Meh. Slow and unpredictable promotions. The pay is not great, the missions are dangerous with little to no recognition for being accomplished, the places you go will be uncomfortable and unsanitary, and military fitness is calculated by group statistical averaging with no consideration of how the standardized exercises fit the individual’s health. Being in the military sucks. Trust me, I was in. Don’t join OP. There are probably a thousand better decisions you could make to get out of your situation before you should ever resort to joining the military. Life at Sea is selling it as a fun adventure. It isn’t. It’s hours of low paid unrecognized drudgery in dangerous and awful conditions. You’d be better off staying in your miserable current coaching job. Don’t do it.
Damn this kinda disheartening. I'm a college runner hoping to join as an officer after, with a big reason why being fear of ending up like OP (no offense).
It may be disheartening. I was enlisted, so you would be treated better as an officer with higher pay. Starting out, officer pay still isn’t great. Maybe about 45 grand for base salary. That of course doesn’t include housing, medical care and clothing, which the military pays for. With your new commission, you will be a junior officer, O-1 to O-2. They still are considered fresh meat outta boot camp and treated like crap by everybody and have to do some of the hardest jobs with the longest hours. Senior enlisted actually are paid better and just manage the junior enlisted. True, you’ll be on paper in charge of a fifteen year career master sergeant or chief who has to call you sir, but in reality they get way more respect than you. So it’s better than being enlisted, but it’s a longer service obligation. A lot of officers hate it, and get out after eight years or they don’t make promotion within a certain time frame and are discharged before they can collect a pension. It’s really difficult and stressful and I would not recommend it when there are plenty of other more rewarding and lucrative opportunities where you are not stuck in, and you won’t be able to quit the military if you hate it.
Consider going into the Military Reserves, preferably the Air Force and also pursue a career in Law Enforcement. If you are mobile, you should have no problem finding a desirable law enforcement position. Use your knowledge of running/physical fitness as a collateral duty for training once you are established. I believe you will find this challenging but rewarding. You will be able to work plenty of OT if you desire or travel if you end up in federal law enforcement.
I came from a similar background. I went to 5 different colleges in a 6-year period trying to chase the running dream. My high school PRs were 800m 2:02.32; 1600m 4:24.16; 3200m 9:19.66; and 5K xc 16:00.00. In college I ran 800m 1:52.05; 1500m 3:45.09; Mile 4:04.35; 5000m 14:17.05; and 10,000m 29:05.07, and didn’t complete my degree. I was convinced I was going to be a pro. By the summer of 2006 I was living with my sister in AZ 24 years old with zero plans, only that I was going to continue running. I went to OK to try and continue only to make stupid mistakes and screw that up. In December 2006 I ran a marathon in 2:23:16. Went back to AZ trained alone until I went to California to take care of legal crap and stayed on my dad’s boat in Marina Del Rey. I was working as a host for California Pizza Kitchen trying to save for a motorcycle with paychecks that were $350 every 2 weeks. I eventually said enough of this walked into a recruiter’s office and joined the military. I served 8 years of active duty and completed my bachelors, and master’s degrees. I was medically retired out in 2015 after a nearly fatal heart attack which indicated I probably would have been in a graveyard if I had kept training. I have worked for a DoD for 10 years now and have added 2 more master’s degrees to my academic qualifications along with multiple post graduate certifications. My wife is also DoD, and we have a household income of $225,000. However, we are looking into career changes to go from DoD to defense contractors. My wife has been recruited by a highly respected defense contracting company with an offer of $160K. I applied to keep our lives on a similar schedule and was offered a position at $145K. Which if we decide to take the positions will increase our household income to $305,000. My advice is if you’re not going to go pro let it go find something that will give you direction. The military is not for everyone I had to do it I desperately needed discipline and direction in my life and it has been the best thing for me. The military also provides a VA pension which assists in my medical costs and other things that I need such as security if something ever happened in which I was unable to work.
^101 on how to sell/prostitutize you soul and body to the devil
I was a mediocre track and field athlete and chose an easy degree so I’d have more time to train. I never made it to the pros, and now I’m stuck working as a coach, earning minimum wage. I can’t find a good job, I’m struggling financially, and I regret the choices I made with my life.
