Well waiting on an early retirement notice from the military, pending that I have 2 years from last week until I retire.

I was a cop in Barrow about 12 years ago, then went back in the military.

I have lived in Barrow and Sikta, I am originally from Wyoming.

Goal would be to work for BLM or Forest Service, but any job that pays enough to support the familiy would work until I can swing into something more dreamy. At least $45,000 but it depends on where in the state we are.

As a family we would like to live in Glennallen, but we would be fine with something on the road system (excepting the Mat-Su or Anchorage (too many people)) or in SE (excepting Juneau).

I have a history bachelors degree, ran a HAZMAT program, ran Aircraft maintenance at the shop and detachment levels, ran Ordnance programs, ran a command/squadron safety program, was a Sig/M16 Armorer, firearms instructor, rangemaster, held the IMPAC card, purchase officer, ran a detachment supply program in Afghanistan and Djibouti, ran govt travel program, and am currently a VA Rep/Awards historia and diplomatic ship coordinator in charge of securing dip clearances, ship coordination, supply coordination, welfare programs, and port security coordination for all US Warships coming to this post.

Ideally we'd like to have hot and cold running bears, be able to get a moose and hopefully live where there are some caribou (or caribou a jet boat ride away). I don't mind paying for a short hop to hunt goats and sheep, and we would like to have horses. I have 2 daughters that entire exhistance revolves around ponies, so we'd like to give them that dream.

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MInus 55 last couple days.

I don't think I'd want to work for the hated Feds in rural Alaska. Most everybody in our community have worked for them one time or another and regretted the experience. Even outsiders brought in to fill positions in Park Service never last too long. So it's something to consider before bringing family into such a scenario.

We did have a customs agent in our community a few years back, well liked by everybody but the good never last; he ran off cliff into creek and they found his body 100 miles down river. He was the only, I mean only fed employee that didn't have troubles living in our community.

Often, it's best to live outside of Fairbanks or Anchorage a couple years where there's a secure economy. We lived in the MatSu 7-8 years before moving up on the Yukon and glad we did it that way. Then too, after living out here, I couldn't live anywheres else now.

-55, I remember those days in Barrow. Had a couple winters up there, Barrow just wasn't for me. And the Cole bombing happened so I got patriotic and came back in.

Coldest I have ever been in my entire life was actually in Casper, Wyoming it was -40 with a 60 mile an hour wind. Not 100% sure what the number was but it was bad.

In Barrow we didn't have the wind regularly to get that kind of pain.

MOA baised on what you have stated I would look for something on the Anchorage or the Fairbanks road system...

Personally I could live in Nome, as I have made great friends with the Natives, and the the Police there.

And for those of you that do not know, rural Alaska is a whole new world.

I can say, I liked it, and it like me...

I'd rather be happy at home than happy at work.

Ideally a man should get to be happy in both.

With Anchorage/Mat-Su I don't think I could be happy at home. Not sure we could live far enough away to make it worth my while. I have spent a lot more time in Fairbanks than I have in Anchorage, so my knowledge isn't 100%. Kids could have horses in the Mat-Su, that might be an option. I'll look up distances from the Govt offices in Anchorage to the Mat-Su, and the cost of houses with acreage.

Does anyone know the names some of the bigger Corperate Firms in Alaska by name? I do a lot of jobs searches on the www.alreadycleared.com and wwwl.clearancejobs.com, but Alaska jobs for non IT people in that field are rare.

Had plans of getting a teaching job, but I don't think teaching is probably for me. I rekon a man really has to be able to tolerate a lot of BS from the School System, Parents and from the kids themselves. I really enjoyed being an instructor in the military, but kids are different. At least I am not young and idealistic anymore. Kind of why I got into law enforcement, and also why I got out of it. Idealism is easily crushed by BS.

I agree Nome would work for me, wife just needs to get on board with that one.

I just want to work hard and get stuff done. Amazing how often buracracy blocks that concept.

Even though I am already an Alaska resident, I don't think I can apply for state of Alaska jobs until we are physically there. Kind of a pain in the ass, but I can see why they do it.

When we first came to Ak in early 90's, we bought 40 acres in Sutton, 15 miles east of Palmer; actually was quite nice and all kinds of horse people in the MatSu too. I killed moose & bear every season right in Sutton, rode snowmachine from house; lots of great people there. Sutton was a great place to start but wife and I drove to Anch (75 miles each way everyday) for work, long drive got old. I started questioning why I moved to Alaska, living such an urban lifestyle from where I had come from rural Pa. Both of us had our teaching certs, so we headed out in the sticks. Luv it out here, my shan gri la but it's not for kids once they get in Jr high school; they need more and you only get that in areas near urban Alaska where all the jobs are anyway.

I'd live in MatSu, outside Fairbanks, down around Big Delta, but then you spend more money for living costs than you spend in rural areas too; but better for families. One can always buy an old cabin outside a rural community and use as hunting camp.

