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Thoughts on early retirement

Started by pheine78, January 11, 2014, 05:41:45 pm

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Ragnar Hogbrok

Good deal.  Thanks for looking again.
"Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats." ― H.L. Mencken

Hogville prediction formula:

1.  Insert bad news prediction. A loss, a recruit going elsewhere, a coach leaving, etc.
2.  Tag "hope I'm wrong," on the end.
3a.  Enjoy a correct prediction.
3b.  Act like you're relieved you're wrong and celebrate with everyone else.

Pork Twain

I personally would not touch an early out because you will lose money from it for the rest of your life, however long it might be.  I am at 19 yrs and 7 months though and just reenlisted for five more to take the assignment I have now.  I will take every percentage point I can before I retire.
"It is better to be an optimist and proven wrong, than a pessimist and proven right." ~Pork Twain

https://www.facebook.com/groups/sweetmemes/

 

Ragnar Hogbrok

Quote from: Pork Twain on June 13, 2014, 03:50:05 pm
I personally would not touch an early out because you will lose money from it for the rest of your life, however long it might be.  I am at 19 yrs and 7 months though and just reenlisted for five more to take the assignment I have now.  I will take every percentage point I can before I retire.

Which branch are you with?  I believe the premise of the thread was Army personnel and some Air Force personnel being dissatisfied with the way those particular branches are going.

For some, money isn't worth it if you're miserable.  Sounds like you have had some good assignments, including the one you're in.  That's awesome.  I wish I could say the same.
"Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats." ― H.L. Mencken

Hogville prediction formula:

1.  Insert bad news prediction. A loss, a recruit going elsewhere, a coach leaving, etc.
2.  Tag "hope I'm wrong," on the end.
3a.  Enjoy a correct prediction.
3b.  Act like you're relieved you're wrong and celebrate with everyone else.

Pork Twain

June 13, 2014, 07:16:52 pm #53 Last Edit: June 13, 2014, 07:34:23 pm by Pork Twain
Quote from: The Chief on June 13, 2014, 04:51:44 pm
Which branch are you with?  I believe the premise of the thread was Army personnel and some Air Force personnel being dissatisfied with the way those particular branches are going.

For some, money isn't worth it if you're miserable.  Sounds like you have had some good assignments, including the one you're in.  That's awesome.  I wish I could say the same.
Actually the premise of the thread was one AF guy stating why he was thinking about taking the early out.  ;)

I do not blame him and many have done it and love it.  I am only saying that I would not touch it.  Like any other program the military offers, it will be great for some and suck for some.  What I do know is that the military does not start up programs like these for the good of the troops, they start them for the good of the government pocketbook.

I am an E-7 in the Air Force and some of my assignments have been great and some have sucked royally.  The one I am wrapping up my career with is on the great end at a Joint assignment at DIA in Charlottesville, VA.  I also have a BS and an MS and have begun the pursuit of my PhD, but will still take those percentage points to provide my family a tad more security over the remainder of my life.  That is what works for me.

"It is better to be an optimist and proven wrong, than a pessimist and proven right." ~Pork Twain

https://www.facebook.com/groups/sweetmemes/

Ragnar Hogbrok

To be fair, I did mention Air Force personnel in the post you quoted.

Anyways, I'm not knocking you.  You gotta' do what's best for you and makes you happy.  I'll do 20, maybe 21 years depending on whether or not I get promoted to W-4 at 18 years.  There just are no Army assignments available to warrant officers that let you "take a breather."  My "breather" was transfer out of a flying unit into an infantry brigade combat team conducting intensive training cycle.  Thanks, Army.

I've got eight, maybe nine years left.  I figure I can stand on my head that long.
"Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats." ― H.L. Mencken

Hogville prediction formula:

1.  Insert bad news prediction. A loss, a recruit going elsewhere, a coach leaving, etc.
2.  Tag "hope I'm wrong," on the end.
3a.  Enjoy a correct prediction.
3b.  Act like you're relieved you're wrong and celebrate with everyone else.

Pork Twain

Quote from: The Chief on June 13, 2014, 07:49:14 pm
To be fair, I did mention Air Force personnel in the post you quoted.

Anyways, I'm not knocking you.  You gotta' do what's best for you and makes you happy.  I'll do 20, maybe 21 years depending on whether or not I get promoted to W-4 at 18 years.  There just are no Army assignments available to warrant officers that let you "take a breather."  My "breather" was transfer out of a flying unit into an infantry brigade combat team conducting intensive training cycle.  Thanks, Army.

I've got eight, maybe nine years left.  I figure I can stand on my head that long.
You Army guys put in the work most of us Air Force guys don't that is for sure.  Well we do a different kind of work and we have a lot better assignments for sure.
"It is better to be an optimist and proven wrong, than a pessimist and proven right." ~Pork Twain

https://www.facebook.com/groups/sweetmemes/

YankHog

All depends on your individual circumstance, and what your plans are post military.  I'm coming up on 23 yrs with 20 yrs active and although i'd love to stay a few extra just to see if I get that next rank, my body is done and won't let me go more than another year or so.  Plus if you are an E-7 working on a PhD, to me, that is a no brainer, you can and will get paid so much more on the outside as a DAC or contractor probably doing the exact same job you are doing now it just wouldn't make sense to stay.  and if you're working DIA in Charlottesville  that is the absolute prime job to retire Friday and go to work doing the exact same thing Monday, just getting paid twice what an E-7 makes.  I did a year at the DIAC on Mil orders and absolutely loved it, just hated living in DC.  All just my opinion.

