Neil Serafin ⋅ Easthampton, MA Telecommunications ⋅ 40 years experience

Low pay and many hours in the bush league markets is where you should look for work first. Get your foot in the door. This is one field where ability and NOT education makes you move up. Stay away from the for profit "institutes" to learn this field...they will just take your money and get you an entry level job...you could have gotten on your own. I worked in Radio...it was a hard grind. Try Cable TV local access as a start. ...they are expanding while the broadcasters are shrinking.

Laurence Schnabel ⋅ Templeton, CA Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP ⋅ 45 years experience

My daughter attended a 2 year masters degree in communication at U.S.C's Annenberg school of Communication ( I think U. of Penn. has such an Annenberg school as well). This was after she'd graduated from Vanderbilt U. and did odd jobs for two or so years. She then went into TV news broadcasting, first in Coos Bay, Oregon, then Yakima, Wash. and finally Des Moines, Iowa. She worked her way up from having to carry her own camera gear to the scene of the news ( Coos Bay) until in Des Moines she was an anchor and had others carry the gear and do all the prep work that goes into news casting. She then got married and gave up news casting for babies.
So my point is you may have to earn your stripes by working your way up the ladder , and may even need a degree related to news communication.
Another idea- fox News , CNN and NBC all have military commentators, eg. Jack Jacobs at NBC, General Keane and Col. Oliver North at fox News . Maybe you could reach on of these men and get some leads on how to break into TV programs. Good luck to you.

Damin Kirk ⋅ North Charleston, SC Boeing ⋅ 21 years experience

Hi Stella -

Check out ABC/Disney World. They launched a campaign a few years back targeting Veterans. Many of the jobs were Radio/TV based, I think they still may be running the program. Like Bob said, you will have to be patient at first. Good Luck!

Damin

Bob Ambrose ⋅ Ossining, NY Maryknoll ⋅ 34 years experience

Thank you so much for your service to our country.Based on the experience of someone I know who broke into the field, they obtained a degree in Communications and started with internships in the industry wherever they could find them. Low pay but experience for their resume. This led to an entry level job at a network, and I mean entry level...escorting guests from the front door to the green room. This ultimately led to junior production administrative tasks and the person is now in production at mid level. This has taken several years. You have chosen a highly desirable and competitive field so it won't be an easy climb, but based upon what you have already accomplished in defending our country and its citizens you have the perseverance to achieve any goal you set for yourself. Thank you again and good luck.