Ricardo Said:

I'm retired Military & job search seems hopeless........ is there a better way to find a job?

We Answered:

You could be a grease-monkey. Like open a mechanic shop.

One word of advice for your children, and etc. once you join the military for like 2 years dont come out. They own you.

Jerry Said:

Coast Guard,Coast Guard Reserve, and military search and rescue job questions?

We Answered:

Obviously the "impaler" doesn't know anything about the Coast Guard or our Recruiters.

The Coast Guard has the highest reenlistment rate of all the services - with nearly 90% of us staying in once we join (88.5%), so it CAN get a bit tight to get folks in. It is the beginning of our fiscal year, so there may be a little confusion in the Recruiting ranks regarding the new year's recruiting goals, so that may have been what you heard. OR, the person you spoke with may have been one of our Reserve Recruiters, and he was more familiar with the Reserve side than the Active Duty side of recruiting.

I don't know where you heard that there was a two-year wait, but I know six months is pretty standard. Once you are DEPped in, don't be surprised if they say nine months or more. The big question is - Do you really want to join? If the answer is yes, you'll do what you need to do to get in.

Be advised that Search and Rescue is a collateral duty that we do on top of our regular jobs - there isn't a career field other than Aviation Survival Technician (AST) that does this full time, and AST is one of the hardest ratings to get into out of all 20 ratings that we have.

Also, we are a part of the US Military. You MAY be called on to defend your nation - and that means grabbing a weapon and possibly being given orders to shoot at people. If you can't do that, you will need to look at a different line of work. I do commend you, however, on at least thinking about this prior to being called upon to do this!!

The Reserve program is so vast that you really need to ask more direct questions. We only have about 8000 Reservists total for the entire Coast Guard. Ask more exacting questions and we can help you out more.

Marcus Said:

Do any crimes you commit before your 18 comes up in a military job search?

We Answered:

Yes. The government, including the DOD, does a criminal records search known as an NACLAC.

NAC = National Agency Check. They take your fingerprints and run your name and prints through national databases (FBI database, NICS, etc).

LAC = Local Agency Check. They contact the LPD (local police departments) of all the places you've ever lived, worked, or gone to school, and ask them to send back a report of any and all contact they've ever had with you, even if it did not result in your arrest or the record was expunged or juvenile.