Unpopular Celebrities Podcast LLC
Unpopular Celebrities. Learn all about leadership, finance and life - and a lot more. Follow your hosts of the UPC Squad along with guests as we take a deep dive into different topics. Our focus is on leading people! Come take a journey with us and discover how you are also an unpopular celebrity. "I may be not be everything to everyone but I am something to someone."
Unpopular Celebrities Podcast LLC
The Button Isn’t A Staples Easy Button, Folks Part 2
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The moment you decide to retire isn’t just a click—it’s a reckoning. We open up about the weight behind “pushing the button,” the quiet guilt of choosing family over another tour, and the real work of shifting your identity from rank and ribbons to purpose and people. You’ll hear why staying past 20 isn’t a one‑size‑fits‑all decision, how higher tenure and slating collide with a spouse’s career, and what happens when you stop planning next year’s calendar and start planning your life.
We get into the unglamorous but critical choices: who to tell and when, how to avoid the “checked out” label, and why some members keep retirement plans close until the timeline locks. We compare retiring CONUS vs OCONUS with clear tradeoffs—ceremony access for family, state benefits, and job hunting where you’ll actually live. Then we dismantle the six‑figure fairy tale and the risky habit of budgeting around a VA rating. The better path: honest skill translation, smart networking, and a resume that shows outcomes, not acronyms.
We also wrestle with ceremonies—why they matter for families even when the planning is stressful—and the big post‑uniform question: do you lead again or reclaim your time in a non‑supervisory role? You’ll hear strong arguments for both, along with candid stories from recent retirees who chose faith over fear and found alignment on the home front. If you’re standing at the edge of the button, this conversation gives you clarity, language for tough talks, and a plan to honor your service while building a life you want.
If this helped you think differently about transition, follow the show, share it with a teammate who needs it, and drop a review with your biggest question—we’ll tackle it next.
Opening Banter And Setup
SPEAKER_00What up? What up? My voice is gone. My voice is gone.
SPEAKER_02What up? Happy Sunday, Lady Moon Germ. Peace, human beings.
SPEAKER_00Peace, human beings. Why do you say that peace, peace, human beings? What does that even mean?
SPEAKER_02Well, I mean, if you think about it, peace means what mostly people do when they say goodbye, or they're saying, you know, they're leaving a conversation with a good friend. They're like, all right, peace, right? Right. And then who would are you? A human being. So peace, human beings, peace, human beings. In all honesty, I got it from my favorite. I stole it from my favorite MC. And I would argue top five, maybe my my favorite of all time. The dude, shout out to Ya Ca Most Deaf. Let a dude, man. I stole it from him. He always says that. So I decided to adopt it.
SPEAKER_00What's up, Kevin? Kevin's saying before snow things. Uh why?
Series Focus: Military To Civilian
SPEAKER_02Peace Human Beings. Peace, human beings. It's your boy, Philly DC, here with my partner in crime here, Pete on the engineer boards. You got Jessica Player, also, and Dell out there doing their business. Welcome to another episode of Unpopular Celebrities here on this lovely Sunday morning. We have a great show for you. Uh, if you missed the last show, go ahead and catch us on catch it on YouTube, on Apple Podcasts, or Facebook, the Live, or the podcast audio piece. But we're doing a series called Transitioning from Military to Civilian. When do you know it's time? And we received a lot of great responses and feedback from the last episode, which was episode one. And so here we are with episode two. We're going to double down on a little bit of what we talked about last week in terms of what's it like to push the button, the things that you may go through. And we're going to double down on that. We're this is going to be a long series, probably between four to six. Thank you for subscribing. Yeah, shout out to Kevin for subscribing.
SPEAKER_00Big shout out to Kevin for the subscription.
SPEAKER_02You see this, appreciate it, brother.
SPEAKER_00The sub goal up top. We're trying to get our goal. So one is one percent complete, so y'all math whiz can let y'all know what the sub goal is.
SPEAKER_02But yeah, but anyway, without further ado, we're going to get into that. And as always, if you are in this space where you're thinking about transitioning or you're in the process of transitioning, like us, or or rather me, or for folks who are Kevin, uh gold bears, actually, go lions, brother. I'm hoping the lions win today. No, no shade on you. But if you already transitioned like Pete and other folks, and you already got some nuggets you want to drop, feel free to put it in the comments. We'll read the comments out. You can help others, including myself. So we appreciate that. Pete, any comments before we get started?
