Nearing the End of a Military Career

[Gumby]

I love it when a plan comes together. Congratulations and best wishes for a smooth glide to the end.

P.S. -- Your nephew sounds like a smart young fellow. I'm sure he's also extremely handsome and sings well, too. (says the USNA grad former nuke submariner)

 

[R.O.A.D.]

Parr0thead98,

Sir, I have enjoyed vicariously sharing you journey through your path to post military retirement. I wish you and your family the very best of luck in this new chapter of your lives!

I do have a question that I would like you perspective on. Was VA disability entitlements a factor of your original RE “PowerPoint” analysis? How has this impacted your current situation; is this another cash flow that was not realized until recently?
As I chase down the last four years in my military career I would love to hear about your continued experiences regarding the VA. I would expect to be eligible for a disability rating, but could only guess at what percentage and have not considered it as a tangible financial planning factor. Any thoughts?

Brian

 

[Parr0thead98]

When I built my powerpoint brief to the family, I did build a "what if" scenario" on what I felt we might need to earn in retirement if I got certain VA disability ratings. However, we first went through a daily living exercise to see if we could live just off of my projected retirement.

From my research, esp on Linkedin, I am learning that the avg VA disability claim timeline is running 10-14 mos nowadays, so it's not something to count on right away. In addition, you have to educate yourself on how to file your claim, how to write up your specific ailments (I have several), how the VA calculates their percentages to come up w/ an overall rating, etc. Then you don't know if what you estimate is what the VA adjustor is actually going to award you.

So, I do have it factored into one of the "what if" scenarios, but not into my primary plan. If I do get the VA rating I'm estimating, then it'll be "bonus" money that'll go towards initial house expenses.

Another change up to my original plan, an AF JROTC position has come open at a nearby High School to where I'm retiring this summer. These positions are something I've looked at in the past, but dropped off my radar because they are so hard to come by as retired military get into them and tend to stay for many years! Even though you are retired, you still wear your uniform to school every day and teach. Between the AF and the school, you make a min of your full-time active duty pay, to incl your housing and BAS...pretty sweet deal. I've applied for that one position and flew in for an interview. I feel it went very well, but the school still hasn't made a decision yet. I wasn't planning on this, but it falls under that old saying if you do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life. I see it as a chance to make a difference in young kids' lives in a very rural part of the country where there's not much opportunity.

 

[R.O.A.D.]

Thanks for the insight! The JROTC prospect sounds like a great way to stay connected with the military on your own terms. Good luck!

 

[Parr0thead98]

I got the call from the school Principal to offer me the AFJROTC job! I've been busy filling out job application, getting references (got 3 people who still work for me...hehehe, of course they'll say nice things!), and then finding out I qualify under DoD's Troops to Teachers program for a $5K bonus if I agree to stay at that particular school for 3 years due to the lower socio-economic makeup of the population. Not a bad gig. The retired CMSgt I'll be partners with asked if I could fly out the week of June 24th for the annual cadet summer leadership academy...sure, even thought it's on my nickel. When you feel a calling, the $$ is not the issue, right?! Plus, it qualifies as a permissive TDY, so I don't have to burn 8 days of leave that I plan to sell back for some sweet $$ in y final active duty paycheck, even after taxes.

Well, I'm officially 3 Fridays away from the Retirement ceremony, then the following week the movers hit, then the cadet school trip, get back on Sat, turnover with my replacement on Mon & Tues, Change of Command Wed morning then hit the road with hotel reservations 2 hours away for Wed night just to make sure we get under way and don't hang around!!

The wife has done an amazing job putting together a slide show for the retirement, we are funding the block party style BBQ afterwards because that's our style, my troops are planning some serious smoking/BBQing all day, my staff planned a golf outing which I originally didn't want. They explained, "Sir, it's not really about you, we just need a reason to play golf where civilians don't have to take leave, so please do this for us!" Hey, I'm a team player, Coach

After the Tornado in OKC 2 nights ago where I have a Detachment of approx 30 people, I spent most of the night awake as we worked personnel accountability, not tracking down the last person until 0630. With God's Blessing, everyone of my people are safe, though 1 lost his house. Two days later, it's hitting me, I'm ready. The Tsunami in Japan 2 years ago and accounting for my folks at 3 separate bases, the floods in North Dakota where 3 of my folks lost their homes, Typhhons in Guam leaving us without power/water/elec and evac'ing my family Stateside for 2 mos, Tsunamis relief to Bali...great experiences in that it showed the US military at its finest and made me a better person, but it also hit me today that this is a young person's military for a reason--it's fast, demanding, 24/7, non-stop.

It's time for someone else to stand watch and for me to support the homefront for them so they can carry out the mission of keeping America free.