I can't touch time in grade or the stories, but for getting my monies worth out of Uncle Sam, I think I can give anyone a run for their money. Quitters (Two Year) bonus... decide to stick around and take the big bonus... get passed over for O-4 and get separation pay, then turn around and go into the reserves. The downside is part of my lump sum bonus comes out of my retirement pay beginning at age 60. The good side to that is I'll have over a quarter century of inflation to lessen the sting.