Pork Twain

June 16, 2014, 09:42:18 am #57 Last Edit: June 17, 2014, 07:39:14 am by Pork Twain
My thoughts exactly but I enjoy the job so will probably stay in at least till 22, likely till 24.  I will not make E-8 as I am done with PME.  No more, ever and I understand what that means in rank.  I also know what 20+ yrs in Intel analysis and an active TS clearance will do for me with my MS in Public Safety/Homeland Security.  I am also having my third back surgery in July, second fusion and getting stability bolts insrted into both hips.  I am ready to finish this out and move on.  If I were in the Army or working on the flight line, I would have probably been pushed out a while ago due to my back.
"It is better to be an optimist and proven wrong, than a pessimist and proven right." ~Pork Twain

https://www.facebook.com/groups/sweetmemes/

YankHog

Quote from: Pork Twain on June 16, 2014, 09:42:18 am
My thoughts exactly but I enjoy the job so will probably stay in at least till 22, likely till 24.  I will not make E-8 as I am done with PME.  No more, ever and I understand what that means in rank.  I also know what 20+ yrs in Intel analysis and an active TS clearance will do for me with my MS in Public Safety/Homeland Security.  I am also having my third back surgery in July, second fusion and getting stability bolts insrted into both hips.  I am ready to finish this out and move on.  If I were in the Army or working on the flight line, I would have probably been pushed out a while ago due to my back.

yeah I'm an intel weenie as well (working as IG now though), the only issue I see now is we are just about at the end of the gravy train, it has been pretty easy for a civ intel analyst to volunteer for Afghanistan and pull upwards or north of 15-20k per month, much harder now and is about to dry up completely......will have to wait till that other continent blows up completely.....

Pork Twain

Quote from: YankHog on June 18, 2014, 08:01:58 am
yeah I'm an intel weenie as well (working as IG now though), the only issue I see now is we are just about at the end of the gravy train, it has been pretty easy for a civ intel analyst to volunteer for Afghanistan and pull upwards or north of 15-20k per month, much harder now and is about to dry up completely......will have to wait till that other continent blows up completely.....
Whatever, we are about to be back in Iraq...  If that other one ever blows up, I hope I am old and retired because we will get creamed on that continent.
"It is better to be an optimist and proven wrong, than a pessimist and proven right." ~Pork Twain

https://www.facebook.com/groups/sweetmemes/

Tejas_Pete

OSB results for Captains (1100 total) came out in June, they put out a lot of guys with prior service I guess because they think they'll be retiring soon anyway. Results for Majors comes out in July. Some real dirtbags I was sure would be OSB'd are still around, I guess because they never had bosses that rated them correctly.

Ragnar Hogbrok

Quote from: Tejas_Pete on July 05, 2014, 09:06:42 am
OSB results for Captains (1100 total) came out in June, they put out a lot of guys with prior service I guess because they think they'll be retiring soon anyway. Results for Majors comes out in July. Some real dirtbags I was sure would be OSB'd are still around, I guess because they never had bosses that rated them correctly.

How is it the biggest dirt bags squeeze through and the the ones cut leave you scratching your head?
"Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats." ― H.L. Mencken

Hogville prediction formula:

1.  Insert bad news prediction. A loss, a recruit going elsewhere, a coach leaving, etc.
2.  Tag "hope I'm wrong," on the end.
3a.  Enjoy a correct prediction.
3b.  Act like you're relieved you're wrong and celebrate with everyone else.

SteveInArk

Quote from: The Chief on July 05, 2014, 02:59:15 pm
How is it the biggest dirt bags squeeze through and the the ones cut leave you scratching your head?

Because the higher-ups making the decisions are often dirt bags too.   ;)
- "If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab our's back." - Unknown

 

Tejas_Pete

The last few years OER's have all been ridiculously inflated so it's hard to weed people out when you do an OSB. Just recently they started block checking captains again but a lot of people only had 2 - 3 OER's with block checks usually from same person. If you butted heads with that senior rater or the senior rater didn't care to take the time to rate you efficiently you could get hosed.

Second is a lot of raters and senior raters in the Army don't want to sit down and hold people accountable face to face. I know an officer that failed multiple PT tests and was overweight but was never flagged and still got OER's that were inflated. She had a masters degree and was not OSB'd. All it would have taken was one senior rater with the balls to flag her or give a sub par OER but unfortunately it never happened.

Lastly the Army knows that they will probably have to cut too many officers and will be short in 3  - 5 years so they selected a lot of guys who had prior enlisted service and were at 18 + years. The logic is that if they have to cut 20% of their Captains, might as well cut guys already on the tail end of their career instead of someone at 9 - 11 years in. They even selected some people that had already dropped their paperwork to leave the Army and were just waiting to sign out or were on terminal leave.

Tejas_Pete

Quote from: SteveInArk on July 05, 2014, 08:44:30 pm
Because the higher-ups making the decisions are often dirt bags too.   ;)

This x 1000

riccoar

Quote from: pheine78 on February 17, 2014, 03:16:20 pm
She sounds like the type of person we don't want to lose; but the type of person that see's the writing on the wall and is planning on getting out.  Over the last month and a half I have seen a lot of good folks put in for TERA or early separation, and several not so good folks, those I would expect to try to get out.  My hope is that the inflated rating system doesn't affect the RIF too much, but I think we all know it will happen.  I have been rating my folks fairly for years now, and I hope it is the same across the board.
She is far and away a better Airman than I was.  She's done a tour in Afghanistan as well.  She had originally planned to be in past 20.  She has been at Lackland for a year and that place is a *** cesspool.  I can not believe some of the stuff that is happening down there in relation to the sex scandal.