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I served in the US military. I was in the Air Force, but my profession was IT, so I spent my whole service working as a sysadmin.
You can officially retire and collect a pension after only 20 years served. I joined at 18, so I retired at 38 years old. Normally, a 20-yr pension isn't enough to fully retire on, but I got a bit messed up during my service. The VA gave me a 100% disability rating, which includes a monthly pay bigger than my pension! Plus. My wife also served and was medically discharged with a 100% disability rating as well. So she gets the same medical benefits and pay as I do (minus a pension).
With all three sources of passive income, we can live without working. We're not rich by any stretch of the imagination, but we pull in enough to live comfortably and have all our basic needs met.
Like I said, I could go back into the IT field and double my current income (or more), but then I'd be stuck working all the time again, and I don't want to do that. The military was a 24/7 gig for 20 years. "Service Before Self" was one of our core values; we always had to prioritize the mission over our personal lives, and we could be recalled to work any time, day or night. So it's nice to actually have some "me time" now, where no one can make me go anywhere or do anything. Not looking to go back to work and give that up so soon.
Thanks for your service soldier. I wanted to retire too, but at 8 years my bop code expired and I got a nice little email congratulating me on becoming an mtl at Sheppard. I bop'd out of Texas and there was no way they were getting me to go back. It sucks because I did really like the air Force but the transition from e4 mafia to nco blew lol. No longer do your job and instead I was pushing paper and disciplining troops for ditching pt. And then do only that for 3 years for high schools kids in middle of nowhere Texas? ๐ Denied the retraining, cert'd up my last year, then got a job doing my same job with less work and for way more pay. The air Force classic lol.
Always glad to hear a good retirement story though. Most of the people I knew who retired were jaded as hell by the end of it. Hopefully the air Force didn't break your body too bad though... Have a cold one for me! Air power!
Yeah, I was pretty jaded by the end of my career. Couldn't wait to retire, which is why I left as soon as I qualified for retirement. I served exactly 20 years and 6 days.
I only made it to Technical Sergeant (E-6), but it was my ideal rank. I had enough rank and authority to manage personnel and resources, but I was also the technical expert and could get down on the ground level and do the work alongside my Airmen and NCOs. All career fields operate differently, but my IT field specifically didn't allow Senior NCOs to do the job. They were upper-management; they always got put behind a desk and made to do paperwork, pass down orders, and oversee projects.
I didn't want that for myself, so I stopped trying to promote once I made TSgt. I expected I'd have to keep working once I retired, so I wanted to stay technical and keep my IT certifications and experience strong, so I could transition into a high-paying gig on the outside.
Little did I know that I'd earn that coveted 100% Permanent & Total disability rating. Now my medical and dental costs are covered for life and my monthly VA check is bigger than my pension, so I'm essentially making a little bit more money than when I was serving, just to sit on my ass all day. So... yeah, I'm enjoying that hard-earned freedom right now.