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As the title states....Less than a year and I will be retiring from the Air Force after an extremely fun and rewarding career!!! May will be 20 years but i have an ADSC i need to fulfill which puts me at almost 21 years come December which i am perfectly fine with. My question is for those veterans that have retired in the last year or so. What would you have done different if you had the chance? What is the best thing that you did to prepare yourself for the next step? My biggest concern along with the wife's is getting stuck where we are currently stationed....Sheppard AFB....Wichita Falls TX....it is by no means a bad place, we actually enjoy it and have thrived; however we want to move back to Iowa where there are four seasons. Yes, we were just back in Iowa for Christmas when it was -30 and snowing and we still love it. The main reason we want to go back though is to be closer to family, we have missed a lot the last 20 years being away. As far as what i want to do when i grow up haha, i have been looking into being a lineman (electrical line work). There is a lineman college in Denton which I want to start attending while on terminal leave and hopefully move back to Iowa the summer of 2019. The tough tough part is that our boys will be 15 and 13 and would have to start in a new high school, as well, the wife has a GS job on base. I think we can always get close to Offutt AFB NE for the wife to get another GS job, and the boys are super resilient when it comes to change. Any, and i mean any advice/info would be appreciated as we are both excited and a little nervous/scared about the future.
as far as a future job, give some thought to whether it will a good job for someone in their late 50's. you will get older, and a physical job will get tougher.
One thing we did poorly was networking in our future new location. We moved into a new city where we had never lived just plain cold. Didn't go too well, even for the kids. High school and cliques were particularly rough, the others didn't have the adaptability you mentioned.
If you end up at the air Force Base that would be better with other adaptable kids
One of my retirement location criteria is that I want to be close to a miltary base. Preferably Air Force. That way we have access to the commissary, auto hobby shop, MWR and other facilities.
Congrats on reaching this milestone in your career. First you should talk to your wife and between the two of you make the best decision you can. Your teenage boys also should be consulted and it might make a difference in your decision. As someone suggested a GS job for you would be nice but here is my take. If you choose the path of the electrical lineman you could max out your retirement savings at a work 401k because some of your total income will be from your military pension. This should free up other income to be put into savings.
As the title states....Less than a year and I will be retiring from the Air Force after an extremely fun and rewarding career!!!
Congratulations.
Do you own a home? Selling it will allow you to buy a retirement home, maybe without a mortgage. having a mortgage in retirement would have a be effect on your retirement.
If you focus on living near a base, then for the rest of your life you will always be focused on on-base facilities. We lived near a base for our first 4 years of retirement, then we moved away. I have to say that we prefer living far away from military bases.
Now you get to reinvent yourself. Decide who you want to be. I decided to be an organic farmer. My pension provides enough to support my family, so I do not really need any farm income to make it work.
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... As far as what i want to do when i grow up haha, i have been looking into being a lineman (electrical line work). There is a lineman college in Denton which I want to start attending while on terminal leave and hopefully move back to Iowa the summer of 2019.
Good luck with that
Quote:
... The tough tough part is that our boys will be 15 and 13 and would have to start in a new high school, as well, the wife has a GS job on base. I think we can always get close to Offutt AFB NE for the wife to get another GS job, and the boys are super resilient when it comes to change.
Military brats are always resilient, they will be fine.
Once your Dw quits, she has 3 years to find her next GS job on OMB. Which is a large window.
Thank you for the advice. We do currently own a home in South Carolina which we have renters in for the next two years. As long as nothing crazy happens with the housing market we will make money on it. Right now i really don't want to live near a base, i don't even want to see anything that resembles the military. However i know the convenience and benefits are amazing. I'm not as worried about the kids, like you said, they are resilient. The oldest is good at sports so he would be able to fit in quickly, and the youngest is just a likeable kid so he can transition easily as well.
Thank you for the advice. We do currently own a home in South Carolina which we have renters in for the next two years. As long as nothing crazy happens with the housing market we will make money on it. Right now i really don't want to live near a base, i don't even want to see anything that resembles the military. However i know the convenience and benefits are amazing. I'm not as worried about the kids, like you said, they are resilient. The oldest is good at sports so he would be able to fit in quickly, and the youngest is just a likeable kid so he can transition easily as well.
My Dw worked for DECA and she was the Produce Manager before her retirement. Commissary prices are not competitive with civilian grocery store prices in this area.
When we lived near a military base, we were restricted to using MilMed. Whereas here we use the regional Tricare underwriter, which has turned out to be far higher quality of medical care for us. I do not think I would ever wish to go back to being treated by Corpsmen/Medics if I can avoid it.
Bases always have MWR and an auto hobby shop, that is not enough of a benefit to entice me to live near a base.
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