After five years in the Navy I got a job in the fire department at the NASA Plum Brook Station research facility in Sandusky, Ohio. After sixteen years that led to middle management (supervisor, section manager) for twenty more years. Then I spent my last three years in the Infrastucture Engineering office as an Engineering Technician. That totaled 39 years, all for private contractors.
I've been retired for six years but I keep active at our local gun club (membership just under 1,000) as a range officer.
http://eriecountycl.com/
And I'm still having fun!