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I did 9 and honestly haven’t looked back. This may seem silly but a huge thing for me is having the ability to say “f*ck this, I’m out” without ever-lasting consequences. I’ve never actually done that, but the fact that I could is exceedingly liberating for me.
I feel this on a personal level.
I stayed in the reserves and I’m an O-5 now. One year as an EM compared to deploying is roughly worth the entire reserve retirement as an annuity ($360k vs O-5 pay at 38 yrs old then investing the difference)
I did it because it gives me a sense of purpose and I love the leadership piece of it. I’m an XO of a 40 person unit with an O-6 CO. Yeah, it has its ups and downs but I’ve liked the ups more.
Wouldn’t want to do active again other than maybe a state side deployment. The people I get to work with here are brilliant, and the projects are interesting.
Do you really want to be that weird old major who doesn’t seem to have a real job, with 16 years in, riding it out to retirement?
Go back in if you want to do the job. Don’t go back just to ride it out for the pension.
I got out of USMC as O with 8 years. Everyone around me was asking why I didn’t “just do 12 more.” On one hand I could keep getting shafted by the monitor and sent to a duty station I hated, still spend 40-60% of my life away from home on exercises/deployments, etc. Instead I got out, got my MBA, met my partner, had several jobs and travelled the world on company dime and now have a family .
One thing that convinced me was looking up my chain of command and realizing I didn’t aspire to almost ANY of my senior officers. The ones I really admired were either getting out, were terminal majors because they had done too many “cool” jobs that didn’t fit the narrow marine corps promotion board expectations. The ones still in were so focused on getting promoted they did it at the expense of their Marines and their families. My peers are now getting selected for 05 and CO roles and that’s pretty awesome but many got out at 12,14,16 years and became that revolving door defense contractor. Not really a “bad” job but important to realize we don’t all automatically make it to 20 and even after you do, then what?? I definitely couldn’t live on a pension alone for the life I want and I definitely wouldn’t have met my life partner in J-Vegas.
I got out at 8 active and then left the reserves at 11. So I walked away from the career twice. It's so hard to deny yourself that pension and the intangibles that come with saying you completed a military career.
But now that I've finally got a clean break I can't even begin to describe the freedom. And I don't miss the pension at all because the $ has a way higher upside in the private sector. You can laugh at the salary of admirals and generals.
So I would say stay in if you truly want that to be your life for the next 10+ years and your identity the rest of your life.
Oh hell no. I did 11 and am so glad I got out. Staying in only makes sense if you really like it. Staff duty in DC is like consulting but worse. Hard pass.
Not sure how much they’d let me fly anymore, and I’d probably have to live in Pensacola to do it. Also hard pass.
Love it. Lucked out with my glasses and NAMI whammy
So I’ll add to the mix… I’m a 20 year Navy veteran Retired off active duty enlisted E-6. For what it’s worth the Retirement check is OK but if you set yourself up for success while you were serving you really shouldn’t have any issues in the civilian sector. I’m finding myself having a harder time adjusting to the civilian sector after 20 years of military service time then if I would’ve gotten out at 10 years or less I’d probably be further ahead in my career and making way more money on the civilian side than I am now as a civilian with my military retirement. Most of my sailors that work for me only did one enlistment and they’re doing great in the civilian sector. Don’t fall into the trap of the leadership telling you there’s no jobs out here. There are plenty of jobs you just have to be qualified to get them or be outside of the box thinker and make your own job.
Here is how I got over the fear of getting out. I got out after 5 years.
I thought about the job I was doing while in, i looked at the pay scale and could project how much my income would be for the next 15 years vs how much I can make as a civilian...
At taps they will try to scare you into staying in. But if you want to be succesful after your militsry career is over. You need to cut your military career short. I hire veterans, most of them wrre in for 20 years. They could easily have my job, but they started much later than I did.
You have to look in the mirror, ask yourself the tough questions, and assess how marketable you will be on the outside. I know that sounds harsh, but I am speaking that from personal experience and as a guy who is losing his mind as he looks for meaning in the next act.
