When did you retire?

[hamm2018]

Originally Posted by TrainerBob

DW is going to be 63 and I am going to be 60, both in September. My question is When did you retire?

What led up to the decision to retire, forced retirement, decided enough was enough, hit your financial retirement goal, etc.

Did you regret retiring when you did? If so, should you have retired sooner or later?

Any insights would be appreciated. Financially, we can do it. Our fear is that after working for the last 40+ years we are not sure what to expect that 1st morning when there are no emails to respond to can no calls to return. Logically, we know it will be awesome. However, our concerns are more on the emotional side of hanging it up.

Thanks in advanced for your input.

Bob

I retired on Sept 1, 2018, I was tired of getting into use of force cases 2-3 days a week, sometimes every day of the week. There was times I would go 3-4 days without an incident, but then there was cases were I would be into some 3-4 times a day.

[J Rockford]

When I retired from Govt. Service after 22 years, I still had more to do. I retired completely in 2006 at age 51 after 22 yrs of service. However, it was at age 46 in 2001 and injuries sustained from the SEPTEMBER 11th terrorist attacks at the Pentagon and that for the next 5 years I started
feeling the after effects from those injuries. Before the injuries in 2001 I had been planning for awhile of getting a travel trailer and go places with the wife but the injuries I felt I could live with, & camping and relaxing did good things for me and decided yep, I can do this. It sure helped that's for sure and we went many places for the next few years. In 2010 -2011 I was contacted by me former handler at Langley and was advised of a very serious release of sensitive classified information that WIKKI LEAKS obtained from a U. S. Army private who was stationed at Langley who used the absence of several employees in the human resources office because of a bad cold & flu season which left only 2 of those employee to report for duty but they would take turns working 2 hours then go rest while the other employee worked 2 hours and go rest. This went on for 3 days so the private used a thumb drive to download very classified files he was able to download the personnel files of several Field Officers all stationed overseas in covert ops. Working closely with very dangerous people such as Arms Dealers, War Lords etc. These personnel files contained EVERYTHING about named field operatives from the date & year of recruitment , training timelines, all duty stations overseas with exact dates and exact locations where these covert operatives were, exact timelines of where, when , & How long they were at any given time. These files also included real names & ALL HOME ADDRESSES of each and EVERY operative. these dangerous, murdering individuals used this Information to clean house. The exact dates and locations of those operatives some with at least 5 years inside these places working covertly so it wasn't hard for them to smoke out these operatives which they did without hesitation. Some of these files also Included the photos of some of our people, Including my employee file photo. Those of us that were retired and back in the U. S. Were also in danger and we were given mandatory round the clock federal protection from enemies we made from ops we were involved in. This was a very real danger because if they got to us that would be it. There was an OP. That went bad in the mid 90s because of faulty intel. There were some rumors around that indicated some of us involved in that OP had prices on our heads I kid you not ! 4 good people working covert OPs inside these cells some for 5 years were identified and were taken out and very publicly EXECUTED to express their great displeasure with the U.S. and express Warnings of any future attempts to do this by ANYONE, including there own people. 2 of these executed were females the others males including my mentor and partner of a few years. He was retiring in less than 2 months and we had plans to go camping, fishing etc. Something I was really looking forward to. This along with the danger I was in also involved my wife. We couldn't go anywhere without protection escorting us. This at times started turning heads of neighbors and friends who knew nothing of my Govt. Employment. Any time at home or when we went anywhere there were always 2 very Govt. Looking black SUVs parked in the neighborhood and 1 would stay the other followed us. Even when we took the trailer to some local camping and fishing places. It got old quickly because everyone would always be staring in our direction trying to fiqure out what it was about. Stored the trailer 3 years until this all finally died down to protection from a distance including Govt. Surveillance from a satellite specially tasked for this and in it's high stationary orbit is able to keep an eye in multiple areas inside the U. S.
We have finally returned to camping knowing if things started to heat up again we would have very advanced warning so it was a lot more comfortable and safer for us. Those that killed our 4 people have since been taken care of via Military drone strikes so they finally paid for what they did.
As the saying goes " it's not a job, it's an adventure " so good to feel free and safe once again but man, WHAT A RIDE ! So if you can retire early do it, you will be glad you did !

[RogueRV]

Wow! What a story! Thank you and to all of those who work to keep our country safe for all you have done and continue to do!

[Elwood58]

Yesterday was my first day of retirement.

[Bigd9]

Congratulations! I hope you enjoy your retirement as much as we have enjoyed ours!

[TexasJeff]

Originally Posted by Elwood58

Yesterday was my first day of retirement.

Congrats! You made it! I retired at the end of last year and haven't looked back. Spend a year thinking about what you want to do next. It will be great!

[Mr. T]

I'm 56 and retired last June with no regrets. Will be taillights after buying a coach next year

[mlh2013]

Originally Posted by Elwood58

Yesterday was my first day of retirement.

congratulations you made it!!

[empty_nest]

I'm a little late to this thread, but I retired (finally) on 04/20/2020.

Like a lot of folks, I dreamt of that day but just never could decide when. My wife is 2 yrs younger than me so I couldn't see sitting home while she went to work. I had a good job that paid well so I figured I'd ride it for a while.

Then the company announced they would be closing our division so I decided to hang in 'till they "showed me the door". After 45 yrs with the same company, I hung in a little longer than anticipated, but I got a nice separation package, more in the 401K and more SSI.

The first day home was a little emotional but I got over it by the second day. I have never looked back!

[Tugboat]

I retired from the Tugboats in 2000
Got board and went to work as a local truck driver 3 months later. Retired form that in 2010.
Moved south spent 2 years redoing a house then needed something to do and went to work as a Heavy Hauler go a local bridge builder. Had a hart attack in 2019 and retired for the last time.

[shootist]

At 45. never regretted it. Probably would have been sick or dead from stress if I hadn't.

[Rv4ever]

Wow did you say 45 ? And to think I was the only one who had retired early at 47 ! I too would have died from the stress had I waited any longer and now at 70 I realize it was all worth it ! Enjoy the roads as I do and keep safe !

[OkieSVT]

I retired in 2010. Wife died in 2012. Married a lady I had known a long time in 2018 whom was retired as well. She is really into camping and fishing. We bought the Fleetwood Tioga 31M RV and have not looked back.



Retire as young as possible. I highly recommend it.

[Fast E]

2/02, 9/02, 12/05, 4/14. 6/17 still retired.