SPEAKER_00Uh, no real comments right now. I'm trying to figure some things out. Uh, it doesn't look like our viewer count for Facebook is winning, is working. Uh, but we'll figure that. I'll figure that out maybe another day. Uh, I'm a little sick under the weather, so uh uh gonna rely on Philly to see this thing through because I will not be at my 100%. Got my cough drop here, so I'm gonna take that and see if I can make it through this because as they say, the show must go on.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_00All right, so my life.
Pushing The Retirement Button Explained
SPEAKER_02All right, well, we without any more uh delay, we'll get started. So this is considered episode two of transitioning from military to civilian. When do you know it's time? So let's first start off. Last show, we kind of talked about the thought process that you may go through when you decide whether or not you want to push the button. Meaning, for folks who may not be in the military, if you decide to retire and you're serving in the military, and different services are different, but in the Air Force, there's a particular specific rep site you have to go through and it checks your availability if you're able to retire. And then there's an actual button that you will click that will give you the opportunity for powers that be and Air Force Personnel Center to check your records and make sure you're good to go to retire. But pushing that button is significant because that is the first major step from the decision for the decision for you to decide to terminate or end your military career. What we got? Andy Gilbert, what's up, man? You in the airport?
SPEAKER_00Oh shoot, I can't hit my airport, bro. What's up? What's up? Uh big Andy. I I heard you was uh local and I missed you. Well, close to being local, man. Sorry, sorry.
Readiness, Higher Tenure, And Family Impact
SPEAKER_02Well, yeah, it's good to see you, Andy. He's another good person. Andy Gilbert, former chief, he already transitioned and is doing well on the other side. So he's a good example. But anyway, as I continue, so um, let's just start with me. And a lot of these, a lot of the things we'll talk about during this series is our personal, you know, our personal take on it because we're still going through it. Pete has already transitioned officially, maybe by three, four days, maybe a week. I'm still in my process. I got maybe a month or two left over. But for for myself, when I decide to push the button, a bunch of things came to mind. Namely, one, I mean, what is natural, figuring out if you are ready or if it's time. So when you think about if you're if it's time, you think about where you're at currently in your military career and also in your life. For me, I was at over 30 years. And usually when you take a specific job, you may end up getting a what's called a forgive me, um, it's like a requirement. You have to meet two or three years, depending on a position. Like if you make E9, like Chief Master Sergeant, you have a three-year service commitment, service commitment, thank you. Service commitment. So same thing. If you take a job, usually you're there for two years. So, anyway, I was getting near the end of my job, of my my current employment um position in the military, and I was going to hit higher tenure. So, for folks, I got a lot of comments through YouTube asking about what higher tenure meant. And so, higher tenure means simply each grade in the military, there's a certain amount of years you can serve in that grade or rank before you have to retire. And the only way to avoid that is to go to the next grade. But for a chief, the maximum is 30 years, unless, and I won't go deep into that, but unless you take a specific position, which I did, and you're working for two, three, or a four-star general. So for me, I was at a point where I need to decide did I want to continue to go to the next level? What's called like tier three for a command chief at the MAGCOM level or stay at the NAF, but I would have to work for a three-star general and get another waiver to stay another two years. But a lot of things come with that. I had to decide whether or not I wanted to move my family again. I've had 12 or 13 PCS since I've been in 30 years. So for me, my kids are grown. I have a 32-year-old and I have a 26-year-old. So um Wendy and I didn't have any kids. So we could theoretically move, but for folks that have spouses, the key point is the more you move, the more it may be difficult for them to establish themselves in a career. And I got to a point where as my wife was doing well at her position, working for the government, and she was on her, she was ascending as far as her popularity and her expertise. She was well respected in her craft. And I didn't want to pull her away from that again. And hopefully, there's this position, position open in this particular area I was in in Texas. But unfortunately, the further you go up in rank and in position, the lesser jobs there are. So there weren't any positions available. So I had to make a decision: am I willing to move and compete or transition? And I decided to transition. And so quickly, I'll say this and then I'll pause because I've been talking for a while. What was difficult for me was the thought processes, as if I decide when I made a decision to transition instead of compete, I've almost felt like I was like it was a cop out. Like I felt as though, like, you know, I don't know if most people do it. You know, you talk to yourself and you say, Hey, counsel, are you serious? That's it, you're gonna stop. You know, I mean, you better than that. You know, I mean, you're supposed to keep going, keep going. And it was hard to wrestle with that. It made me feel like I was giving up, and it took me a while to figure out I wasn't giving up, I was making a decision for myself, for my family, that's that's in my best interest. And I think I'm curious if other people feel that way, but it's hard because you've got to think the military is always thinking of themselves. What's best for the mission? You know how they say service before self, what's best for the mission? It's difficult when you've served so long, you're so used to thinking of the mission versus thinking of yourself. And that was that one time I actually thought about myself, and it was hard. I felt guilty. I'll pause there.
