Congrats on your retirement and future outlook. As a word of caution to military retirees, complaining that a $4,000/month retirement check just "isn't paying the bills" is not going to make you friends in the airline industry. Many pilots here spent 15 years plus making that kind of money at regionals, trying to feed their families, no BAH, no BAS, no tax frees etc.

You deserve every penny of your retirement for your service to your country, and I thank you for that. Just keep in mind, the rest of your fellow line pilots are not going to see it from the same angle that you do. As it stands right now, my take home salary, airline+AF reserve combined, is surprisingly not much more than your retirement check. I agree it will be a tough transition for you, but you should be able to make it work.