Something else, AK is always looking for VPSO's, tough job but if you approach it right (that means never arresting anybody in the community) actually the average Indians are OK, putting up with all the bull from State Police, Indian Corporations, and the local village leadership cause you become their private enforcer to go affter their enemies; one can be successful. Our VPSO has been here all his life and everybody just luvs him. Nobody wants the state police to even show their face, get the vpso. Just an idea to get ya out in the sticks and with a job. Not many jobs out here, people fight over them actually or move into town.

So much more opportunity in the semi-urban areas; better place to start.

Last thing, every spring I see people show up from lower 48, going to live out in the sticks, do it all; come nx March about half of them are shell shocked and can't wait until the road opens so they can head for the border with Canada back to lower 48. Ak ain't for everybody. We lived in MatSu 7-8 years, taught in a few villages, and been up here on the Yukon near border for a dozen years; life is good but we didn't figure it all out the first season either; learning process, prepare yourself and let Alaska knock ya out too, some good livin.

Boy do I know about Alaska native corps after being a cop and living in Barrow. Not going to go into that!

Jobs will unfortunatly be what makes up our minds on where in Alaska we end up.

Military retirement and disability will be part of our financial help. That I am about 99% sure I am going to head up in 6 months to buy a 4 or 5 plex rental property in Fairbanks in the summertime.

So money isn't going to necessarily be everything.

Can,t think of any thing off hand going on at Fort Greely, but from what you described, might be worth a little investigation. Between Delta Junction and FBX, if you could find a job and a little place, might not be a bad spot to go after critters..
Healy is another spot that has a certain draw. Same problem as Delta or any other small town locale. A lot of the things that draw you in also make it a lot tougher to jump in with out a net.
Reckon getting the 4 plex first would be a nice little net, kill two birds with one stone.
Might not be exactly what you,re looking for, working port security at Anchorage would probably be a two wks on, two weeks off kinda deal. Marine terminal in Valdez, another consideration. Something to keep you from going stir crazy or aquirering the mother of all honey do lists..

I have one buddy who came up here hunting, moved up following year; built a nice place 20 miles out Chena hotsprings road, very nice out that way & great hunting. He worked in Fairbanks. 4-5 years back, with kids soon to be at UAF, wife and I kicked around moving outside Fairbanks; we'd get calls over the summer offering teaching slots. My buddy sat down with me and we looked at his expenses in there to mine out here, it was unreal. His costs living outside an urban area were 10X what mine were in the rural area. Reasons: we don't have prop taxes out here, heat with wood that is free, fill my trk up once every couple weeks, my buddy spent 1000 bucks/month for gas, always was going to walmart, spending money on fast food, and just seemed like everything he did cost bucks to do. Out in rural areas, you live cheap and make do with less. I have elec bill, phone line, and dir tv and that's my total expenses actually.

So there's pros and cons to both urban and rural lifestyles. It all comes down to what makes one happy & complete.

Places like Glennallen, Delta, Tok are nice spots but if you have ever lived in a small town where certain families control & run the show and have for generations; you get the idea how hard it can be moving into such an area and making it. In bigger urban areas you don't experience that sort of thing.

It can get even worse the further out ya get. I know towns that you can't move into without the powers that be OK no matter how much you bring in with ya. Funny but we have 100 people, 5 wanna be soap box preachers, only one real one. They all have their sunday services and fight it out, ha ha. Like I said, there's good and bad about urban & rural. Things that you don't even know about or understand or have ever experienced before in your life. Why usually, it's best to start out outside fairbanks or Anchorage and then move out further slowly as you condition yourself to the country & it's population and their funny ways, no joke. When we moved here 20 years back, I sure got a waking up, ha ha.

Girdwood...

I think Zhurh's last comment about living near an urban area then gradually going more remote is a good one. Also, his comment about NOT being a Fed is even better. Lottsa bad feelings about the Jim Wilde case on the Yukon and then, there's the fight down in Anch. about the use of hovercraft on the rivers.
As far as working for the State goes, the retirement system has been redically changed over the years. Newer State hires not getting the bene's that we older employees get/got. I really wouldn't recommend working for the state now either.
You need a skill that the private sector needs. MAYBE something with Alyeska or BP in the oil fields. I dunno. Anyway, good luck.
Bear in Fairbanks

The wife noticed that with the school teacher retirements too, but then again a 20 year retirement for school teachers is an awesome deal.

Not worried about finding a job, but we are going to have to do some looking around at locations.

Grew up in a town of 500 people, so I know full well what small town politics can be.

At the end of the day, some people spend a lot of time trying to make other people miserable.

I am Russian Orthodox, in Alaska that means a church full of Alaska natives and a few Russian Immigrants and the odd Greek or Serb that lives in the area. In a Orthodox church there is no wars over preaching.

