U.S. Navy, Submarine Officer, Lieutenant
Field Engineer, Washington Closure Hanford
Orion put me in contact with Washington Closure Hanford, a company involved in the environmental cleanup effort at the Hanford Nuclear reservation. My position is Field Engineer, where I'll be involved in planning and executing electrical safety in field work of all kinds, including the deactivation and demolition of multiple buildings onsite scheduled for decommissioning. Prior to this I was a Navy Lieutenant and a submariner. I'd had experience working with the Department of Energy and industrial projects during the refueling and overhaul of my boat, the USS Michigan, at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. It was most likely that resume point that was my biggest selling point as to why I was qualified for this job.
I took 53 days of terminal leave, but I started working after only about two weeks "off", which I spent traveling and getting settled in. WCH was very eager for me to start; as a matter of fact, I had to negotiate to move back my start date by two weeks in order to finish up my turnover at my last billet, as an NROTC instructor at Texas A&M University, where I had been teaching Ship Systems Engineering and advising midshipmen.
My nearest Navy "support" was at NAS Corpus Christi, five hours away from Texas A&M, so there wasn't much transition help available from the Navy. I attended TAP class and found some of that useful, or at least interesting, but mostly for the veteran's benefits and not so much for job-seeking advice. What advice was there was pretty elementary, and I felt that I already knew nearly all the class had to offer in that area.
I settled in Washington State, and I chose that location to be near my family. Eastern Washington is a lot different than Seattle, where I went to school, but beautiful in its own way. It's worked out well so far. The final move went smoothly with no snags. However, I discovered that WCH's relocation package was far superior to the Navy's, and I was gratified when the HR department decided to "upgrade" my relocation to bring it more in line with non-military new hires.
They didn't provide compensation for things the Navy already paid for, like moving household goods, but they did pay for other miscellaneous moving expenses and 30 days of temporary housing in the area while I was getting settled and looking for a permanent place. I started working so soon after I accepted the job offer that I hadn't had the opportunity to do that kind of thing in advance, so that part was kind of chaotic, but nothing I hadn't gone through before.
I now work to clean up the Hanford reservation. It's where most of the US's Plutonium for nuclear weapons was produced, starting with the first bombs used in WWII up through the 80s. It's heavily contaminated and is a Superfund site.
Orion set me up with an interview and did most of my research for me, which served me extremely well. I did some basic snooping around on the company's website, and some other Google searches about the Hanford site in general, but not much more in depth than that.
My benefits package is surprisingly good! Aside from the sticker shock of having to pay for medical and dental that used to be free, I think the level of care will remain the same or go up. Also, I now expect performance bonuses, a 401k plan with a generous match from the company, including 5% of my base salary regardless of whether I contribute or not, and I've already spoken of the very impressive relocation benefits. On top of that, WCH offers full tuition, books, and fees reimbursement as I work towards a relevant degree. I plan to get my MBA and start attending classes part time in the fall, and I anticipate it will be at nearly no cost to me. Best of all, no additional years of service incurred!
My transition was a stressful time for me, but I think it actually went about as well as could be expected. I was worried about the economy and the fact that I was limiting my search to one specific geographic area. I'd had a few interviews with no nibbles, and I was very worried that I wouldn't find a job by the time my term of service was up. Then, when I did get an offer, it happened very quickly and they wanted me to start as soon as possible; I felt extremely rushed, both personally and professionally in trying to move and leave things in good order for my relief.
I had faith that everything would work out alright, and it did, but for a while things were fast and furious. I was lucky to have a CO and XO who were supportive and understood the factors that were driving me, and I made sure to keep them in the loop with every new development. Ironically, the easiest part of my transition was the job interview. None of the horror stories of urban legend for me; it was very amicable (as were all of the interviews I had), and I was confident I was the right guy for the job. The hardest part was wading through the endless tasks and paperwork such as separation physical, VA interview, DITY move paperwork, household goods shipping, determining which health and dental plans to sign up for, buying a new house, etc.
I'm just starting my new career, so I don't have a good feel for how advancement works yet. I hope to advance, of course, but anticipate it will be two years or so before I'll have the opportunity to. The skills I'm glad the Navy taught me are clearly the technical knowledge I gained from being a nuke and the ability to handle many tasks at once. So far I'm not sure what I will have to unlearn, but I'm sure there will be one or two things (likely more). One small thing is that I now have to call everyone by their first name, even the president of the company. I have to choke back a "sir" every once in a while.
I continue to keep in touch with past shipmates through Facebook and LinkedIn, emails, and text messages. It's something most military people neglect to do, and it's something I'm trying hard to catch up on. It's a shame we're typically so bad at it; I think military people move around and instantly have a large circle of colleagues who think and feel similarly, a readymade circle of friends. So they don't go to the effort of keeping in touch with people from their past. I think this is a mistake, and when you get out, you'll start missing that contact immediately. My advice is this: make the effort to get email addresses and phone numbers of anyone you think you might want to reminisce with sometime in the future.
Last piece of advice: if you're even thinking of getting out, start "thinking like a civilian" early. You want to over prepare, not under prepare, for the tumultuous transition. Read up on it; there are some good books written to help you. Ask Orion for their transition materials and work on them, and start reading up on your intended career field through professional magazines and books. It'll get your head in the right place, and a lot of them can actually help make you a better performer in the military, even as you're transitioning out!
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