Assuming your thread isn’t a troll thread, in fact I just thought of something. Let’s have troll be variable T, and X be whatever the response is if the constant T was subtracted from it. In other words we will just act as though the thread question is real, and we are just eliminating the possibility of it being fictitious.
So,
Thread Reply= X-T.
Seems like a fair equation to write as a heading in a reply post from now on.
Anyway, I think you have found that running and coaching are not life fulfilling. My advice would be to just take a risk and apply for maybe two easy entry level jobs just to get out of doing something you hate. For instance Uber driving and food delivery. The pay will be variable but still dependable because of high demand and you can set your own schedule. There will be big tip opportunities occasionally. Take a weekend bartending or waiting job. These are jobs that will give you stable pay and just a way to get out of coaching until you find something you are passionate for. They are just temporary but robust enough to give you options. Avoid cashiering and fixed pay checks with no options.
What I have found in a 43 year engineering career. A smart motivated 8th grader could do 95 percent of the "technical" stuff I do. Managing people can be somewhat fun, but somewhere between 20 and 40 percent of your employees DO NOT WANT TO BE THERE and will do everything they can do to undermine the goals of the organization and pushes the limit of getting fired. (It's 20 percent in an economic recession, and 40 percent in boom times) I think this is also true of the average high school and college track team, which is why you ain't digging being a coach. The best thing I ever did was to work for myself and separate from the huge number of human beings who just go through the motions.
I was a mediocre track and field athlete and chose an easy degree so I’d have more time to train. I never made it to the pros, and now I’m stuck working as a coach, earning minimum wage. I can’t find a good job, I’m struggling financially, and I regret the choices I made with my life.
How old are you? Maybe still time to study and get a good paying job? Then you can save and invest 10-15 % of monthly paycheck 10-20 years and finish your older years wealthy. Looking forward to better days and don't get stuck in old mistakes is the way to go.
Keep running! I was mediocre in college, but won a national championship in hill racing over 70, a silver medal in World Masters 10K at age 85, and won the national Masters over 85. Running has redeemed my old age and sharpened my senile brain for productive writing of books. You are still young!
Assuming your thread isn’t a troll thread, in fact I just thought of something. Let’s have troll be variable T, and X be whatever the response is if the constant T was subtracted from it. In other words we will just act as though the thread question is real, and we are just eliminating the possibility of it being fictitious.
So,
Thread Reply= X-T.
Seems like a fair equation to write as a heading in a reply post from now on.
Anyway, I think you have found that running and coaching are not life fulfilling. My advice would be to just take a risk and apply for maybe two easy entry level jobs just to get out of doing something you hate. For instance Uber driving and food delivery. The pay will be variable but still dependable because of high demand and you can set your own schedule. There will be big tip opportunities occasionally. Take a weekend bartending or waiting job. These are jobs that will give you stable pay and just a way to get out of coaching until you find something you are passionate for. They are just temporary but robust enough to give you options. Avoid cashiering and fixed pay checks with no options.
What I have found in a 43 year engineering career. A smart motivated 8th grader could do 95 percent of the "technical" stuff I do. Managing people can be somewhat fun, but somewhere between 20 and 40 percent of your employees DO NOT WANT TO BE THERE and will do everything they can do to undermine the goals of the organization and pushes the limit of getting fired. (It's 20 percent in an economic recession, and 40 percent in boom times) I think this is also true of the average high school and college track team, which is why you ain't digging being a coach. The best thing I ever did was to work for myself and separate from the huge number of human beings who just go through the motions.
an organization man-dating an experimental vaccine and new-normal quarantine zoom is pushing the limits of human rights
I was a mediocre track and field athlete and chose an easy degree so I’d have more time to train. I never made it to the pros, and now I’m stuck working as a coach, earning minimum wage. I can’t find a good job, I’m struggling financially, and I regret the choices I made with my life.
