Are you going to miss the military

Mathew Wilson

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Just off topic.. Are you going to miss the military when you get out.. I think I'm going to.. wish they could give the ability to rejoin later
 
Just off topic.. Are you going to miss the military when you get out.. I think I'm going to.. wish they could give the ability to rejoin later

I don't miss the military one minute!

Did over 20 years - Navy, Army, National Guard, Army Reserve, Navy Reserve - two tours - & on & on.

I have fond memories and I do reflect upon my service from time to time.

But no, I don't really miss it sooooooooooo much I wish I could re-enlist in any branch for any more time.

I have other fish to fry now and put my energy into the present tense.

I hope you develop things/activites in your life that move you forward. That's what all your years of service are all about - making a difference no matter where you are - in the here and now - that is what matters - making a difference in your world as it is currently painted. Just know you have many colors on your palatte you can mix together- colors that you developed over the years that you can now mix and match. You are the painter of your life's canvas.

And something tells me you are quite the painter!

V/r,
nwivewire
 
I do miss many aspects of it. There is a lot of stability in the military and with that comes comfort. When I say stability, I mean you know that you are going to get paid, go to the Dr and have food on your table. Some of the people I served with were awesome, many were not, but at the end of the day you usually knew what you were getting.

It was hard at first to transition and I really questioned my choice of being boarded, but I pushed through. I am glad I didn't give in and stayed the course. My freedom as a civilian is worth so much more. I am not on the job 24/7 anymore and have a chance to enjoy life.

Just remember whatever plan you have, stay on the course and you will be ok in the end. It's not going to be easy and there will be hard times. Just remember that those hard times are to help you make it and realize your goals. Think of it like an Army mission that you couldn't fail. If you apply the same train of thought to school, or work, or whatever you are going to do, you will be successful and it won't be for the Army, but you and your family. You already gave so much and now it's time to give to yourself.
 
I miss my Soldiers and some of my fellow NCOs, I do not however miss the stupidity of the Army and the toxic leadership. I don't miss the constant "I don't know when I'm going to get home" and the standing there for 2 hours after the work day was over for some stupid ass formation for no reason... I have a nice work schedule that is consistant and very set on hours, if I don't hit my boat time, I am stuck there for 2 extra hours...:)
 
Being able to turn off your job when you walk out the door at the end of the day is the best part for me. It's great to know nobody is going to call me because somebody in my Battalion did something stupid. I get in my truck, drive and listen to music while I forget about my job. It is such a liberating experience, it's impossible to explain.
 
I will and won't miss it. I will miss the variety of peoplw I get to interact with, I will miss the commraderie, and I will miss thw structure. What I wont miss is the fact that you can't really be your own man in the Navy. No matter what at the end of the day I belong to the military and not to myself. I think that will be a wonderous change if/when I get med boarded out.
 
I miss my Soldiers and some of my fellow NCOs, I do not however miss the stupidity of the Army and the toxic leadership. I don't miss the constant "I don't know when I'm going to get home" and the standing there for 2 hours after the work day was over for some stupid ass formation for no reason... I have a nice work schedule that is consistant and very set on hours, if I don't hit my boat time, I am stuck there for 2 extra hours...:)


I will miss leading Soldiers, mentoring, and instructing basic Soldiering skills, advanced combat battle drills and MOS specific training events. I will miss the camaraderie between the brotherhood with my fellow NCO's.

I will miss weapon ranges (I know no one wanted to go to the range) but I loved them. I couldn't have enough rounds. I was the Small Arms Master Gunner and Armor during the first four years of my Army career. Favorite range day, 11 September 2006, M203 range, I reenlisted on the way out to the range, we were suppose to have 40 firers, 11 showed up. We had 1000 rounds!!! We were instructed by battalion not to bring any back because our numbers would have gone down for the amount of rounds we would get for the following year. We were done qualifying firers by 1000, then the fun began. We shot all day long and closed down the range at 1600. (good times)

I will NOT miss the Toxic Leadership that is plaguing the Army these days. JBLM seems to be a breeding ground for this new variety of leadership. Example: my current units commanding officer is purple heart hunting because with all the successful missions accomplished in theater, none of them were about him. I always joke that he carries a mirror around with him, just so he can see himself.

