Almost retired Naval Officer takes up his sword to defend freedom one more time...
 

Yup, shit is getting real. I go on terminal leave 01May... basically I've got 60 days of leave saved up and I get to take them all at the very end of my 20yrs. Come 01May, I can take off my uniform and never put it on again. I don't even have to go to the Admin office on 01July and sign anything. I'll just be done. Granted, I've worn a flight suit 99/100 days my entire career, so "uniform" isn't as fancy as it sounds.

I want to personally thank all of you who pay taxes. Apparently, VA benefits are something that is truly "bipartisan". Sucks that my adopted home state of Virginia is one of the most unfriendly military retiree states from a tax perspective. I get cut no breaks and basically have to pay like all you regular schmucks. At least we should be back there before they make all my favorite guns illegal.

Since I got diagnosed with sleep-apnea last year, I'll hit at least the magic 50% rating for disability. Unfortunately, I just found out that a SA diagnosis more than doubles your life insurance premiums. Apparently people die young from all the complications that particular affliction gives them. So, a chunk of my disability payments will go straight into life insurance... which is a very first world problem. I've got some other very mild problems that don't hurt me in the bedroom, but will probably qualify since they'll be a giant pain the long term... I may squeak out 70% with a little plantar faciatis, hearing loss, pinched nerves... nothing a dude my age probably doesn't have a little of anyways.

Anyways, I just went though the required "Transition Assistance Program" class that does it's best to soup-to-nuts everything you need to know to become a civilian again. A couple of the modules were fantastic, while a few were useless. I'm looking at jobs in VaBch either in gov't or defense industry to pick up right where I'm leaving off... simulator instructor, aviation safety, etc... The wife has a few standing job offers already, and her nurse license is current in VA, so she can pick up $60k yr right away.

Biggest problem we're running into is applying for a mortgage. According to lenders, we don't have any income. Since I already have retirement orders, lenders won't consider my current active-duty pay... and since I haven't actually made it to retirement, they won't consider my retirement pay. My wife works part time with good money, but since it's in Hawaii and we want to buy in Virginia, qualifying for a VA mortgage has bumps. Plus, since I don't have my VA disability rating yet, we don't qualify to waive the funding fee... which means about $15k out-of-pocket to us if we could get a loan. So we're looking at moving in the spring into a rental that's in the same school district that we're going to buy... glad it's the last time we're ever gonna do this.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...764d1ccd31.jpg

On top of all that drama... I'm gonna need new wheels. My island rust-bucket Pathfinder is not making the move to the mainland. As lame as it sounds, I'm probably in the market for a used Pruis. We'll be keeping the Sequoia because of the future RV and boat that are in the cards... but something with great mileage, plus a truck, plus a toy. Hopefully we don't end up too house-poor and can afford some toys.

^ Congratulations!

Congrats on retirement. It is sad you are moving back to the 757 though and they have the base there. My parents retired down to Farmville VA, and since there are no VA's around, they get to go wherever they want for the doctors. It is so much better then all the VA's I had to go to a kid.

Get a Gen2 Prius for cheap. I got one for my wife last year and it has been great. Good mileage and nothing I have not been able to fix myself. They are not the best cars out there, or the nicest, but as an appliance car it works amazingly.

When you are ready to get another miata and boost it shoot me a message.

The wife needs a little more civilization than I do, so it's the suburbs for us. There are some good things about being in a military concentration area... healthcare access is one, so is the job market. Downside is that you're surrounded by tons of other retired military assholes with the same idea.

Been keeping an eye on 07-'09 Touring models, gotta have that leather. $5k is gonna be plenty. For a truck, I'm looking at white 4x4 7.3 standard cab longbeds... gonna be willing to travel for the right one. Will entertain x or crewcabs, but they're gonna need to be perfect.

Yeah $5k will get you a nice Gen2 Prius. Check down in Florida for them. I found they were a bit cheaper down there.

For the truck, go inlands a bit. I found my 7.3 in Knoxville and it was probably half the price of what I would have paid locally.

Congratulations on your retirement, and thank you for a career of service!

Congratulations on the pending retirement, and thank you for your service. You probably will be too busy to jaunt over to Miatas at The Gap the second weekend of August but maybe?

We should try to get him to come down to the miata reunion if he can't do MaTG.

Congrats on retirement young man! My classmates are currently CNO and CO of NAVAIR. Geez, I'm old.

I guess your heart is set on VA, but there is a heck of a lot of opportunity in aerospace with 0 state income tax in gun-friendly DFW. Just sayin' . . . .

No state income tax in Florida and Alabama either. Aerospace in both.

AL has a state income tax. But it tops out at 5%, which is at least reasonable.

They charge no income tax to military retirees.

All good advice. We're not 100% set on anywhere... the only real decision is that we need to make one. The mortgage thing is a big deal to consider. It gets better if I get a written job offer, but still won't qualify us for the loan we want. Need my retirement salary (01July) and the wife to be working.

All that aside, I definitely intend to enjoy myself as soon as we have some stability. August might be too early for a long weekend, but I'll definitely be in the market for a retirement toy. Miata is at the top of the list... hard to believe '99's are 20yrs old.

https://revenue.alabama.gov/individu...come-taxation/ found a link

:likecat: congrats, sir, and thank you.

Congrats on that 20! That sounds mildly terrifying and quite a relief all at the same time. I'll be at 18 years total in 2 months, but only 13 active - I'm expecting to go to Kuwraqiriastan later this year, and I should have about 5 1/2 left by the time I get back - I figure that's 5 1/2 years for my wife to get a 7-figure job :-D

I have no idea what I want to be when I grow up - guess that's something to think about while I'm playing in my sandbox.

Thank you for your service, Sam.

Retirement at 20 years? If I may ask, how old are you?

44 in July... finished college in 4 years and spent 2 years fucking around before I joined. I have no actual skills other than "being an officer" and "combat air intercept control", which are mostly useless since the real world expects all employees to produce results and for 20yrs, my results are directly the result of Chief saying "Sign here, Sir, trust me, it's all correct." Growing up is gonna suck. Worst part is that every set of orders I've had has been in a flight suit. Trying to figure out what to wear each day will be novel.

That’s incredible! I envy you! I’ll be 39 this September and I have at least 30 years to go...
psh, unreal!