Originally Posted by
USMCFLYR
I hate to see this and agree with it - but Boyd is right.
It was very hard for me to let go of the loyalty issue, but I was in a similar position for a time. I was at a job that I loved and enjoyed the hell out of, but it wasn't a career destination. When the current job came along I delayed as long as I could accepting it but I knew that day might come. All of my civilian peers and even ones just out of the military told me the same thing that Boyd is telling you - civilian means taking care of your needs first.
The military you grew up in is not the military I grew up in. The military I belong to actively conspires every day of the Lord to ensure I don't make it to retirement and treats me with the same callousness they do any civilian airline pilot.
Even though that is the most personal thing anyone can do to somebody (mess with their livelihood) I don't take it personally, just as I wouldn't take an airline furlough personally. This concept of military loyalty, beyond the brother-in-arms peer level, is beyond foreign to me. It simply hasn't been my experience. I too hope to get some retirement out of this life commitment, but it's getting harder and harder to accomplish.
Timing and luck. My loyalty has always been primarily to those who will actually cry at my funeral, to paraphrase a retiring Wing Commander here a couple years ago.