[DesertScrapper]

I guess not for much longer, lol!

DH is on terminal leave from the Marine Corps. After 22 years he is finally retiring. His official date of retire is August 31. He has been on terminal/PTAD for 6 weeks already and we are absolutely loving life!

So on Sept 1st you can boot me outta here ;-)



Laurie

[pennynoel]

Congratulations on the lovin' life!

[Smiles]

Laurie,
You just reach Emeritus status, that's all!
You still have lots of experience and wisdom to share.
Please thank your DH for his service - and thank you for being a great Military Spouse!

Hmm...I guess that makes me Emeritus too

Gayle

[daisies803]

Congrats to you and your dh!!
My dh retired after 20 years last Oct. It's a change...but good things come with change.

[Sarah in VA]

Congratulations on the retirement, Laurie! But you don't get away that easy - once a military wife, always a military wife!

My DH retired after 22 years in the AF, oh my goodness, it was 12 years ago this month! We have great memories, and are still a long way away from real retirement, but we are loving this life too! The only thing I miss about the military life is the closeness of the military wives - that wonderful built-in support system. We have great neighbors where we live now, but it's just not the same thing.

[AmandaFace]

congrats! itll take some getting used to. my father was also in the corps for 22 years. the joke is that a marine never retires.... of course thats true

[CRS]

Congratulations! Enjoy retirement!

[DesertScrapper]

Thanks ladies!!

I thought transition for him, and even for me and the kids, was going to be... well... a transition. Oddly enough it's weird because we transitioned thus far really easy and he doesn't look back at all. I think a big part of this is because we already owned our home in the civilian world and not much active duty live near so our lives were already pretty adapted to it. The only thing that had to change really was his job and the attire. He's loving not having to wear a uniform everyday. He let his hair grow out a little and now he no longer 'looks' like a Marine. It's all such a strange feeling. A few things have to be changed over still (tricare, tsp, sgli, etc) but so far everything has been very smooth!

I hope it continues down this path.

[Sarah in VA]

I'm glad things are working out so well for you! It's nice that you were able to stay in place and all that changed was the close and the commute! That's about the way it was for us.

Continued Good Luck!

[MaryJo]

Congratulations !! It sounds like your DH's years of service for our country have been well placed here ! Please Thank him for me for his service to our country .. Enjoy your new life and retirement and may it be all that you want it to be. Our oldest son has been active with the Army since 2001 and he's a lifer !!! These men have my deepest respect and my prayers, it takes a special person to serve so selflessly !!! Thank you to you for standing behind him and being such a big part of his career !!!

[DesertScrapper]

Thank you Mary Jo!

Many good thoughts and prayers for your son's continued service. I appreciate him serving!

[Sara Arell]

DesertScrapper, on Jun 25 2008, 10:39 PM, said:

I guess not for much longer, lol!

DH is on terminal leave from the Marine Corps. After 22 years he is finally retiring. His official date of retire is August 31. He has been on terminal/PTAD for 6 weeks already and we are absolutely loving life!

So on Sept 1st you can boot me outta here ;-)



Laurie

Oh, Laurie -
I still miss military life after Rich retired 20 years ago and is now a police officer (very much like the military though). I miss everything about it. I was overjoyed with happiness the first 6 months, but now craving orders so I can have that yard sale and get my closets cleaned out! Boy do we collect stuff, don't we? But it is all good - they are memories of our family away from family and I did finally adjust to some extent. Are you retiring near a base? We didn't and I miss the BX and Commissary and just the base, in general. I think I was more attached than Rich was! But I had a great job - great friends - and a great life, so I do have valid things I miss.

Guess by now you are out and a civilian....Good luck to you and dh. What is he going to do now?

[SandiC.]

I'm an ex military wife and retired after 21 years myself in 2000. Mostly I love civilian life but a few old habits go with me. The first thing I noticed after retiring was that I was still just automatically reaching up to put on a hat whenever I went out a door. Finally got over that. I do not miss the commissary, but I still think about tipping the baggers at the supermarket. I haven't been on a base in about five years, no sticker on my car, my ID expired, just not that interested anymore. The one thing I miss is uniforms. I get ready for work in the morning and just cannot decide what to wear. No one tells me what the uniform of the day is.

[Smiles]

scrappin'doc, on Sep 14 2008, 11:31 AM, said:

I'm an ex military wife and retired after 21 years myself in 2000. Mostly I love civilian life but a few old habits go with me. The first thing I noticed after retiring was that I was still just automatically reaching up to put on a hat whenever I went out a door. Finally got over that. I do not miss the commissary, but I still think about tipping the baggers at the supermarket. I haven't been on a base in about five years, no sticker on my car, my ID expired, just not that interested anymore. The one thing I miss is uniforms. I get ready for work in the morning and just cannot decide what to wear. No one tells me what the uniform of the day is.

Oh, my - do I know what you mean!
I do recommend you keep your ID card current though - just in case.
There should be an ID card facility at Ft. Douglas (there's still an Army Reserve enclave there)
You never know - TRICARE or something else could come in handy some day.
I am fortunate to be really retired, so I don't miss the uniforms, tho.

Gayle

[Yvonne53]

Good luck to both of you and God Bless!

[DesertScrapper]

Hi ladies! Thanks for the replies.

It's nearly 1 full month that he left the Marine Corps officially, and over 5 months since he left on terminal leave. Wow... time flies!

We already owned our home here and the kids were already situated and liking it (we have been here almost 5 years now) so after much thought, research, family talks, etc we had made the family decision to stick it out here for at least a couple more years. So here we are, going on with life like normal.. well, a new normal. We did the Geo-Batch thing for 2 years (not exactly by choice... argh) and so it's INCREDIBLY NICE to have him home with us full time, instead of just weekends and holidays. He is working near home in the aerospace world, doing the same type of work but different aircraft. He is loving it that he gets paid for over-time. LOL!! He has spent A LOT of time in Iraq and Afghanistan the past many years so for me personally, I am sleeping better at night now. I forgot what good sleep was like.

We live near a base, so we get to continue using all base privies including our medical center. I am happy that we don't have to leave the kids doctor as they really like him a lot. Staying here has definantly made the transition MUCH easier compared to what it could have been, I am sure.

Got ID Cards, Tricare, etc all taken care of. What a weird feeling that was. Even stranger when his parents sent us newspaper articles from the local paper that had a HUGE heading "One of Our Own Has Retired From The Marine Corps!". That was VERY strange. LOL!!

Anyways, now that things have settled around here I am going to be around much more. That makes me happy too. I haven't had much time at all to work on my stuff the past couple months. I can now get back to learning from you all. Yay!

Again, thanks!