Thanks for the responses. I agree being in the military, even more so as an officer, is for now great job stability. Not so much for families or wear and tear on the individual, but you can be comfortable in what you do. But the promotion rate for O4 has been historically low, and even if you were previously promotable, if you don't work in the career field they need, see you later. I have always been a go getter and a person who needs a challenge in front of him, and want challenging work. I have become less and less interested in the actual work currently, and more focusing on the paycheck and the benefits to get by. I figure if I am going to take a job that is a 9-5 and solely a paycheck, why not have some geographic stability so my wife can really have a career again. I mean is it truly that hard to find interesting work in the civilian sector? Or is it really just a means to an end? (being serious since I haven't seen that side of the world)
So to answer a few of the questions, yes part of my career was very military oriented - pointy end of the spear type. But my past 3 years have been in more of a Project Management role, so I'm looking towards that option in a lot of companies. When I translated a lot of my skills from mil to civilian, and using some of the tools the VA now offers to match careers and interests, that came up. I want to be a part of a company that is doing interesting work that benefits society, and is a company that doesn't work you to the bone and spit you out when they are done (like my current employer). I have friends that work for companies like Deloitte, and they are putting in ridiculous hours for paychecks that they really don't need. In fact one friend put it to me this way "I think I would be happier if I were making less money and working less hours." I'm not afraid of hard work by any means, but I want to work to live, not live to work.
Looked at Federal sector jobs as well, which I have already applied to and I am still in the process for. They do take a LONG time, sitting on one right now that I have gone through all the processes, interviews, background investigation, etc. but still have more to do, and it's been two years. That's a long time waiting for something that may never come to fruition.
I've also looked into the firefighter realm, and some local and state police work, but I think if I were to go that route I would want to see the Federal Criminal Investigator path through. The flip side to that is that I have spent a good amount of time beating up on my body, and while I'm fit and functional now, I'm more concerned with the long term wear and tear. The senior enlisted guys I was working with were rated at 50% or above disability when they retired, and had some real issues as early on as mid 40s-50s. I'm still looking to be able to play with my kids in the future. Being a firearms or tactics instructor would be a cool side hobby to continue with.
I think the troops to teachers program is a great program, but I'd probably only want to be a teacher if I had the opportunity to Coach as well. Sounds a little pretentious, but I love coaching, and don't know if I could teach without doing that as well. I have friends who are teachers, and they have A LOT more patience than I do. Could work, but sharp pay cut from what I am accustomed to. We don't have debt beyond our mortgage (and even with that we have approx 100k in equity in the house right now, so I have a hard time calling it a debt) but I like being able to max 401ks and IRAs with money to spare every month. I have used the military to civilian pay calculators, and compared pay on Glassdoor for certain companies.
I do have a B.S. in Operations Research and Computer Analysis, but truthfully I haven't done OR related work since I graduated. Probably wouldn't make a great OR analyst, but I still understand the methods and processes, enough to get smart on it again if I had to work with OR analysts.
As far as far as locations, we looked at COL compared with job availability with large companies who are looking to hire veterans with leadership experience and B.S. degrees, and narrowed it down to those locations. I love the PNW personally, but I think my wife is hesitant because she has never been there. We both agreed California is a great place to visit, crazy COL. I was also told by a transition company not to target large military areas (ie San Diego, Norfolk, Jacksonville, Seattle/Whidbey/Bremmerton, Austin, San Antonio) without considering other areas, that way I didn't lost in the thousands of other transitioning vets. I won't say I wouldn't work in the DC area, I just hate traffic and the high cost of living there. So it's not my preferred AOR.