Originally Posted by
Tacos
Honest question for the career Atlas guys. Can Atlas be a career and are there guys with families, WHO KEEP THEM? I have an interview coming up and it's a place I'd like to be, but I am married and believe it or not, I'd rather keep it that way. We are both aware of the long trips and I don't think it'd be a problem. International travel, I don't believe would be a problem for us either. I know the money isn't Delta, but I have a sugar momma so it's not a major concern for me.
What appeals to me are the ability to live where I want and not "commute", and I like being able to lump everything together into larger days of days on/off. Not to mention the variety of payload, destinations, bases...etc.
So are there guys who work there who stay married and have kids and actually enjoy the place? All I've ever heard is that it's not a place for married people.
17 years at Atlas, still on wife 1.0. Kids have launched and are doing well. And now that you make me think about it, my Atlas friends of my age are all also on wife 1.0, which I had never thought about.
That said, as I look around my neighborhood I have to say that the odds of most of the other marriages making this kind of thing work are probably low. Which is no reflection on them, just a matter of how a marriage is structured.
How is it going to play out when the plumbing leaks, the car dies and one of the kid's breaks a leg while you are in Hong Kong? It takes a strong, independent spouse. It also requires the pilot half to have the good judgment to keep their mouth shut after the fact -- however it was handled was just fine. Perfect, in fact. Micromanaging from Hong Kong on Skype is not going to work for either of you. And I sense that the newhires who are on their cell phones during the drive to the airport [get T-Mobile, by the way] are going to be shopping for wife 2.0 fairly soon.
The upside is the large blocks of time home. And no one is jumpseating to a crash pad 3 times a month, so the stress level is lower. But as always, the closer to your base the better. And for what it is worth, my wife and I both find 11 day trips to be "the limit". Thus I bid 60 day lines.
When I took this job we went to a lawyer and I cut a durable power of attorney for my wife. This week she is buying a car in my name. Are you willing to do something like that? Most guys would not.
So how strong is your marriage? How self sufficient is your spouse? How do you now have the house duties divided up, and how will you have to rearrange them? For some of us this thing has all worked out fine. For others... not so well. But I think that if you are brutally honest you will know if this is for the two of you.