13D4 Career Guide
13D4: Special Tactics Officer
Career transition guide for Air Force Special Tactics Officer (13D4)
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Top civilian roles for 13D4 veterans, with average salary and market demand data.
Air Traffic Controller
Skills to develop:
Emergency Management Specialist
Skills to develop:
Wildland Firefighter/Helitack Crew Member
Skills to develop:
Security Consultant
Skills to develop:
Search and Rescue (SAR) Coordinator
Skills to develop:
Salary estimates from VWC career data
Hidden Strengths
Cognitive skills your 13D4 training built — and where they transfer.
Situational Awareness
Constantly monitoring the surrounding environment in high-stakes situations, such as assault zones or during personnel recovery missions, to identify potential threats and maintain the safety of the team.
Maintaining a constant awareness of the environment and potential risks, allowing for proactive decision-making and risk mitigation.
Rapid Prioritization
Quickly assessing and prioritizing tasks in dynamic and often chaotic environments, such as during emergency trauma care or when coordinating rescue operations, to ensure the most critical needs are addressed first.
Evaluating competing demands and rapidly determining the order of importance, especially under pressure, to maximize efficiency and effectiveness.
Team Synchronization
Coordinating and synchronizing the actions of special tactics teams during reconnaissance, terminal control, and personnel recovery missions to ensure seamless execution and minimize risk.
Effectively coordinating and aligning the efforts of a team to achieve common goals, ensuring everyone is working in unison and maximizing collective performance.
Degraded-Mode Operations
Maintaining operational effectiveness even when equipment malfunctions or communication lines are disrupted, adapting plans and improvising solutions to complete the mission in challenging circumstances.
Continuing to perform effectively and find alternative solutions when resources are limited, systems fail, or unexpected problems arise.
Resource Optimization
Effectively managing and allocating resources, including personnel, equipment, and time, to maximize the success of personnel recovery missions and ensure the readiness of special tactics teams.
Strategic allocation and management of available resources to achieve the best possible outcomes, improving efficiency and minimizing waste.
Non-Obvious Career Matches
Emergency Management Director
SOC 11-9161.00You've been planning and executing high-stakes rescue operations. Your experience in coordinating resources, assessing risks, and maintaining situational awareness makes you exceptionally well-suited to manage emergency response efforts for a city or region.
Logistics Manager
SOC 11-3071.00You've been expertly managing resources and coordinating complex operations. Your ability to optimize logistics and ensure timely delivery of resources in challenging environments translates directly to managing supply chains and distribution networks in the civilian sector.
Corporate Security Manager
SOC 33-1011.00Your background in threat assessment, risk mitigation, and security protocols makes you an ideal candidate to oversee the safety and security of corporate assets and personnel. You've been doing this in combat, so you will certainly be able to handle it in a corporate setting.
Training & Education Equivalencies
Special Tactics Training Squadron, Pope Field, NC
Topics Covered
- •Air Traffic Control
- •Terminal Attack Control
- •Personnel Recovery
- •Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape (SERE)
- •Special Reconnaissance
- •Small Unit Tactics
- •Airfield Assessment and Reconnaissance
Certification Pathways
Partial Coverage
Requires additional training and certification in civilian emergency medical protocols and practices, including specific pharmacology and patient assessment techniques. Focus on National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians (NREMT) standards.
Requires knowledge of FAA regulations and procedures specific to civilian air traffic control. Need to study Instrument Flight Rules (IFR), Visual Flight Rules (VFR), and non-towered airport operations.
Needs to review specific protocols for wilderness medical emergencies, focusing on prolonged care, evacuation techniques, and environmental considerations relevant to remote settings. Study updated wilderness medicine best practices.
Recommended Next Certifications
Technical Systems Translation
Military systems you've used and their civilian equivalents for your resume.
| Military System | Civilian Equivalent |
|---|---|
| Joint Personnel Recovery Agency (JPRA) Personnel Recovery System | Emergency Evacuation and Personnel Tracking Software |
| AN/PRC-117G Multiband Manpack Radio | Satellite communication devices like Iridium or Inmarsat terminals |
| Global Positioning System (GPS) based navigation systems (e.g., DAGR) | Garmin GPS devices or smartphone-based navigation apps (e.g., Gaia GPS, AllTrails) |
| AN/PVS-15 Night Vision Goggles | High-end commercial night vision optics |
| TacAir Interoperability System (TAIS) | Air Traffic Management (ATM) systems like those from Thales or Indra |
| Joint Air Request Net (JARN) | Web-based coordination tools (e.g., Trello, Asana) integrated with communication platforms |
| Defense Advanced GPS Receiver (DAGR) | High-precision GPS survey equipment (e.g., Trimble, Leica) |
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