Summertime Retirement

As the ever looming 20 years of active duty service comes to an end this summer I am both blessed and scared!

Let me summarize, I'll be a whopping 37 about to turn 38 as I turn over my active duty Id card for a blue retirement ID card. I've never built a resume, did a "real" job interview, shoot even have an idea what I want to do when I grow up! I do know I cannot afford nor even want to stay in Utah. I want to get back to Montana, the place I call home! I grew up in the boonies of eastern MT, we had a couple trees, typical snow fence tho! I am prepared to work my butt off and do whatever is needed to support my family.

As of today we are 80% toward Helena, I have a friend from High School there and said job market and housing market is stable. My wife has a BA in HR so a job shouldn't be to hard for her to find. My Air Force background is aircraft maintenance and ultimately I would like to dodge that area. I'm not looking to say welcome to Walmart, but that isn't beneath me as we get our feet wet in a new area.

I might use my GI Bill for school and part time somewhere else. I know Boeing has a place there and jobs are usually plentiful at times.

Ok enough about me, I am asking the HT peeps of wisdom, for a little help. If you are local to the Helena area and know of job openings around the August time frame, upcoming homes for sale, a good relator, etc I would greatly appreciate it. I have been the mindset of I can do stuff alone, but at this time in my life I know that isn't the way to do everything. I know when I will need help, but I don't expect someone to do everything for me. Again I appreciate anything you all can provide, even if it's stay away from xx company, xx area, xx something, as that will also help point me in directions I need to go.

Can't help with Helena but I retired in '15 and have some insight into the GI Bill, the VA, apprenticeship opps and some other resources that can help with transition. Feel free to PM me.

If you are currently an aircraft wrench , do yourself a favor and get your A&P license now if you haven't already. Unless things have changed, it was a lot cheaper to get while on active duty. You may not want to do that when you get out but it would be a good safety net if you ever needed it.

I'll jump in. Helena is high on my list as a place in Montana where I would move to. I would agree that the housing market and job market would be good. I have relatives that have lived there a long time and love the area for many reasons.

My wife recently took a job with the postal service and their pay and benefits is damn good for our area. She knows of many veterans working for USPS and you are almost a guaranteed hire as you get additional points as a vet. Hours and positions vary but most of the time you could expect to be nearly full time as a customer service clerk and be around $20\hr. Good way to get started and do some networking.

Some jobs my family/friends have in Helena : personal trainer at a gym, IT(computers) for State of MT, professor/instructor at the college, FBI/justice dept/Highway Patrol, Dept of natural resources, Fish & Wildlife.....So many of these jobs you would have some advantage with Vet preference. The openings for many state jobs open and close all the time so it helps to always be checking https://statecareers.mt.gov/ and https://mt.gov/employment/ and https://montanaworks.gov/. Don't overlook the local job service office, they aren't what you would think of as an unemployment office or deadbeat jobs. My aunt worked there and they will work you to find a job that fits. http://jobservices.dli.mt.gov/about-job-services/helena or (406) 447-3200.

East Helena used to be regarded as the "bad side of town" but there are decent houses there too and some newer businesses so I don't think that is true anymore.

If you get any leads or have any specific questions I can bounce them off of some of my contacts. Good luck to you...Glad you are coming back to Montana. I would love to talk to you more about your time in the service, thinking that my son may be pursing a career in the service.

Speeddmn congratulations on your retirement and thank you. I etsed from the army as a mechanic in 2014 and am currently a contractor for the navy. I would suggest looking into bases or defense contractors in the area you want to retire. I understand wanting to get out of the maintenance arena as it can be pretty tuff on the body and I wanted to do the same thing. I'm guessing you have experience with NSNs, fedlog, cage codes, dla, ect. and the various logistics resources to verify that information. This gives you a huuge leg up in the DoD logistics area. I now work in what is called provisioning, taking the equipment that is to be installed and making sure all of the repair parts have nsns or gather the data to get nsns created. Mechanical backround and a familiarity with the military stock system is a huge plus in this field

I would check out if there are any "logistics analyst" or provisioning jobs in the area you are looking to move to. If that sounds like something you would be interested in. Some companies to check out would be LM, Boeing, general dynamics, many more or you could do a broad search over indeed or such.

Thank you for your service to our country and to each of us! I wish you and your wife the best. I'm in Missoula so I do not know much about the job situation in Helena. Thank you again.

If you did consider Missoula as a place to live Neptune Aviation is an excellent company with some fantastic folks who work there. They employee about 250 people. I know you want to try and get away from the aviation stuff but just wanted to mention this.

Take the fall off and go hunting!! Then if nothing else job wise has fallen into place, what about working the archery/gun counter somewhere. I was between jobs early in my working life, and took a job working at archery counter over the holidays. I actually loved that job. Paid squat, but I got paid to talk hunting all day every day. Not sure it would get a guy very far, but it got me out of the house for a bit.

Helena is a great, centrally located place to live in Montana.

I love it here and can't imagine living anywhere else and if I did it would be Dillon or somewhere in Central Montana SE of Belt.

My wife is a realtor and I think she's pretty great so if you want a recommendation, I recommend her!

Also, some good opportunities in the construction industry right now, lots of people looking for skilled people who work hard. Believe I know, I own a construction company and good people are hard to find!

Anyhow, shoot me a message if you want more info and mucho gracias for your service to our great country!

Hey guys, thanks for all the quick info, truly appreciate it. Couple of you will have PM's in a bit as I type them up! Side note on the aviation maintenance jobs, I know they are there, I'm sure 20 years of that will greatly help me, but I would rather work in a job I enjoy over one that pays better and I don't truly like it. Just a personnel issue I have is all and would take anything to start with but in the end I'd like to own my own business, I have tons of idea's and just need to see what will be most rewarding in the local area.

Law Enforcement is always hiring in this day and age, and ex-military are always viewed highly. In many cases, your military time will be credited towards your pension for a law enforcement career, so you'll already have some time banked and considered vested. It can be a good career that provides a similar structure to what you're used to (good or bad, depending on how much you're wanting a change), but depending on where you hire on, you may need to be willing to work later hours initially.

Even if you decide that's not for you, I'd highly encourage you to look at other civil-service type jobs for municipalities, counties, or state agencies in the area. Civil service tests are posted in advance, usually give some amount of military bonus points, and often don't require previous education or experience. The pay and benefits are usually pretty good and a career in civil service is a stable one that's not as susceptible to layoffs and downsizing like the private world.

https://www.sitkagear.com/careers


Approx 90 minutes from Helana