Now that's #altchemjobs: E-4 radiology specialist

Fascinating post from a B.S. chemistry graduate on the Chemistry Reddit:

So here's what I did. I was in a similar situation as you. I got to my junior and senior years of college, and realized that I should have majored in education. I didn't want to teach English or anything like that. I had started tutoring and helping others with chemistry, and I really enjoyed that aspect of it. So I realized that I wanted to teach chemistry. But at that point, I didn't really want to go on for a Masters or PhD immediately; I was tired of school and studying. Also, my GPA was nowhere near competitive enough to get into a decent graduate program. I had worked too much throughout my college career and slacked off too much as an underclassman to make it up in time. 

So what to do. I know this isn't for everyone, but I joined the Army. I was initially going to commission as an officer in the Navy, but as I say, not a competitive GPA, among other things. So I enlisted in the Army as a Radiology Specialist. Since I had my bachelors, I was able to join as an E4; I didn't have to start at the bottom. My chemistry degree gave me a leg up in understanding the physics, chemistry and biology in the training for my job, and that part was all a breeze. Now I'm at my first duty station, and I've got a national registry in Radiography, which not all military techs bother getting. 

Here's the part that made me type all of this out for you. I'm stationed in Washington, and the hospital I work at has us working a Panama schedule, twelve hours at a time. It's a rotating two on, two off kind of schedule, so I have various weekdays off each week. Somebody mentioned to me, when they found out that I wanted to be a teacher, that all Washington requires for its Emergency Substitute Teachers, is that they have a bachelors degree (doesn't matter what field) and pass a background check. So that's what I did. Being military and having a chemistry degree, the people at the school district were very excited to have me, and the interview was a breeze. I got the job no problem, and I can teach whenever I want. I'm always getting calls for schools needing substitutes.

I suspect that this person will have a far more varied, interesting life than most chemistry graduates, They've certainly shown a lot of adaptability.

(Enlisting! Man, is a B.S. in chemistry what it takes to get to E-4? What kind of rating would they give a Ph.D. who wanted to enlist?)

(I'd hope that'd rate E-5 at least? (not a chance, I'll bet.))