>>2857303agree with
>>2857308the way gov works if you symbolically have to get in the cock sucking line, and that starts with seasonal for like 3-10 years depending on how much college or how good you are at cock sucking.
go to usa jobs and fill out positions. if the AI system passes you, phone call the ranger stations, because the people behind are usually good ol boy types (in rural areas away from liberal cities). If you want a better in you go to somewhere people dont want to work at. People do this all the time for 'career advancement'. "oh hey I can become a gs-07 if I spend a year in desert land where the only amenity is sunday night bingo. That's the area to work for.
Fire is 'supposed' to split from USFS and become part of Department of Interior under its own division with BLM and a few others but that is still in limbo. This makes 2 points.
1) in theory this may free up some of the funds for USFS after cause fire was undoubtedly eating the USFS budget for the last few decades.
2) until this change, wildland fire was one of the seasonal jobs to get your foot in the door to other USFS work down the line.
The USFS world isn't huge either so if you're an asshole, others will know. I meet people all the time that knew someone at my last duty station even if it was in the opposite end of the state. The best thing you can do is be consistent and keep your mouth shut on revealing your power level. You'll meet cool people but its not worth losing a career over. However I got away without getting the vaccine.
Also along the lines of what the poster I mentioned said, USFS was getting a substantial budget increase in the last few years, and they kept asking for more. First the Biden administration denied that in 2024, so there was a seasonal layoff panic. Then with Trump in 2025 there was the shutdown. Even if Doge isn't around anymore, USFS both is underfunded and mismanaged.