Having spent 12 years as a pilot in active duty and the past three years doing the Guard and overseas contractor thing, I found myself woefully unprepared and under-networked when I started thinking about pivoting away from the aviation sector. I thought it would be a matter of tweaking the resume, making some connections, and being able to sell a great skillset once the conversation started. 2-3 months of searching and then landing in that consulting role. I mean, why not? "Mission focused leader of teams in combat environments while operating complex and expensive equipment...blah blah blah." I have a Master's degree that, turns out, is basically useless. What I have discovered is that it is really hard to get to the conversation point. Can't even get a "no thanks" email from the firms that really tout their Veteran hiring initiatives, let alone any kind of interview. I'm not intending to sound like the victim. Not at all. I'm simply saying that I am majorly behind the power curve because of my lack of proper planning at the outset.
If I had this to do over again, I would have built my network years ago, even when I was still doing the contracting thing. Just as it is with almost anything, the best time to start preparing for tomorrow was yesterday, the next best time is today.
So here's my bottom line. Ask yourself how your network is doing and your credentials stack up. If something is lacking, make the fix now and try to get those informational interviews to figure out what you want to do. Having some time between those conversations and when you need to make the change will help your conversations seem a bit less transactional as well. Maybe consider taking that next assignment and using the next 2 years to sharpen the saw for the future act (thanks Steven Covey).
Having re-read your post, you're already a consultant and debating whether to go back to AD, so I am pretty sure what I posted is a moot point for your specific circumstance.
No, I did almost 10 years and got out. I was an E-5 making close to nothing. 7 years later I am making almost 200k a year including bonus. I would have had to be a high ranking general officer to get that kind of cash.
If you do 20 and retire you will have to get another job anyway if you want to maintain your life style (assuming you are not old enough to collect on any retirement accounts without penalty).
Why not join the reserve? You could do 10 more “good” years and get a 27.5% to 30% pension (if you have 10 active years) while having the freedom and pay that comes with the private sector.
Personally I love the reserve. All the good parts of the army with so much less BS. Just don’t go national guard
This is the way. Plus gives you the flexibility to have portable medical and life insurance if you choose to take off time between gigs, pursue entrepreneurship, or retire early.
I left active duty as an O-3 not long after my obligated service ended. Many of my close friends stayed because they were too scared to make the move. I think they later had many regrets. I never had any.
Military retirement isn't bad, but it's not really great either and it's more challenging to enter the civilian workforce as you get older. So I would say - stay if you love what you're doing and can see yourself doing 30. If not, get out while the getting is good and be proud of your service, but move on. I would never hang out anywhere for 10 years for a pension check. Life is too short.
Left after 11. So happy I did, for me and my family. I can't imagine retiring after 20 and still needing to find a new career. It was hard enough when I did do it.
I don't wish I had stayed in, really. I wish I had at least stayed in the reserves.
No way. My last assignment was training reserves and guard that mobilized. Scary bad. That time adds up...and if you are an officer or senior nco you'll be working hell of a lot more.
OP, FWIW the way I thought about it what is the most important dimension for you between now and retirement? Is it ROI on an effort to comp basis? Family time? Lower stress? Personal fulfillment of the org’s work? Personal fulfillment of you own individual work?
For me being present for my family was the deciding factor. Once my kids were born I tallied up the expected number of deployments/remote tours/exercises that would take me away and I didn’t like what I saw. I couldn’t stomach agreeing up front to miss out on literal years of my kids lives (whether or not we sustained active combat which at the time there wasn’t an end in sight) so I got out at roughly the 10 year mark and am happy with my decision.
Grass is always greener...I got out at 6. But that retirement is a good deal. Definitely
I got out and it was the best decision I ever made. I make more money now than I ever would have with any position in the military. I was supper scared to get out especially since I was at 10 years. Great lest decision though. If you ever need to chat or something just let me know. Happy to help.
I got out at 4 and wish I had stayed in. In retrospect it would have been better to have gotten out at 20 and been secure with a retirement to do whatever I wanted now.
Not one bit
Never think about leaving at 14 years. Except when retiring friends reach out asking how to get a job and I remember I still would be in.
Finish out in a reserve component. 10 years of points is pretty big. I have three years of active duty points and my retirement will be about two grand. And I retired an E-9. Yours would be huge just with the points you already have. Worth consideration.