Essay On Army Retirement

I have been in the Army for 22 years. My family and I have been to ten duty stations and I have been away from my family quite a few times. My wife and children have had to adjust to each duty station each time we moved. My wife has had some good paying jobs, and established friendships with people from work and the neighborhood. My kids have also made friends with children from various duty stations. I have missed a substantial amount of time from my family such as when my oldest son started flag football in 2003 and I was deployed to Iraq. Preparing myself for retirement from the Army will start a new path my family and I have yet to experience.
As I prepare for retirement from the Army my first step will be to speak to professionals from the Army Career and Alumni Program (ACAP) now known as Soldier for Life-Transition Assistance Program (SFL-TAP). As a Soldier I will need to have at least 40 hours over a period of two years to take …show more content…
There will be plenty of expenses to worry about. We will not get the housing and food allowances that we are receiving now. We have to consider if we will keep Tricare (our medical insurance) or will we find a different type of insurance, or have a combination because we will have to pay some money for any medical and dental visits. Another thing that my wife and I will have to consider even though it is an uncomfortable topic, is life insurance. We will need to decide if we are going to go with Veterans Group Life Insurance that we will have to get within 120 days of retirement which will be good if you are a smoker or chronically ill, but my wife and I are neither. We can also look at a commercial life policy that we can get six months prior to retiring from the military so that I can make sure my family is