MOA, The mining industry is doing very well here and pays better than most. 70% of the jobs are camp jobs which meens you could live anywhere and comute when your on rotation. There are lots of opertunities with these companies and a vast number of differant carrier oppertunities. With all the homeland security crap the companies at times do look for people with your back ground. And in alot of cases their is training for entry level positions such as driving trucks and such.

Thanks Jim,

I was thinking of that. Pipline/Mining Security stuff would be good.

There is a Russian Orthodox Church & community in Wasilla. No joke, I had friends in Sutton who joined, liked it so much they sold their house in Sutton and bought a house on the same street as the church in Wasilla. In fact most the members had bought houses on the same street. Imagine that, A Russian Orthodox COMMUNE; anyway they were all a pretty good bunch. Some of the American men imported Russkie wives & kids too; had to laugh.

Teaching is enjoyable, but also so much politics & problems. Nice thing about retirement is they take out 8.9% from your pay, untaxed, in AK you don't pay ssn as a teacher. You can probably take the praxis tests where you are now living then get certified once you get here; also have to take a couple multicult classes & AK hist. My wife likes teaching, I have my secondary cert and would never do it all over again.

Ya know, Our local FFL guy burnt his cabin down this morning, good guy, bad luck. Had a week of minus 55 and he had a roof/pipe fire, lost everything. NOw I've heated with wood since 1970's and never had a house fire but it's quite common. I see more adversity in ALaska, but also the payoff comes in so many other ways.

Wife has certs in California, Japan and Australia. I think as the Aussies say as far as jobs "she'll be right". Her California "Praxis equivillant translates (at least according to the Alaska Ed Board website).

As for me I am not afraid to work, and 20 years of doing "stuff" in the military I'll figure something out.

I was looking at jobs in mining and the oilfield online. I think a lot of my aviation safety background will translate. Much more than I thought it would have.

Sorry to hear about your gun-guys house. Damn that's tough. Wood can be a bastard. My folks have a $5500 ceramic stove in Wyoming that works really well. According to the idgets that sold it, the stove is hot enough to prevent a build up of creasote.

Adversity?
When I was staioned in Florida I made the mistake of driving between 2 gangsta-thug firearms battles. Well wasn't really a mistake, just wrong place at the wrong time. They shot arround my car, so it all worked out.

Australia has a large population of teenage kids that think it's funny to steal and burn cars down in the middle of the night. They hit the neighbor a few doors down last week. Kids got his $80,000 Toyota Landcruiser Pickup. Police shrugged and gave him the "it's probably kids being kids rap".

We'll be ok.

Plenty of adversity all over, crime, gangs, political correctness, wolf lovers, whale lovers, this idealistic life people talk about doesn't really exist, but if you can be happy on a few fronts your doing well.

Glennallen is a pretty good place . We pay pretty high fuel price . But NO TAX . At least local tax . Glennallen . Isn't a town or city .just a zipcode . We have a boat load of different governments . The pipe goes thru here . A friend says they are automating alot of the security on TAPS .
With Kenny Lake not too far away its pretty good horse country . Plenty of stuff to shoot and pinch toes on too.

Glennallen is my first choice! Tok, is pretty near the top too, this Taylor highway business is very interesting.

Just depends on $$ unfortunatly!

You know, we live up the end of the Taylor and there's good hunting the entire way up. A few guys down Tok trap the road on snowmachine and get 30-40 wolves every season I hear.

Both Glennallen & Tok have their small town, controlled by certain families that run the show problems but you probably have seen that before at one time or another.

And don't sell out working for one of the villages down that way; the Indians are OK. I'd rather be there than in Anch, Fairbanks, or many other places in AK.

Just don't go buying into any tourism related businesses. If they were money makers, somebody wouldn't be selling them for any reason.

The school district (AK Gateway) is pretty good, they take care of their employees better than most districts; half the community has a wife or family member working for them. They also have a few people running the district that are keeping everything stable & people happy; been there a few years now. There's a place for your wife to look at getting into.

And Tok got my favorite gun shop in Alaska.
And Tok has a junk yard of sorts, you'll find things there you could never find anywhere's else. Good Guy that Kenny James.

Check Tok out.

Starting out in close to the people might be the best.....don't forget to look into healthcare providers for you and your family. You may find your options as a military retiree are few and far between, since plenty of providers don't take Tricare at all. Better to know ahead of time than be blindsided.


Good Luck!

Theres one big problem with Tok . When its 30 below in Glennallen its 45 below there .and it 30 below alot in Glennallen .when its 50 beow in Ga. Its 60 below and colder in Tok . .

The cold is a pain in the butt . Or hands for a guy . . Its real hard on women . Essespecially if you are going to be working remote shift work . The 2 or 3 weeks you are gone may be when it gets 60 below for a week and the water freezes and 2 tires on your car break. The toilet won't flush and the shower won't drain the steering gear goes tu . Ect. . . Its a different deal for women . .

I am looking to retire there since I also fly for a living or did. I am considering something off the grid all together. It will be a few more years I think.