If Fallout 4 has taught us anything, it’s that we really did have gobs of free time available, and all we needed was a video game to help us find it. In the process, the game gave us a pretty good idea of how to survive in a post-apocalyptic landscape. If you’ve had your fill of playing the adventure and are ready to live it, ClearanceJobs is here to help. Here are a few careers that let you to leverage your security clearance to prepare for the irradiated wasteland at the end of the world.

Special Operations Forces Consultant

There’s no way around this one: If you want to survive assaults from raiders, mutated beasts, and possible robot armies, your best bet is to have once been some variety of Special Forces. (The “former” part is critical here; in every decent action movie, the villain and/or plucky hero is always former Special Forces. See: John Rambo; Jack Bauer; Martin Riggs; pretty much every character, good and bad, in the Arnold Schwarzenegger masterpiece, Commando; Principal Skinner; and, of course, the A-Team.)

ClearanceJobs is brimming with SOF consultant listings asking for former team guys. The jobs frequently require 50% travel—and not likely to Venice or Prague. The upshot is that your skills will stay sharp and you’ll bide your time by defending the free world. When the A-bombs finally drop, you’ll have spent so much time in modern-day wastelands that you hardly notice the change.

Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense Specialist

The whole concept of nuclear fallout is fascinating and alarming. In the popular imagination, the very word “fallout” conjures some kind of vague, looming, terrifying energy wave or amorphous blob of doom that simply won’t go away. It’s so much simpler than that, though, which makes it so much scarier. For the most part, fallout is simply dust that’s been made radioactive. It’s the ubiquity of dust that makes it all so bone-chilling and destructive. Dust is everywhere, not just here but all across the universe. Our planet (and every planet!) was formed from dust that came together in space over billions of years.

So being a chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) defense specialist is a job guaranteed to keep you alive for quite a while. When the horizon is nothing but mushroom clouds as far as the eye can see, all of the training and practice you’ll get today will help you survive that grim tomorrow. Moreover, your radiation defense skills will make you invaluable (read: not likely to be killed immediately by raiders) to settlers attempting to rebuild in the post-war wasteland.

Vehicle Mechanic

The profound importance of ace mechanics never really registered with me until I deployed to Afghanistan and watched the wondrous war-fighting capabilities created by those men and women. Throughout my deployment, ODA teams found themselves in need of vehicles with special modifications. A Special Forces team guy would ask the senior mechanic for seemingly-impossible changes to a run-of-the-mill vehicle—changes that would vex even the best mechanical engineer and leave the modified vehicle unrecognizable to most. Strip the armor from the vehicle, remove its top, add multiple side-mounted seats with machine gun turrets, new ways to dismount, and so on. The mechanic would consider the impossible request, look at the vehicle for a moment, rub his chin thoughtfully, and finally ask, “What about the color?” Those mechanics could do anything, and very successfully.

Let’s face it: when the bombs fall, the raiding parties will be looking to loot supplies and capture you for slavery if you’re lucky, or as some sort of cannibal meal if you’re not. You’re going to need a way to get the hell out of Dodge—and fast. Even if you find a car, don’t expect its engine to turn over after the electromagnetic pulses have their way with the onboard computer. That’s a big problem for most of us, but for a master mechanic? No problem. ClearanceJobs lists scores of mechanic jobs for some of the best companies in the world—many of which are already operating in austere environments. Train how you fight, so the saying goes, so that you can fight like you train.

Nuclear Weapons Specialist

Let’s face it: if the apocalypse is going to happen, why be the target when you can be the weapon? Somebody’s got to design, protect, or push “the button,” and it may as well be you. (The downside is that if you’re at a nuke site, you are a likely target for nuclear annihilation yourself. God doesn’t give with both hands.) Assuming you get to the bunkers (or vaults!) in time, however, you can take pride that you exacted a little payback from the guys who erased the American experiment from the map.

Security clearances and nuclear weapons are like peanut butter and jelly, and for that reason, ClearanceJobs is your one-stop nuclear jobs HQ. Some related careers involve teaching the military and government the art of nuclear war. Other jobs involve improving the safety and security of our nuclear stockpile. Furthermore, the government is always on the lookout for someone who can help develop the policies and procedures for the dark day when the silos open and our shadows are burned into concrete.

It’s an ugly business, but that’s war. And as Fallout 4 reminds us, war never changes.

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David Brown is a regular contributor to ClearanceJobs. His most recent book, THE MISSION (Custom House, 2021), is now available in bookstores everywhere in hardcover and paperback. He can be found online at https://www.dwb.io.