I was in the military before I started seriously writing and I wish I had of been then because there was a ton of down time. When you were working it was non-stop, but when you weren't there was hours/days on end of sitting around waiting on the next job or thing to do. After that and college my current job is related to law enforcement, the hours are pretty bad, but the amount of characters you get to see is endless. From all walks of life, they walk through the door and have a story to tell. From that standpoint it really is a priceless job. Lots of material and concepts dropped at my feet to run with. Back to the bad hours though, I'm carving out the minutes to open up my outlines, cards, script to write or brainstorm. The pay makes up for it, but tends to get a person comfortable.