Life as a Government Contractor Isn't Always Easy

So, do you want to be a government contractor? Do you want real job security? Well, from my experience, you cannot have both. At least not for any extended period of time.

I retired from military service in March of 2008. The following month I took a job with a company on a government contract. Then, in October of 2010, another company bought them out. Fortunately, it turned out that the new company kept all of us on, but for a short time it was questionable as to whether or not we were going to lose our jobs.

In August of 2012 I took a new job with a different company on a different government contract. I was good to go until April of 2014 when the DoD moved us from our downtown location to a place on the Air Force base, at which time the position I had left in August of 2012 disappeared. "Whew!" I thought. "I dodged a bullet there!" Not so fast. In January of 2015 the contract I was on ran out. The government did not renew it and I and my partner were out of work.

I was out of work until that August, when I finally got a position on yet another contract...a position that fell out from under me only 11 months later. It was July of 2016 and I was out of work yet again.

This time I was out of work for less than two months. This past September I started working on yet another contract on a different Air Force base. Almost everything about this job is better than the last one, too. The only thing is...I just found out that my last day there will be November 2nd. The contract is ending and a new contract for different duties has been awarded to a different company.

Once again, I am going to be out of work. Who knows for how long? Perhaps the new company will offer me a position on the new contract. Perhaps another as yet unknown opportunity will present itself. Government contract positions generally pay well, but the lack of long-term job security can be trying. Perhaps I should look more into the private sector?

What is the "correct" answer to that question? I suppose that only time will tell.