Originally Posted by
mayutt
They are good months, however working 6 day weeks with long hours is tough on the family in addition to the military uncertainty (travel, deployments, etc). An airline position seems pretty attractive to me, even if I'm gone 2 or even 3 weeks per month if I'm home the rest of the time. Thoughts?
Most major pax airlines don't do such long trips. Their schedules are typically broken up a bit more across the month.
Cargo, ACMI, charter companies, etc. tend to have the big trips and large work footprints across a typical month. However, at Fedex, there is a huge variety of schedules, so 2 weeks of work in a row is a choice, not a requirement (usually).
Being gone 3 weeks/month is tough on the family too. I did it for a couple of years before I came to Fedex. I wouldn't recommend it for a long term situation but YMMV.
2 weeks/month is a different animal and definitely an easier situation to deal with. It's still an adjustment for everyone and you have to develop a good system to stay "plugged in" while you are gone. Skype can help a great deal but if you're on the other side of the world, there will be days when you just can't connect due to schedules and sleep cycles (yours and the family's).
The major plus is the ~2 weeks off. That can be like crack. Once you get used to having that much time off in a row (or longer on vacation months), it can get very hard to not have it.
If your goal is an airline job, then I would plan to get out at your earliest chance. IMO, the sooner you start tapping the retirement income stream, the better. Obviously, the sooner you get hired and get a seniority number the better as well.
Spend the next 2 years getting everything ready. There's lots of good info here with the search function on a timeline for preparing to separate/retire and get hired at an airline. It seems like a long time but you have a lot to do.
Good luck.