10 Perks that Come with a Civilian Job on a Military Base
…Particularly if you’re a woman.
1. People generally don’t cut you off, tailgate, honk, or speed on the roads. Well, they do speed a bit on their way out the gate after work, when home is making its full-throated call. But guards with radar guns tend to put a stop to that, even if the speed limit on the way out is a ridiculous 15 mph.
2. Groups of men wearing shorts and tight T-shirts pass your window during PT runs.
3. When you drop your car off at the Exchange mechanic for new tires, he immediately drives you in your own car over to your job, even though you’d planned to take the 10-minute walk.
4. Uniformed (and even un-uniformed) men either step aside for women or step up smartly to open doors ahead of them. You don’t notice this until you go out and about in the civilian world and you have to open every door, and then three different men in no particular rush almost run you down on foot one afternoon in the aisles at the store because you didn’t automatically step back/aside.
5. Guessing games to pass the time on the way to work, such as “Is the guy in the convertible with the sunglasses on, the top down, and the too-cool-for-school look who zipped around you at 85+ mph on the freeway (only to end up two cars ahead of you at the gate) going to turn off the main road in the direction of the flightline?” [Do I really need to answer that?]
6. Daily airshows. For example, yesterday was Steep Takeoff Day.
7. When you drop something, a gallant military man is instantly there to help you pick it up with a smile and a “You’re welcome, ma’am.”
8. Convoys of really cool military vehicles rumble past your window while conducting training exercises.
9. A truth that must drive anti-gun types nuts: you work on one of the most heavily-armed pieces of real estate in the area… and every time you cross that line of words painted on the asphalt–”U.S. Government Property”–on your way to work, you’re safer than the average person outside the gates .
10. All those people in uniform never know whose wife, daughter or girlfriend you just might be (which probably at least partially explains numbers 1, 3, 4 and 7 above). *GRIN*
Posted by FbL
On August 23rd, 2007 under Humor, Military.
Comments: 9
Comments
Comment from Michelle
Time: August 23, 2007, 8:44 am
Hey, can I come work there?? LOL
Oh yeah, that pesky citizenship thing…
Well, maybe I could try it on a Canadian base. As an experiment. Just to test the results, you know.
Comment from P-3W
Time: August 23, 2007, 10:44 am
Oh yeah, FbL, I *loved* that last one when I was first working on base just before Husband retired.
I caught grief from a young LT hot-shot jet puke (sorry, Lex) who cussed me to my face nose-to-nose, after I had stayed over a half-hour late to do him a favor and cut some orders for him. I went home, nearly in tears more from frustration than anything else, because I can’t say those words out loud well. We all lived on base, and Husband had a quiet talk with my LCDR supervisor on a walk around the block, who had a talk with the young LT, and I got a nice apology that just about hurt him to spit out. The best part was when Husband came to pick me up for lunch right about then and the young LTs all noticed he was also an LCDR. All of a sudden, I got a *lot* more respect. They suddenly realized I just might know their wives and their behavior just might could come bite them at home, as well as at work.
Would have been nice had they treated me with that respect from the beginning, though, then they wouldn’t have needed the attitude adjustment later on.
Comment from Deborah Aylward
Time: August 23, 2007, 5:52 pm
FBL, you have a dream job! Whilst there is courtesy accorded ladies who visit Canadian Military bases, there isn’t the same confidence in the matter of etiquette and courtesy accorded ladies as one finds on American bases.
Michelle, my apologies. This is one Northerner who has only good memories of all things American.
P-3W, I’m sorry to hear that happened, but glad it was resolved fairly easily……sounds as if one Lt. learned a valuable lesson.
Veritas et Fidelis Semper
Comment from Michelle
Time: August 23, 2007, 7:48 pm
Deborah,
“Only good memories of all things American”??
Most times I’m quietly chuckling to myself and thinking that you are definitely residing in the wrong country, dear. 
Comment from P-3W
Time: August 24, 2007, 8:58 am
Deborah,
This was way back in the mid-80s, so attitudes have changed since then. Most of the support staff were either young women fresh out of secretarial school, or had been there forever. I looked like I fit in the former and not the latter, plus I didn’t actually tell anyone, other than my supervisors, about Husband. I wanted to do the job on my own, you know. I didn’t even want Husband to talk to my military boss (I had two — one civilian and one military) as I wanted to handle the situation on my own.
But jerks are everywhere and he was a big one. Watching him choke out his apology was very gratifying, I must say. Especially after I did exactly what he wanted when he had blown off his responsiblilties in it. What goes around, comes around.
Comment from Buck
Time: August 24, 2007, 10:49 am
Re: #4… the opening of doors and other such courtesies.
Being “of a certain age” and southern-bred by VERY strong women (mom, grandmothers, etc.) with very strong ideas about courtesy, I have always…from Day One… opened doors, stood aside for women to pass, etc. I’m not tooting my horn; it’s simply a matter of training.
But of late I’ve noticed that such gestures aren’t particularly well-recieved in certain parts of the world. I first noticed this back in 2000 when I went to work in SFO’s Financial District and I began getting glares and implied (and sometimes overt — VERY overt) hostility from women for doing exactly that, including the usual “I can do it MYSELF, Thank You!” Which, of course, always shocked me.
It’s GOOD to know there are still women out there who appreciate what was once called “common courtesy.” It ain’t so common any longer.
Just sayin’.
Comment from Michelle
Time: August 24, 2007, 3:15 pm
Listen. A few years ago, I was walking into an office building and the man in front of me literally let the door slam in my face. I didn’t say a word, that anyone could hear, but there were a few choice ones running through my head.
I walked to the elevator and there stood my good friend. We waited in silence for about 30 seconds and then he turned to me and said “I never know whether to hold the door open for a woman or not anymore.”
I stood there and just looked at him for a bit. Then calmly said “Well, I think its polite to hold the door for whoever is behind you. Male or female. Doesn’t matter.”
“Oh”. The look on his face, as if he had just found enlightment. A thought which had never occurred to him before. Sheesh…
Comment from FbL
Time: August 25, 2007, 8:39 am
It’s GOOD to know there are still women out there who appreciate what was once called “common courtesy.â€
I most definitely appreciate it. I know that decades (centuries?) ago those courtesies may have had their genesis in ideas of female inferiority, but today I see them simply as a mark of respect. To me they are an unspoken, “Hey, I noticed you’re a lady.” It’s taken me awhile to get comfortable with that, because so often I don’t want to be noticed in any way, but now I usually enjoy it.
Comment from FbL
Time: August 25, 2007, 8:40 am
Great story, Michelle. Makes me laugh and roll my eyes.
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