u/Suspicious-Cup6121

I medically retired after over 11 years in the military and immediately found a civilian job making almost $100k. The turnover at my company is really high due to the nature of the work but job security is great for a multitude of reasons. However, the benefits are not. PTO accrual sucks and there is no sick time and we only get half of the federal holidays off and it still comes out of your PTO. The light of my job is my coworkers, truly hit the jack pot. I’m able to work from home as needed, but we are expected to be very flexible if needed in addition to our normal office hours and I take call almost once a month for one week at a time with no extra pay. I recently applied for the VA GHATP HSS Trainee and was selected however it is a steep decrease in pay and I am worried about the state of federal employment but also feel very called to continue my civil service and miss my 11 federal holidays and leave! I have been doing some digging and a lot of workers seem satisfied with the BA I’d be working at but it just seems like a huge gamble and could go either way. My husband is supportive and we are able to maintain our lifestyle with the decrease in pay. I’d love to hear from anyone who completed GHATP or from those working within the HSS role currently.