Early 1990's. Flying with a 17 yr separated UASF guy. Aggressor, F-16 Ops O, FWS, etc, etc, up for squadron commander. He bailed. Just coming off a Hdq tour. He was assigned by TAC commander (Creech?) to do a study and show guys why they'd be better off staying in the USAF vs separating. Doing the study it hit him like a ton of bricks...as a 17 yr O-5 (?) he was better off leaving. The pay off was greater then 17 yrs. He left. Creech has was stunned.
IDK what today's break even point is but it's probably closer to 20 yrs than 10 yrs.