Do we have any coal miners on the forum?

Think long and hard about accepting a salary job doing much of the same job as you have. If you get paid overtime now when the equipment breaks down and causes you to have to work over....you'll get zilch with the salary job. You will also have to do all of the administrative work that goes along with being Captain on your own time. If the salaried position isn't at least 3 times the pay, I don't see how it could be worth it.