SPEAKER_00Um, don't really know what to say. I think we talked about a lot of this on the first episode. But if y'all got any questions, as we go through this, feel free to chime in and uh ask your questions away, and we'll try to answer them as you know on this platform to the honesty and best that we can. Uh, so I think as we move on through this retirement period and we go on to you know what a lot a lot of people feel and how they might be feeling. I think you hit the nail on the head with some people are feeling like they're giving up, some people feeling like they uh, you know, they're quitting. Um, for me, like I told y'all in the first episode, y'all can go back and watch it of what I said there. So I'll leave that in suspense so y'all can go back and watch that on YouTube or or any platform that you can see this podcast, which is you know, Apple Apple Podcast, uh uh what's that dang source called? Uh, what's that dang source everybody gets their music from? Spotify. Spotify, thank you. Hey, Spotify, YouTube, whatever you want to see.
Compete Or Transition: Weighing The Move
SPEAKER_02Okay, so anyway, when I got to that point and I decided I was gonna do something for me, it it I finally hit to the point where I was comfortable with that decision, and so then it was the question of who do I tell? Do you just click the button? Do you tell people ahead of time? And that's a tricky question because I've known folks who have gone and told their supervisor, and here comes the comments. Why? What made you decide to leave? What are you gonna do when you get out? There's nothing out there in the civilian world. It it almost makes you question your decision. Now, if you're having a rough time in the military, you're maybe not a great, a good performer. You're not gonna have people say, people probably say, Good, you should have retired a long time ago. But for you folks who are superstars at your job, you're gonna have people ask you those questions, and I will admit it will make you in some cases really contemplate if you're making the right choice, or they may dangle a carrot. I've heard cases where people say if you stay another year, you'll get promoted, you'll you'll get a strat. Now, I'm not trying to insinuate there are people out there that give hookups for people to stay longer. I'm not saying that, but there are cases where people will make you believe that you're giving up, you're putting yourself out of a position to and to be in an advantageous position to move to the next rank or job, and it's hard. Let's see who's that Ken Cliff. What's up, brother? I experienced the same thing getting out. I was afraid to get out. Thank you for that comment, man. And I think ultimately it boils down to that. I honestly, I think I felt there was a little bit of trepidation when I made that decision. Because I mentioned it on the last show, just trying to visualize what would it what would it be like if I got out, and it is scary. Maybe for some people it's not, but it was scary. Not so much because I didn't think I could do it, it's more or less because I'm used to the same thing. Yes, Sydney, what's up? One of my favorite folks. Don't like your husband though, because he's a dirtbag Cowboys fan. Anyway, that's a powerful shift in focus, Chief. Your family became the mission. No carrot can compete with that, in my opinion. I agree. But and Ken Cliff says, but I stepped out on faith and had good military leadership. And Chief Mass Sergeant Simmons, Todd Simmons, who mentored me after the military. Uh, going back to what uh Mazuka said, that's true, man. It's like you you get to a point where you you really concentrate on your family, but it's the fear of failure, and faith has a lot to come with it. You have to really believe that it's just like anything, there are thousands of people that came after you that has already transitioned and they made it. So you will too. It's just believing that. Ken Cliff says, I knew who I was, trusted, I knew who I was, trusted in me, landed a good job, and completed my bachelor's and master's degree. Shout out to you. So, anyway, so when I got to that point, I for me, I did not tell many people. I I told my supervisor at the time, obviously, because you want to tell them because when you hit the button, it goes to them anyway. Your commander, my supervisor was my commander. So um, I remember when I told General Allen what I appreciated was it even when there was a smile and he was saying, Hey, we're getting up there in time, Chief. You know, I appreciate you know, I appreciate you letting me know. It was a lot of congratulatories and such. But you know, it's always hard to see good people leave. And I think we mentioned on the last show, those of us that are in leadership positions, we've got to get out of the making people feel guilty for deciding to move on. Even if you're not retiring, if you're getting out at four or six years old, not six years old, six years, 10 to 12 years, we've gotta start making feel make people, we've got to start getting out of making people feel guilty for the decision they made. We have to start preparing them as best as we can for that transition. And I'll pause there before I go to my next point.
