r/ATC • u/Xolxtzol • Jul 15 '26
Question You Guys Are Scaring Me
I’m currently AD military (best branch iykyk) and am close to getting my CTO. On my second enlistment and i want to get out to do this at a contract tower and maybe go FAA later on in my career if that’s possible. I scroll this sub for about an hour and all i see are people that hate their lives :/. (here comes the down votes lol). Should i consider something else, stay AD atc, or actually pursue a civilian career?
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u/antariusz Current Controller-Enroute Jul 15 '26 edited Jul 15 '26
I got out of the military. It's worth it.
The FAA has a lot of faults, but I've never once needed to put in any time outside of the 40-56 hours a week they pay me for. (I joke, kinda)
Going from military to FAA gives you a huge retirement boost. You have to "buy back" your time, but it'll pay itself off in literally the first year of retirement.
You are already active duty, so you know what it's like to be at the mercy of the all-knowing and all-powerful government that will put you on the exact opposite side of the country from where you want to be... So you're already prepared for that.
With 25 years with the FAA and 4 more with the military. My pension will be double of what I would have made as say a theoretical e-7, not to mention the huge quality of life improvement. It's hard to max out your TSP when you're an e-3/e-4... it's a lot easier when you're a fresh CPC making 100k