I received an interesting and tempting job offer, but I'm having trouble weighing out the pro's and con's. I'm a medically retired Marine with 2 combat tours to Al Anbar province Iraq. I recently received a job opportunity to work for a friend of mine in the private security sector of Iraq.
pro's - private security = more money than active duty, no bureaucracy, working for a friend, I am familiar with the A.O. (area of operation), I was a great Marine, I'm trained and am good at what I do,
con's - PTSD, TBI, back injury, not as "in shape" as i use to be, I would relinquish compensation from the VA if I went back to work, I would relinquish social security if I went back to work, (not sure if I'd take a pay cut between the loss of compesation and ssdi), would have to leave my wife and kids again for another deployment
I know only I can make this decision but another key to this equation is that I have a compensation and pension re-evaluation today and might lose my compensation anyways (regardless if I take this offer or not). This isn't a pressing decision that has to be made today so I do have time to wait and see what happens with my comp & pen re-eval before I make a decision however. I just wanted to get some thoughts and kind of bounce my ideas off someone else. I'm not even sure I have the capacity to work right now. I know I don't in garrison, but could I function on the battlefield? I'm wondering if it would all come back to me when I was put back in my element or if the conditions would only exasperate my condition. My biggest fear is the VA tells me I have to go back to work and the only thing I know is being a war fighter.
Any thoughts on this matter would be appreciated.
pro's - private security = more money than active duty, no bureaucracy, working for a friend, I am familiar with the A.O. (area of operation), I was a great Marine, I'm trained and am good at what I do,
con's - PTSD, TBI, back injury, not as "in shape" as i use to be, I would relinquish compensation from the VA if I went back to work, I would relinquish social security if I went back to work, (not sure if I'd take a pay cut between the loss of compesation and ssdi), would have to leave my wife and kids again for another deployment
I know only I can make this decision but another key to this equation is that I have a compensation and pension re-evaluation today and might lose my compensation anyways (regardless if I take this offer or not). This isn't a pressing decision that has to be made today so I do have time to wait and see what happens with my comp & pen re-eval before I make a decision however. I just wanted to get some thoughts and kind of bounce my ideas off someone else. I'm not even sure I have the capacity to work right now. I know I don't in garrison, but could I function on the battlefield? I'm wondering if it would all come back to me when I was put back in my element or if the conditions would only exasperate my condition. My biggest fear is the VA tells me I have to go back to work and the only thing I know is being a war fighter.
Any thoughts on this matter would be appreciated.