[Rebelgecko]

You can start drawing a DOD pension after you've worked for 20 years (so potentially as young as 37). That also gets you tricare (health insurance for you and your family).

It's not rare for people to double-dip: do your 20 in the military, then go work as a teacher or DOD civilian or something that'll give you a second pension.

If you don't blow all your expendable income on a sports car financed at 30% APR, it's also possible to build up a good nest egg by the time you retire. You can also take advantage of other veterans benefits. A friend of mine got more money from his GI bill benefits (tuition + stipend) than from the actual salary he made during his army years.

Quick edit: the military has a mishmash of different retirement plans depending on when you signed up. I think the most recent one is more defined contribution focused and makes it harder to get money before you're in your 60s

[throwaway0a5e]

>If you don't blow all your expendable income on a sports car financed at 30% APR

Or knock up a stripper, or lose half your net worth when you divorce your dependa, or all the other bad life decisions that tend to plague people in that line of work.

If you can get through the first 4yr unscathed you're probably on a good path.

[amanaplanacanal]

There's also the risk you could get sent to a war zone and get your legs or other parts blown off. Though i have the impression that's national guard work now.

[hunter-gatherer]

This. Of course, you can mitigate the danger by choosing an appropriate job. I did four years as a Grunt and fortunately didnt sustain any injuries, but I've been in a truck and watched the guy in front of me lose three limbs. I've watched a friend who was next to me on patrol take a few rounds and die while we tried to get him out of there, and I've seen a truck roll over in a shit trench and the gunner drown in feces. Fast forward 11 years, 10 people from my company have committed suicide.

So, for anyone just chasing DoD pensions and GI bill benefits, make sure you end up as a lithographer or some shit.

[dimitrios1]

These decisions plague people from all walks of life. Take a look at Bill Gates and Andrew Cuomo.

[glangdale]

My wife's grandfather did almost exactly this: navy pilot (I forget the exact details but he had at least one of those "firsts" like "landing on an aircraft carrier at night"), survived WWII, got out, was a teacher for 20+ years, and developed a keen interest in equities at exactly the right period for that.

As I understand it, the flipside of this was that not very many people in his (very early) cohort survived, in case someone is thinking of this as "easy government money".

[rascul]

Might not even need to do 20. There was a time around a decade ago when they allowed an early retirement after 15 years. I don't know the details, I guess the pension was less. I believe the early retirement option comes up from time to time, possibly when the military is looking to down size.

[FuriouslyAdrift]

That was the force draw down after the end of the Cold War. It did not go well for the Army, at least, and they had to boost recruitment in the late 90's to keep up with normal attrition.

[bumby]

There's still occasional early retirement for certain MOS's I believe. Earlier this year I believe some USMC tankers got hit with a reorganization and at least some were allowed out under the early retirement authority.

[rascul]

See my other comment, it was 2012 to 2018.

[Bedon292]

Under the old system your retirement pay was 2.5% per year served. So 37.5% instead of the 50% you would get at 20 years. Last I know of early retirement happening was after the Gulf War in the mid 90s when everything was downsizing. Wouldn't be surprised if it was happening now too though.

[rascul]

I looked it up, it was 2012 to 2018 (unless it was cancelled before the date in the ALARACT). Not sure if it was all the military or just the Army, though. Being in the Army, I didn't concern myself with the lesser branches ;)

https://www.benning.army.mil/garrison/dhr/content/PDF/ALARAC...