Thread: What Do You Do/What Did You Do?

I was an infantry Soldier for 8yrs when our enemy where the Russians (who where getting there arse kicked in Afghan). For the last 20 yrs ive been a crane driver, so next time you get stuck behind one of them big cranes with flashing lights blame me. Oh and now we are the ones in Afgan, how things turn around!

I take 300 18 year olds, lock them in a room, and harangue them about subjects they hate for an hour at a time, 3 times a week for 13 weeks. I then lock them all in another room and make them write down things they don't know how to do for 3 hours.

When the 18 year olds are off surfing and taking drugs, I think about things that other people find boring, and write short articles about what I think about. I then send those articles to people who don't understand what I am talking about, who then decide whether they will publish my thoughts so that other people can either ignore, completely misunderstand, or blatantly steal, the thoughts I sent in.

James.

well let me see, i started out pulling a stint in the navy right out of high school, back when the curtian was made of iron, and spent many a night on a cold aleutian island for my troubles. after the service, i went into the manufatureing sector, and i have worked for some doosies, poultry procceser being the worst. spent some time in retail lumber sales. I have gone back to the manufactureing sector, i work in a copper mill now, but i like to call myself a recycling specialist. I take all that nasty looking, and sometimes funny smelling copper tubing that people haul into their local scrap yards, and make brand new shiny copper logs out of it, so it can then be made into new pipe.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

I spent most of the time just traveling the country robbing banks. I made a pretty good living and retired years ago and am just enjoying the good life now.

Legend has it that when the judge asked 'Slick' Willie "The Actor" Sutton why he robbed banks, he said, " Because that's where the money is."

I give free breast exams. The money is not very good, but I still love what I do.

I grew up on a farm and love the lifestyle. Not much money and although I loved my father we didn't work well together.

I tried college for a few years. I didn't know then what I wanted and was doing what others expected of me. Although it wasn't a waste of time that didn't work out either.

During and after this I worked in a vegetable packing plant, driving combine, hired hand on a farm, water well drilling, dishwasher, and meat packing plant. The more I think about this I might have forgot a few such as selling vegetables at a roadside stand and selling firewood.

I have finally ended up where I am because of my fathers love of jewelry and lapidary. I got an entry level job at an investment casting foundry because I knew about sprews, shrinkage, etc. I was a find for them! I there got my boilers license and have since worked at a candy factory, college, and my present job at a hospital as an Operating Engineer. Its a nice place to be and probably that's where I will end up. Although with about 17 years to go yet I will keep any options and possibilities open. A lot of things can change!

My wife who for a long time was a housewife and started college in her mid forties has now got a nice gig as a school teacher. She has brought up that if I wanted, it was my turn to change careers go to school etc. For now I like my place of employment and economically it wouldn't pay. But like I stated before who knows what the future will bring. I was looking for a job when I got this one.

Tim

What a cool thread! We truly are a diverse bunch. Me? Here's my story. Graduated high school at 17 and two weeks later was whisked off to Lackland Air Force Base for basic training. After basic and technical school, I then proceeded to travel the world attached to various units maintaining survival equipment and conducting survival training. I had every intention of making it a career and ended up doing that and then some. Twenty five years and a few months later I retired. While on active duty I completed an undergraduate degree in English and Sociology.

On paper I was a perfect match for my first civilian job, an English teacher for at risk kids. All the pieces were there, background in Sociology, ex-military, a man (apparently this population is lean on male role models so male teachers are prefered.) My stay was brief and unremarkable. Ironically, one of my biggest problems was a very fresh military mindset and the associated type A personality. While these traits served me well in my career, both were detrimental to this job.

So I stumbled in to my next gig about 3 months later. A technical writer for a software company and I've done that every since. At some point, I'd like to start doing some freelance writing (magazine articles and such) and my bucket list also includes writing the great American novel. Lots of ideas between my ears but not much on paper. Oh well, maybe one day.

For the record, I've never been a football star, a war hero, a ping-pong champion or a shrimp boat captain but I do think Forrest Gump was amongst the greatest movies ever made.

I graduated high school in '91 and worked odd jobs to include roofing, carpentry contract work electrician and air conditioning/heating repair work, hardware store and country gift store retail work, grociery stocking, and even worked for the golden arches in Louisiana .

In '93, I joined the USAF and got a job as an aircraft fuel systems repair technician where I worked on the KC-135, U-2R/S, F-15C/E, and HH-60s.

In '09, I left the fuel systems job, and began working as a Unit Deployment Manager, where I coordinated the deployment and return of HH-60 helicopters and personnel for HH-60s/A-10s/C-130s. I still do this. Although my job is really stressful, I get a lot of job satisfaction.

Myles

WOW!! So many replies! I feel like I want to reply to each post, there's so much interesting stuff there! The most remarkable thing is how we change 'careers' to completely different things! I bet none of us would have even been in the ball park if we had to take any sort of a guess when we were a teenager at what we'd be doing now.

thebigspendur, your post cracked me up!

Sailor, what's a jaeger

Deerhunter1995, I've got a hunch you're going to fit right in to the military! Good luck!

Keep them comming!

PS, lots of military here too, it seems...

Originally Posted by carlmaloschneider

PS, lots of military here too, it seems...

I was thinking that too as I went through the posts, I wonder if there is something about straight shaving that appeals to many military.