Careers and Benefits for Women in the Army

by Alex A. Kecskes

Today's U.S. Army offers women a number of exceptional career opportunities. One major benefit is that much of what you learn can be transferred to many civilian jobs. The army currently works with over 250 companies who give preferential hiring to women army veterans. (Check out these Career Transition Programs.)

The many jobs available to women in today's army include administrative support, healthcare, computers and multimedia design, and law enforcement.

As an example, should you decide to become an Air Traffic Controller for the army, you would undergo extensive training. This would include 14 weeks of classroom and hands-on field training in air traffic control management, radar procedures and detection, aircraft identification and guidance for landing, and take-off methods and procedures. All these skills are easily transferable to a career as a civilian air traffic controller.

If you choose to enter the healthcare field, the army provides extensive training (which would be very costly in civilian life) as a nurse or medic. This training and experience would be extremely valuable should you decide to pursue a civilian career as a Registered Nurse (RN) or Physician's Assistant.

You also can't beat the army's pay and benefits—especially in this tough job market. Enlisted women earn an average of $25,000 a year, a housing allowance of over $10,000, paid health benefits, a food allowance of nearly $3,500 and a tax-free benefit on all money received. Women officers average roughly $50,000 annually, all the benefits of enlisted ranks, plus officer perks. On-going educational benefits include up to $81,756 to pay for college expenses. Not bad for serving your country.

Here's a more detailed look at Women in the U.S. Army.

On a personal note, when I served as an NCO, some of the most disciplined, hard-charging troopers were women.

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