I will NOT miss the senior enlisted leaders that have no jobs and their sole purpose in life is to bark, bark, bark...

I will miss the feeling I get when I hear my family talk about how proud they are of me.

I will miss receiving handmade letters from my Aunt's 5th grade class.

I will miss it forever but I will not miss it at all. (if that make sense to anyone else then you need help)

FYI: Mathew Wilson, nice thread...
 
I will miss it forever but I will not miss it at all. (if that make sense to anyone else then you need help).
LOL.... I am the guy that runs around stabbing people with a rubber spoon, I understand this statement completely... By Army standards I am not insane, not sure I believe them... :confused::mad::D
 
Wont miss the Army, But will miss the people who I got to know and call my Battles.
 
Been in since i was 17 .. I can't even imagine what it will feel like to be a free adult, able to do what I want, when I want. I have no regrets at all but I wish I didnt feel so chewed up and spit out.
 
I feel totally lost now that I'm out. I would do anything to get back in but I know that that had to end. Nine yrs ADAF, 4 years Navy reserves, 4 years Army reserves (the most fun), two years Air National Guard, and 11 years ADAF (11 yrs of torture). As much as I hated deploying, I even miss that as well. I now wish that I had never joined because of the way I've been treated but this is my life and I need to accepted it because you can't change the past.

Two years on the 29th of Dec having been retired and I am still lost with what to do. College isn't working. I have some thoughts but haven't done any planning yet. If we didn't have a nine year old monster at home, I would probably be living in a mobile home chasing the warm weather.
 
Another one for us that I recently reposted on Failbook (Facebook)

Askhole- A person that constantly asks questions and for your advice and then do the complete opposite.

I will miss the askholes... :p
 
I will miss what being in represented to me, I will miss the self respect I have due to the uniform, I will miss my brothers and sisters and sons and daughters that I know i was able to make a difference in their lives. I will miss being respected for my knowledge and experience, I will miss moving every few years, I will have a few regrets, but not many and of those I can directly link poor or different direction type decisions I made to them.

The Irony behind the freedom is killer, at 17-18 when I joined i had a head full of dreams, the ability to do everything just none of the money/means to make it happen. Now I may have the money, I don't dream as much as I used to, and I do not have the ability to do any of it. Even the thought of an overseas flight, or a day on the paintball field horrifies me. I can afford most of the ammo I want to shoot, but I cannot be competitive in any 3-gun match. I may be able to go to my 18mos old sons football games (if he chooses to play) but I won't be able to coach or even play catch with him, unless he learns to throw reaaaaaaly accurate. However, unlike the last 17 years, I will not miss any more birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, band performances, PTA meetings, days important to my wife or to my 3 children. I have found in my disability that we as the AD member, sacrifice a lot and get to a point where we start choosing the sacrifice over the family, we volunteer for that extra 30 days, or that weekend shift, or that remote assignment because it is what we would expect of others in our spot. No more sacrifice before my family period, its their turn to have me, I am only saddened that the product my spouse purchased 17 years ago is broken and waaaaay out of warranty.
 
At some point I thought I would miss the military since this is all I have done since I was 19 years old. After everything that has happened in the last year and all of the aggravation I will need a year or more to recover mentally and I may miss this way of life a few years from now but as of now I am just ready to get the hell out of here.
 
Another one for us that I recently reposted on Failbook (Facebook)

Askhole- A person that constantly asks questions and for your advice and then do the complete opposite.

I will miss the askholes... :p

HAHAHAHAHA!!!

You can be pretty darned funny. Observant, too.

nwlivewire
 
Just off topic.. Are you going to miss the military when you get out.. I think I'm going to.. wish they could give the ability to rejoin later

Indeed, not albeit I shall definitely reminisce about all of the good times for sure! ;)

Thus, I quite often comment that "possessing well-informed knowledge is truly a powerful equalizer."

