LE Wife

[DETENCOP7]

Thank you in advance for your thoughts....

[BlueandBlue]

Congratulations on your upcoming marriage. I too am getting married this December to an LEO, so I applaud your fiancee's acceptance of your career goals.

I personally know an LEO with a young wife and children who went to the Secret Service. His wife was already an independent person, quite willing to accept his horrid schedule and months away during training. However his decision to become an agent came after extensive time on at his police department, and she already had an established routine of handling kid-related issues without much hands-on input from him. It was practically no different from a military deployment.

Your fiancee will have to have the same independence and ability to deal with you being gone for months on end away at training on the East coast. Unless you choose to move there.

I'm certain there are plenty of federal officers on here that can give you a much more in-depth response as to how to handle the in's and out's of daily living if you choose to take a federal job.

Good luck!

[leo2b007]

Well, I can give you a little insight. I am not an agent yet, but I worked at my local Secret Service office for 5 years in a student position when I was in college and grad school. So, I have seen the life style of agents up close and have several good friends who are agents.

The job is going to be tough on any relationship. You don't just have to think about time away when you are training, because the USSS is going to have you traveling often and for various periods of time. Even if you are in a local office where you would be working on criminal investigations, protection is an agent's number 1 job. I have seen agents get orders for a protection detail after 5pm where they have to be on the plane early the next morning. So, you and your soon to be wife need to understand that you can get trips anytime and at inconvenient times. Trips can be anywhere from a couple days to over a month.

I've unfortunately seen several agents' marriages end because of the job. From what I've seen one of the biggest keys is to make sure that your wife is independent. Since your soon to be wife already knows what it is like with the local le I'm sure she knows how to handle you not being able to do everything. I have also seen many agents still married to their first wife and they couldn't be happier. So, it obviously can be done.

As far as a rewarding job, almost every agent I have ever spoken to loves what they do. You get to go all over the world, training is great from what everyone says, and they try to keep up with technology for offices (mine was a small office so it took a little longer for us to get up-to-date stuff).

Good luck with your up coming wedding and best of luck to you in the pursuit of becoming an agent. Hope I was able to offer a little bit of insight, I'm sure some federal guys on here can give you a lot more.

[DETENCOP7]

I appreciate the input thus far-can anyone add to this? I would be very grateful....

[Gene L]

Generally, as a down side, you're restricted to large cities as places to live. Also, some of the SS stuff can be pretty boring...guarding bathrooms, etc.

The Secret Service also investigates counterfitting and credit card issues, probably ID theft (but I don't know this.) It's not all guard duty. I think they switch off.

I've worked with them once on a counterfit case. Nice bunch of people...I think having a good personality is part of the job requirement.

[pulicords]

A couple of the guys I worked with in local LE went to USSS. Both indicated that in the early stages of their careers they had the misconception that this agency was different than the agencies that they were working for at the time. They believed that being the "Protectors of the President of the United States of America" must of been the "best of the best." How could our country not find the cream of the crop for this detail? When the actually went to work there, both officers (now agents) found the quality of the personnel was (overall) the same as the agencies they left (excellent southern California departments). Some agents were outstanding, some good and some not so good. The U.S. Secret Service is like any other major department in that it takes what it can get and sometimes it's very hard to get the personnel it wants. Examine this agency like all others in terms of pay, benefits, future opportunity for advancement, etc... There is one downside that I haven't seen posted yet and that is the requirement for reassignment. Being a federal agency means that you may be assigned to work in a locale you might not like, in a state far away from friends and family members. If you don't mind being moved, no problem. If you like the state you live in, work for a state agency. If you like the county or city you live in, work for an agency which will allow you to stay there. One of my friends liked living in L.A. His first assignment was Cleveland and he wasn't happy about it, but knew that's a downside to working for a federal agency when he went there. The weird hours and days away from home although not unique to the USSS are certainly a consideration in any LE profession. Any marriage must be able to accept this or something will change. The job or the family situation.