This has been posted by different people a lot recently
I came from a similar background. I went to 5 different colleges in a 6-year period trying to chase the running dream. My high school PRs were 800m 2:02.32; 1600m 4:24.16; 3200m 9:19.66; and 5K xc 16:00.00. In college I ran 800m 1:52.05; 1500m 3:45.09; Mile 4:04.35; 5000m 14:17.05; and 10,000m 29:05.07, and didn’t complete my degree. I was convinced I was going to be a pro. By the summer of 2006 I was living with my sister in AZ 24 years old with zero plans, only that I was going to continue running. I went to OK to try and continue only to make stupid mistakes and screw that up. In December 2006 I ran a marathon in 2:23:16. Went back to AZ trained alone until I went to California to take care of legal crap and stayed on my dad’s boat in Marina Del Rey. I was working as a host for California Pizza Kitchen trying to save for a motorcycle with paychecks that were $350 every 2 weeks. I eventually said enough of this walked into a recruiter’s office and joined the military. I served 8 years of active duty and completed my bachelors, and master’s degrees. I was medically retired out in 2015 after a nearly fatal heart attack which indicated I probably would have been in a graveyard if I had kept training. I have worked for a DoD for 10 years now and have added 2 more master’s degrees to my academic qualifications along with multiple post graduate certifications. My wife is also DoD, and we have a household income of $225,000. However, we are looking into career changes to go from DoD to defense contractors. My wife has been recruited by a highly respected defense contracting company with an offer of $160K. I applied to keep our lives on a similar schedule and was offered a position at $145K. Which if we decide to take the positions will increase our household income to $305,000. My advice is if you’re not going to go pro let it go find something that will give you direction. The military is not for everyone I had to do it I desperately needed discipline and direction in my life and it has been the best thing for me. The military also provides a VA pension which assists in my medical costs and other things that I need such as security if something ever happened in which I was unable to work.
^101 on how to sell/prostitutize you soul and body to the devil
yeah I am a complete moron for joining. I got injured and the $4,200 a month tax free I get for my service to this country is just a reminder of how they don't take care of those that serve honorably and get life altering injuries or illness.
Assuming your thread isn’t a troll thread, in fact I just thought of something. Let’s have troll be variable T, and X be whatever the response is if the constant T was subtracted from it. In other words we will just act as though the thread question is real, and we are just eliminating the possibility of it being fictitious.
So,
Thread Reply= X-T.
Seems like a fair equation to write as a heading in a reply post from now on.
Anyway, I think you have found that running and coaching are not life fulfilling. My advice would be to just take a risk and apply for maybe two easy entry level jobs just to get out of doing something you hate. For instance Uber driving and food delivery. The pay will be variable but still dependable because of high demand and you can set your own schedule. There will be big tip opportunities occasionally. Take a weekend bartending or waiting job. These are jobs that will give you stable pay and just a way to get out of coaching until you find something you are passionate for. They are just temporary but robust enough to give you options. Avoid cashiering and fixed pay checks with no options.
What I have found in a 43 year engineering career. A smart motivated 8th grader could do 95 percent of the "technical" stuff I do. Managing people can be somewhat fun, but somewhere between 20 and 40 percent of your employees DO NOT WANT TO BE THERE and will do everything they can do to undermine the goals of the organization and pushes the limit of getting fired. (It's 20 percent in an economic recession, and 40 percent in boom times) I think this is also true of the average high school and college track team, which is why you ain't digging being a coach. The best thing I ever did was to work for myself and separate from the huge number of human beings who just go through the motions.
If the goals of the organization was to hide and comply with hypocritical terrorism and genocide, then you are immoral.
I was a mediocre track and field athlete and chose an easy degree so I’d have more time to train. I never made it to the pros, and now I’m stuck working as a coach, earning minimum wage. I can’t find a good job, I’m struggling financially, and I regret the choices I made with my life.
A few of your athletes will repeat the cycle and end up stuck working as coaches.
At least you are not a football coach. Somehow, they are esteemed in the community, yet they leave a trail of young men with mangled limbs and CTE addled brains.
Has nothing to do with the sport and only to do with you not planning for your future. But ya tons of kids waste their college opportunity not learning useful things from a good degree. Seems the worst ratios are with football and basketball, but lots of people in other sports still choose majors that aren't going to do much for them. It has been beat into their heads that simply going to college is going to make them super successful, but you also need to get a good degree. You can major in pretty much anything, but a lot of majors do not translate to jobs. STEM and business degrees probably have the best translation. And then throw in a few others.
I think the old line football coaches used to say is "use the sport, don't let the sport use you."