In early 2001, a year before I retired from active duty, spouse left her active-duty career for the Reserves. In the first six years she did a weekend a month & two weeks a year at PACOM, and for the last year she's been on independent duty.
She had no real reason to stay in the Reserves, but she had no real reason to leave it either. The money (when she was in a pay billet) was all going into her TSP account. Each drill point is worth a few more cents/month of retired pay for the rest of her life. She was gonna go all the way to 30 but a few months ago she got her formal notification that she'd finished her Reserve obligation and was free to retire at any time. That wasn't a surprise but it effected a surprising change of attitude.
Like Dory has said, when you've achieved FI the BS bucket suddenly gets very small. Hers filled to overflowing in about three months. She stops drilling after this month and she'll formally retire at the end of the year. In 2022 she'll start collecting her own pension.
Our kid still wants to go Navy but she's too tall for Mom's old uniforms. So yesterday we had a massive uniform cleanout and our old (but serviceable) stuff is going to the thrift shop for someone to get a few more years out of it. Finally, we're both out of uniform!
She won't be feeling bored or unfulfilled. A few months ago an old shipmate called her for help with volunteer work. It's turned out to be more bureaucracy & incompetence than she expected but she enjoys working with the customers. We'll have to see how she feels about this in another year or so...
She had no real reason to stay in the Reserves, but she had no real reason to leave it either. The money (when she was in a pay billet) was all going into her TSP account. Each drill point is worth a few more cents/month of retired pay for the rest of her life. She was gonna go all the way to 30 but a few months ago she got her formal notification that she'd finished her Reserve obligation and was free to retire at any time. That wasn't a surprise but it effected a surprising change of attitude.
Like Dory has said, when you've achieved FI the BS bucket suddenly gets very small. Hers filled to overflowing in about three months. She stops drilling after this month and she'll formally retire at the end of the year. In 2022 she'll start collecting her own pension.
Our kid still wants to go Navy but she's too tall for Mom's old uniforms. So yesterday we had a massive uniform cleanout and our old (but serviceable) stuff is going to the thrift shop for someone to get a few more years out of it. Finally, we're both out of uniform!
She won't be feeling bored or unfulfilled. A few months ago an old shipmate called her for help with volunteer work. It's turned out to be more bureaucracy & incompetence than she expected but she enjoys working with the customers. We'll have to see how she feels about this in another year or so...
I'm jealous! Congrats!
