husband getting out

[rachel81mom]

We are looking to get out of the navy nuke submarine field when we are able. My husband is currently on West Pac, and has a little less than 2 years on his commitment left. We have 3 children and are expecting baby #4. We would like to live in the Hunstville Alabama area near family. He did the nupoc program and graduated from Drexel University with a degree in chemical engineering. He then went through the pipeline, and is on a fast attack submarine. He is qualified as of July. My main concern with getting out is the lapse in health care. With four children I want to make sure that we never go without it. I would like for him to have a job already lined up before he gets out, but on sea duty that will be very hard. We will probably do shore tour after this and then get out.
My questions are-
Are you glad that you got out?
Was it an easy transition?
What is the civilian health insurance like?
What avenues should he be looking into?
What is the pay for a job that he is qualified for?
Are there any jobs in the field in the Hunstville area?

Thank you for your time
Rachel

Post edited to remove the name of a specific boat.

[anthonyalsup]

Yes, I am glad I got out.  Although, when I got out(2003) it took me a full year to get a job in the field.  Civ insurance sucks compared to military, but you also make a lot more money in the civilian world.  I work at Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant just outside of Huntsville (35 minutes).  He could either get an Engineering job, Chemistry job or Operations.  If he went Operation, he would probably go into the Instant SRO program.  School for about 2 years, then rotating shift work.  The pay starts out at about 80K and tops out anywhere from 120-135K.  Pretty sweet money for the work we do.  Let me know if you have anymore questions.

[JsonD13]

Civ Insurance costs more yes, but in most cases you get a much higher quality of care than in the military.  I pay a bit more than I did in the military (my family was on tricare standard due to not having a prime provider within 100miles of where they lived), but I can go where I want and I can get a second opinion on my own care now without having to fight for it.

The transition was easy because I had my job lined up months prior to getting out.


Jason

[Fermi2]

At TVA your  Health Care starts the day you start working there. It's not like that everywhere, when I started at Detroit Edison I believe the waiting period was 90 Days. That was 20 years ago so I don't quite remember.

I can give you the details of my plan. I'm in a CDHP. I pay something like 26 dollars every two weeks.
It breaks down as follows.

1: The first 1000 dollars worth of expenses is payed for by the plan. This includes medicine. For medicine IIRC I pay all costs up to 24 dollars. Again it's Blue Cross rates so if a procedure costs 500 dollars the doctor has agreed to accept whatever Blue Cross says is a fair rate, it might be 200.

2: After the first 1000 I pay 1150 Dollars. Again at Blue Cross Rates.

3: If for some reason I end up having enough bills to pay the 1150 Dollars it becomes a 20/80 plan. By that I mean I pay 20% Blue Cross Pays 80% of the Blue Cross agreed rate.
The only difference is if I see a doctor not approved by Blue Cross. Then it's 30/70. NOTE this is NOT an HMO. I can see any doctor I desire without a referral.

4: If for some reason I get to 5000 dollars for an Individual or 10,000 a family in the year Blue Cross pays everything for the rest of that year.

5: Each member of my family can get one physical per year up to 500 dollars per person without regards to what else I have already paid.

The plan I used to be in was a standard Blue Cross Plan. I paid something like 90 dollars every 2 weeks. Once I got to 300 a person or 600 for my family for my deductible Blue Cross Paid 20/80 for an in network doctor, 30/70 out of network.
I believe the stop loss was at 3000/6000 $ The physical benefit was the same.

There was one other plan but it was expensive and not really worth it unless you had a tribe of kids.

Yes I'm ecstatic I got out.

Mike

[rachel81mom]

Thank you for all the replies...I was looking at TVA because it is in the area that I am looking, and it seemed like a pretty good place to work. This is a big decision for our family. Because my husband did the nupoc program while in college he has two extra years towards retirement. So if we did a shore duty before he got out he would have a total of 9 years in which is a lot. I would hate to throw that away. We have also looked into EDO. Do you have to do a complete department head tour before you can transfer? I just want to know what all of our options are...I know the pension will be nice when we are older, but I also know that my husband will miss a lot of our children's childhood if he stays in. What would you reccomend?
I think he likes the work that he does, but the demand on them is so great...What is the work schedule like in the civilian world in this field? Would we have a lot more family time. The thought of buying a house and putting roots down seems so nice.

[Gamecock]

We have also looked into EDO. Do you have to do a complete department head tour before you can transfer?

The official policy is that you do have to complete a DH tour to lat XFER to EDO.  However, there are a few guys that get to Lat XFER each year after the JO tour.  The numbers that are allowed are based on DH screening.  If you don't apply, you can't get accepted.  Boards convene twice year....May and November.

Cheers,
GC

[bgist]

I got out in 1998 and at the time we had 4 children (6 now).  I had 12 1/2 years in, but like you I was always gone and missing so much of my family.  My children didn't even know me.  So you have to ask yourself which is more important, a pension or your family?  We chose our family.  We don't regret it one bit.  I'm home for dinner every night, we have an established home and family life, and I see my children every day.  I make over twice as much as I did in the military, so even though my benefits are more, my net take home pay is way more than my military net take home pay.  I miss many of the challenges professionally that I once had, and I definitely miss many of the people that I had the pleasure of working with.  But my profession and the people I worked with won't surround me when I'm dying.  Only my family will.  You can't replace failure in the home.  That's my two cents, anyway.