Scrooge said:
It can get confusing when Col. A (Ret) wants to be called "Col. A" while Col. B (Ret) wants to be called "Jim". And then there is Col. C (Ret) who has "Col. C, USAF" prominently displayed on his desk in bronze, but introduces himself as "Bobby". And more recently I have run into active duty officers (up to O-5 so far) that ask civilian contractors to use their first names. And then there are doctors...
I sometimes wonder if these people (other than COL B) have their ranks tattooed on their collarbones-- or on their asses. At least COL C is trying to adapt to a new set of rules.
When we were junior officers in Monterey, spouse and I watched a USAF O-5 and his spouse retire. First they bought the condo next door. Then the contractors flowed steadily for six weeks of new appliances, painting, carpeting, landscaping, and all the other things on her list. Then the household goods arrived, accompanied by a squadron of "We're never moving again!!" furniture delivery trucks. (I think she moved in with only her toothbrush.) The most telling feature of their transition was that his "I love me" awards & memorabilia were all consolidated into one location-- the side wall of the garage right next to his golf clubs. (At least he understood who was running the show from that point onward.) He spent most of his time at Pebble Beach & Spyglass so I don't think he was suffering too badly.
BTW, if AF enlisted can call their officers by their first names (do they
still do that?!?) then I don't think it's an issue for contractors to do the same...
samclem said:
I know of no military folks (myself included) who quit entirely after they retired from the military unless their spouse worked. Of course it is possible to do, especially for officers (we could have done it if not for the uncertainty of college costs for DD), but I think military folks are like the public at large when it comes to their spending habits.
Granted, spouse's pension at age 60 will paper over any cracks in the retirement portfolio, and we've enjoyed the three years of humongous drill pay that spouse brought home 2002-2005. (For those of you not familiar with drilling Reservists, that last phrase is sarcasm.)
I think the military-- particularly the officers-- have no incentive to grow up. Living on base totally insulates people from the real world (especially overseas), and I know 30-year O-6s who never owned a piece of real estate or even paid more utility bills than CATV. I can completely understand why they'd have a hard time getting along without a job--
what frustrates me is the wasted potential of the COLA pension and the lifetime healthcare. Those benefits (as well as a pathetically low estimate of their employable worth) are really just given away as salary negotiables during the job search.
jclarksnakes said:
....The common thread is that they are single and cheap and they had their mortgages paid down or even paid off or they moved to small towns here in the south with very low cost of living. Come to think of it they also had their kids (from prior marriages) out on their own not costing them anything. My last seven years in the army I and my friends spent a lot of time deployed in places where everything was cheap and simple. Some people can spend so much time living in tents or tropical huts or quansets that austerity becomes a habit and they have no desire to spend money on the finer things when they get back to our "advanced" society. On the other hand most of my army friends were or are married and like me went right into second careers after retiring from the military. If I wasn't married I would be living happily in a 1958 eight foot wide trailer house parked behind a fish camp somewhere and not working at all.
Same submariner experience here, of course with better food & weather. Spouse's material standards aren't much higher than mine, however, and I think the real expenses come from raising a family near a "good" school...