Best Wishes!
 
When I got out of the USMC in 93, I didn't think I would miss it but I did. But I had only done 4 years and it wasn't hard to adapt and I thought i got over it. In 97, I joined the Army. I guess I missed the military more than I thought. Its all I've ever known. Now that I'm at 20 years, I KNOW I'll miss it. It's part of me in a way that not many things have ever been. I saw the "Way Ahead" quad chart the our BN CDR likes to make up. It shows the next 4 fiscal quarters to give BTRY CDRs and other leaders an idea of what is coming up in the distant future. I have been bragging since I got my clearing papers that I wont be around for this or I'll be gone by the time that happens. Then it hit me. I WON'T be around when that happens. The unit will continue to train and shoot and fight after I'm gone; without my help. It's hard to think that the Army will keep rolling along once I'm gone. Its going to be very hard when I travel down to get my blue ID card in Feb. It's going to take me quite a while to adjust to being a retiree; no longer SFC but Mr. I have told lots of people that if you spend more than 3 or 4 years in the military, you become institutionalized. The longer you stay in, the higher level of your institutionalization. Its like the character Red said in the Shawshank Redemption: "Believe what you want. These walls are funny. First you hate 'em, then you get used to 'em. After long enough, you get so you depend on 'em. That's "institutionalized." I'm not trying to say that any branch of the service is like prison (well, maybe deployments but deployed you have a higher chance of dying) but the mental state upon discharge is very similar for most. I've talked to lots of retirees and they say it NEVER goes away. Some civilians love and respect vets/retirees, others hate or have indifference towards us. I'm retiring to a small town near Indianapolis and I plan to spend time at the VFW and the American Legion.
I hope I'll run into others like me.
I hope I'll find a job that fulfills me like leading Soldiers does.
I hope I can adapt enough to fit into the civilian world but not so much that I forget who I am.
I hope.
 
I guess I have a different view than most. I will be just under 19 when all is said and done. When I joined the AF in 95 it was not only a lot different military but the country was also a lot different. I've watched as the difference between right/wrong has become blurry, people compromise their beliefs for the sake of political correctness, and all of this has spread into the military. I no longer enjoy being in the AF that I once loved, at one time we fought against "evil communism", now we use our resources to spy on our fellow citizens. Our politicians are so polarized that they can't agree on a budget, and use the military for political gain. There are plenty of good people that I will miss, but I will not miss the military as a whole. I joined with a want to serve my country and help people but found out later that it's a place for people to park their asses for 20 years and not care about anything but getting promoted. I look forward to civilian life and the return of my constitutional rights.
 
Tsgt Twitch and etjrb really summed up alot of my feelings.

This is pretty much all I've done as an adult. My identity somewhere along the lines blended between who I am, what I am, and what I do, into one. It's going to be an adjustment not being the "Chief" and just being Tom.

When I first found out I was leaving the unit, it was hard planning ahead. I'd be writing up something and realize that I wasn't going to be around for the execution, so I'd have to go find my OPS and 1LT and get more of their input into it, because they'd be the ones having to live with my plan. I've always been the go-to guy. Manuals and regs have always just come easily for me to recall. Now all of that knowledge isn't necessary. In the next stage of my life, no one is going to care that I know how to execute a moving security zone for an HVA, coordinate the interception of a go-fast, or know what all work-life can do to help out a family.

My last unit had some historical stuff and a lighthouse/museum on our property that was open to tours. I'd always see retires with their ballcaps on. If I was around, I'd always take a moment to go talk to them and shoot the shit. Most of their eyes would light up as they would tell me stories about the old days. I didn't realize at the time, that I'd be in their position sooner than I thought. That's one of the hard things for me. I didn't make it to 20. I wasn't, still am not, ready to go. I really thought I had a few more years until I'd have to be making these decisions, and that I'd be leaving when I was ready to leave. Not them showing me the door.
 
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