - so averages don't mean so much. I know other agents who were in place in Norfolk for 15-18 years, "PCSing" from one Norfolk "office" to another every few years to maintain "mobility." Other agencies don't move so much, or make the moves tied to promotions. In lower mobility agencies, you might be looking at a decade in place or more, so you need to be sure you're going to be happy where they hire you on.

On the federal side, there are also a WIDE range of missions and level of law enforcement. There are tons of Offices of the Inspector General (OIG) jobs in various departments, some of these jobs are highly administrative and their agents don't even carry firearms on a regular basis. On the other hand, ATF guys are very "hands on" with serious gang-related criminals frequently, so more Adrenalin on a regular basis.

I'm a former Army officer, who has worked for two different agencies as a civilian, if you have specific questions about the Federal side, feel free to drop me a PM.

Best of luck!

[Poconnor]

As a retired broken infantryman/ police officer I would urge you to stay in the military; but if you really want to become a police officer I would look at large departments and state police agencies. departments that have 400 personnel. Look at the demographics and the tax base. In my location the pay differences are huge between departments. I would look for civil service and union protection. I have friends that went federal and they tell me stories that take stupid to a whole another level. I would avoid the secret service. You have to decide what you want now and in the future. Every department and region is different. When I got injured as a police officer workers Comp tried to blame everything on my military service. Make sure you have your own copy of your medical records with copies of MRIs etc. If you do get out of the army make sure you file for compensation from the VA. I waited for over 10 years because I was stubborn; because pain is just weakness leaving the body. But don’t worry; it comes back. Finally- police work is really boring; but sometimes it’s the best job in the world. Remember- you might love the job- but the job doesn’t love you

[Jim Watson]

You are looking for an exciting job in LE like SWAT starting with a bad knee?

[trailrunner]

On the federal side, there are also a WIDE range of missions and level of law enforcement. There are tons of Offices of the Inspector General (OIG) jobs in various departments, some of these jobs are highly administrative and their agents don't even carry firearms on a regular basis.

I briefly worked at the DoD IG, and a relative of mine just retired from there. I was not an 1811, but he was. He had an Army MP background and went to the IG when he retired. At the IG, he carried a gun and a badge, but never came close to arresting anybody. His investigations were mostly audits for compliance with regulations and procedures. Other 1811s at the IG have more of law enforcement role, but my impression is that they don't make very many actual arrests. My relative received a 20 or 25 percent bonus, and was expected to work the extra hours week in and week out. However, he was a GS-15 and hit the salary cap, so he had to put in the extra hours without receiving extra money.

The DoD IG has a bad reputation and has a lot of turnover. During my short time there, I was not impressed. I don't like changing jobs, but my tenure there was by far the shortest of my career, and the small group I worked in has had almost 100 percent turnover in the two years since I left. They used to be rated as one of the worst federal agencies to work for. Of course, YMMV. I was not law enforcement, and with your background it might be a great place to work.