Military Retirement- What I Would Do Different Part 2

Upfront, there is no real science behind the Venn diagram in the featured pic. I just thought you can’t have a blog about strategy and planning without a fancy graphic! Last week, I shared one of the three big things I would have done different when retiring from the military. This week I’ll cover two additional items I wished I had done prior to my transition from career military back to civilian. First, I would have developed a strategy for separation from the military, early in my career.

Separating from the military is inevitable, just like death and taxes. So why don’t more of us think about life after the military early in our careers? When I say early, I mean really early, like at about 10 years in! I wonder “what if” my outcomes would have been like if I had given some serious thought and developed a strategy for life after the Army early on in my career?

I’m not talking a detailed plan for post military life (more on that in a moment), but more accurately a vision for the future. Do I want to serve in the military until they tell me to leave? Do I want to work in the defense industry? Is government work something I want to pursue? Better yet, do I want to set the conditions financially, so I won’t have to work at all post military? These are questions I wished I had spent a little more time contemplating before my last couple of years in service!

This is not to say I didn’t completely think about post military life in my younger years. For a few years, I thought I had a pretty good grasp on what I’d be doing post military. Early in my Army career I was afforded an opportunity to earn a master’s degree in counseling. In addition to the degree, I also completed the required 3000 hours of supervised counseling experience and standardized testing to earn certification as a Nationally Certified Counselor (NCC).

Through the years, I maintained the 100 hour every five years continuing education requirement to keep the certification active. My understanding was that most state licensing boards offer reciprocity for NCC holders. So, my early retire from the military strategy was to convert my NCC to a state Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) license and serve as a counselor. I thought this would be a great way to continue serving in a people business and helping others. I envisioned this as the perfect post military career for me.

About two years out from retirement, I started the arduous application process for state licensure. Long story short, the state I landed in, did not accept the requirements I maintained for my NCC to grant state licensure! Although I think I had a lot to offer as a 24-year military veteran and a school trained counselor, I couldn’t get the state board to yes. After much deliberation, I decided to go in a completely different direction. While I still maintain the continuing education to keep my National Certified Counselor certification, I’ll probably never be a state Licensed Professional Counselor.

I shifted gears and decided to follow the path of many veterans and seek employment within the defense industry. The point of this story is to illustrate how I didn’t really have a well thought through exit strategy. Conditions drove my actions instead of a well-established vision. Again, nothing wrong with the route I took, my family had a very soft landing back into civilian life, but I definitely could have thought through my initial post military goals better and developed a more cohesive strategy for achieving them.

Which brings me to the last big thing I would have done different about my military retirement. I wished I had made a deliberate plan about two to three years out from retirement. I was truly blessed to find not one, but two great jobs in my three years post military. I know a lot of veterans struggle to find quality post military employment and am thankful every day for the opportunities I’ve been given. As I reflect on my retirement, I can’t help but feel I got lucky.

I didn’t put a tremendous amount of thought into my resume, what jobs to seek or any real time networking. It was only after I didn’t get any call backs did, I swallow my pride and start building a network of contacts. I applied for at least 30 jobs, got about a dozen interviews and received three offers. While those aren’t the worst stats, they aren’t that great either. I feel like if the fates had turned ever so slightly, I might very well be writing my after-action review from the perspective of a veteran struggling to find work.

What would I do different? Retirement is a team sport! Two to three years prior to leaving service I would have sought help. Someone who could not only coach me but perhaps pull out my true desires for a post military life. Trust me, it is not glaringly obvious. Additionally, any good plan has branches and sequels to address the twists along the way. We don’t have all the answers. There are plenty of friends and organizations in the community who can help us make detailed retirement plans.  

I didn’t have a solid plan but retired out of the military successfully. That being said, I am glad I only had to separate from the military once. If there was a next time, I might not be so lucky!

The views, opinions and biases expressed in this blog are the authors and do not reflect those of the U.S. Army or Department of Defense.

Check out all the sustains and improves from just about every aspect of my own transition from career Soldier back to civilian in my new book, Military Retirement: An After-Action Review. Free eBook download or paperback purchase on Amazon.

Check out my Amazon author page for more great books on real estate investing and personal finance!