Retire from the Army

I started my terminal leave on the 21st of July. For a while I thought I would be out of work for a long time. I did pick up a job with nice benefits although I wish I were making more money. A little belt tightening is in order, but I think we will do alright.

It was almost anti-climactic, since I had participated in a retirement ceremony in early June and got my final orders in mid-July. But on August 1, I was officially in the U.S. Army Retired Reserve. Woohoo!

I got my final set of orders today. My retirement date is September 8, 2008. Then I get to start this whole work thing all over again. Atleast it will be outside the military.

The retirement ceremony last month went well (both the Richmond Times-Dispatch and the Mechanicsville Local ran photos of me from the ceremony), and I finally got my 20-year letter late last month. Today I got a copy of my orders effective for the end of this month, so barring anything wacky (like getting called up again), I’ll be retired from the Army on July 31.

I am afraid of jinxing myself, but I submitted my retirement paperwork with an effective date of July 31 of this year. The retirement ceremony will be next month.
::crossing fingers::

In mid-May, I hit 19 years of service, so in mid-June (and for reasons I don’t understand, again in mid-July) I got a letter from the Army confirming that I have 19 years of service and could hit 20 next year.

Getting there!

So far, I am at six years towards an active duty retirement and counting (with 17 years of commissioned service total). This is the only career I’ve had that continues to challenge me physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

20 Years goes fast, Now I have to figure out what I want to do when I grow up.

I was trying to get transferred from the unit I went to Iraq with back to my unit – it’s supposed to be an automatic process and it should have happened long before now, but for whatever reason, it didn’t start until this past Monday, and I was transferred to the wrong unit. I spent so much time this week (thanks to my civilian employer’s indulgence) making phone calls and sending emails that were mostly ignored. That was the most infuriating part – the feeling that these people didn’t care that they were messing with MY career.

A correct transfer was finally submitted late Friday. The databases update overnight, and when I went to battle assembly (what we used to call drill) on Saturday, I was so pleased to see I was listed on my unit’s (the correct unit’s) roster. Yay!

I’m attending a conference up in No.Va. most of this week for the Army (something that wouldn’t have been possible if my transfer hadn’t finally gone through), and I hope it will adjust my attitude after last week’s nightmare.

I retired as a Army Infantry Officer with 20 years service.

I have had many varried and interesting assignments.

My Units of assignment include:

101st Airborne Division

8th Infantry Division

2nd Infantry Division

Sixth US Army

US Army Infantry Center