I'm in naval ship repair (federal employee). It pays well, and I work a lot of OT (6-800+ hrs/year). About once a year, I take an assignment to San Diego (from Bremerton, Wa). This way, I usually miss the really bad weather up here and bank about $2000/mo in per-diem money. Last trip was 8 months. That's a lot of PT parts.
BTW... NO KIDS/NO WIFE!