PsyopRanger said:
Is the pension really worth not being a civilian and getting those matching funds?
If the only thing keeping you in the military is the money then you'd better get out while you're still alive and (relatively) uninjured.
If you think that matching funds are all that they're cracked up to be then start a separate thread and take a poll among the board members. I suspect that it's greener pastures.
If you're looking for greener pastures then contact a headhunter. (I have shipmates in the business and 10 years ago I had several of them on speed dial.) They'll tell you to expect an immediate pay dip as you make the transition, followed a few years down the road by better pay as you gain skills that civilian industry actually pays for. It's like starting all over again at E-3 pay equivalence until you're considered to be "worth something". And I know a couple people who can't contribute to their 401(k) or even get medical insurance until a probationary period has passed. A decade later you may be better off than when you were active duty... or you may not.
A common thread among those who've left the military and excelled at their civilian career is "Great fun while it lasted but this is way better." They've found their avocation. A common thread among those who've left & struggled is "I miss the ethics, the camaraderie, and the sense of mission." They only have a job. I suspect that the former are internally motivated and the latter need the external boost. You have to decide which category applies to you.
I thoroughly enjoyed the first 10 years but struggled to juggle family/work priorities for the next 10. I made it but at times it was downright ugly and the lack of money was rarely as much of an issue as the quality of the life. The pension is great and life is good but lately I've been wondering if my "Woo-hoo!!" attitude toward freedom and my allergic reaction to employment is the result of that final 10 years. (Not that I'm complaining!) If I had to do it all over again I'd have joined the Reserves when we started a family. We would have had much more control over if/when we moved and worked, and the pension would "only" have been delayed by 19 years. Continuity of paychecks is over-rated compared to having a measure of control over your life.
In the mid-90s a junior officer I worked with suffered through the same retention ambivalence during his first shore tour. When the assignment officer visited our command and essentially peed on him in public to mark his territory, the JO decided that anything else had to be better. He struggled with Lucas for several months before Lucas noted "You suck at getting hired but you're excellent at the career-search process" and hired him as a headhunter. A few months later he conceived Lucas' first division dedicated to finding careers for retiring enlisted technicians, an area that they'd overlooked in the traditional food fight for junior officers. His money has been huge and he smiles on the way to work every morning. He's never looked back and he doesn't miss the military a bit.
OTOH the guy who helped him get started at Lucas has been in the Reserves for nearly 20 years (left active duty the minute his obligation was up) and is a Blue & Gold officer for the Naval Academy. He's found a way to keep a foot in both worlds and he's doing great in both of them.