Why I Retired
“Why did you retire? I thought you were going to…”
I get this line of inquiry a lot. Here is the explanation.
Last year I started to have conversations with the Corps Chief’s Office about a post-command tour after Guam. I was told that the flag mess wanted me to get a surface warfare pin. In order to get one, I would have to become a CATF Surgeon and go to sea.
When I asked how long they would make me stay in the CATF billet before they let me compete for a more typical post-command position, they gave me the same answer that I would have given me if I was the Detailer or Deputy Corps Chief. The answer was that they would be writing me 3 year orders and that it would be up to the Detailers when I would be allowed to leave the billet for another position, hopefully a Fleet Surgeon job.
After spending 2 years in Guam unaccompanied, I was not willing to go to sea for an undetermined amount of time with an unknown endpoint. I would have been at 25 years, with only 5 years left before I was statutory. If I was going to be looked at for promotion, it would have happened very late in my 30 year career. I’d likely be age 53 or 54 before I got a serious look at promotion, and I don’t want to be working full-time at age 60.
My financial goal has always been to be financially independent by age 50 so I could retire if I wanted to. If I was having fun, I would hang around beyond that, but if I wasn’t, I’d have the option to leave. Going to sea after 2 years unaccompanied in Guam, and 2 of my last 3 sets of orders being unaccompanied/GEOBACH, was not my definition of fun. As a result, I retired.
The bottom line is that I didn’t want to go to sea just to get a pin after being unaccompanied in Guam for 2 years. If I was not willing to do what the flag mess wanted me to do, I’d rather just get out. As a result, I retired. It is that simple.
I hope that answers people’s question. I wanted to put my thought process out there.
As of now, the plan is to continue and improve the blog, helping people in Navy Medicine for as long as my help is useful.
Joel Schofer's Career Planning Blog 