SPEAKER_00No, go ahead.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so then it comes the next point of how do you conduct yourself after you hit the button? Because there's a lot of things that come to your mind. You know how you have someone that think of it like when you're in a deployment. For those that have deployed, they've done like six months or a year on the deployment, and you get those deployment orders, you're getting to go home. What's up, brother?
SPEAKER_00What's up, Dewey?
SPEAKER_02You get this idea that you're about to go home, right? How many of you felt like when on deployment, when you found out you're getting your your redeployment orders and you know when you're leaving? Part of you feels like you're just dropping everything. Maybe not everything, but slow. You start to you start to downshift a little bit, especially when your replacement gets there. When your replacement, your replacement gets there, you kind of lean back a little bit because you're like, you're leaving. And I think I would compare it to this when you hit the button, you start realizing like everything you thought about, your mind starts playing different games with you because you're not thinking about oh, next year we have annual awards we have to do, or maybe next year you may have a PCS or deployment. You don't have to worry about that anymore. I mean, you're getting to a point where now you don't have to worry about that. And so what do you do? Do you do you downshift? And if you do, there's a perception of people that you work with, they're gonna think, oh, he's retiring. Oh, she's retiring, she don't hear, she don't care anymore. And that's a real thing because you you just feel like you have to work harder so people don't assume that you just gave up because they know you're retiring. So there's some people that will purposely not tell people where they work that they're retiring for that fear of that alone.
Guilt, Identity, And Mission First Culture
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think that's a great point. And uh just to kind of talk about that about who do you tell? I think one, you have to tell your commander, right? It depending on your your position, right? If you're doing uh, you know, uh eight years, ten years, maybe not so much, right? Just you know, you're separating a little different, but you're retiring, usually you're a tech master, you know, or higher. Uh usually you have that relationship with your commander at that point, depending on how long you've been at the base, and a lot of that uh has dependency on that. But uh, I wonder how many people in here that are retired, if they did tell their commander or not, or if they just like surprise, because they're gonna get the email, like you said. So as soon as you uh hit the button and do it, they get the email as well and let them know. Um, so I think it's I think it's important that you at least tell them now. Once you tell them, you have a decision to make do you tell them, hey, don't tell anybody that I'm retired, and that's I think I'll take that personally. That's where I was at. I didn't want nobody to know because of what you said. The fear of this person don't care no more. Like you take a day off of work and They're like, oh, he's retired, it don't matter. If you don't show up for a meeting, he's retired, it don't matter. So it's that perception is just like, hold on, hold on. Like, I mean, you gotta remember, you click the button, you still got 365 days at the most. You can do less, just depending on where you're at. But 365 days, that's a lot of time. You want to stay involved as much as possible. Uh Charles David said, Good morning, fellas. Good morning, good morning. If I may ask, which would you suggest? Retiring overseas or conus? I have heard people say, wait until you're back, Conus, but I don't totally understand the big difference. Thank you for your time. Man, you're so politically correct. Thank you for your time. I appreciate that. Uh King Cliff said, My commander told me I was making a mistake. Bruh, that's a man. I'm talking loud. That's an interesting question. Is you say your commander told you that you're making a mistake. And I think you told me a while ago that you met your commander after the fact. But uh, if you want to talk about that, you can't. Back to the Charles Davis point overseas or conist.
SPEAKER_02I've always been or heard it's best to retire conist than overseas. Because, well, here's the thing if you plan on, which I have I've had many friends do it, staying in the country that you're serving in, then it's advantageous to retire over there, i.e., if you want to stay in Okinawa or Germany. But obviously, there's some things, certain conditions you have to meet in order to stay there. But if you're planning on transitioning, it's transitioning to the states, I think it would make it more difficult for you to do your process overseas because there's things you gotta worry about. You gotta worry about where you're gonna go live, how you're gonna find a job, which states provide the most benefits for disabled members. There's a lot of things you gotta consider. Then not only that, your family. If you want to have a retirement ceremony, you may not have a lot of family attend because you're overseas. So I think it's more advantageous if you retire a Conus than Oconus, in my opinion.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think real quick, uh, it all depends what you want to do after the fact. And like uh to Philly's point, if you care about having your family having a retirement server, it might be hard for them to get overseas or expensive or both. Uh, and then also if you plan to move back to the states, you rather do it on the military dime to have them move you back to the states than you haven't feel and rush because once you're done, you're done. There is no like hold on, there's no like can I get a couple more days? It's like a PCS. Like, once you have your D Rose date, that's where it all comes. Once you're done, you're done. So if you plan on coming back to the States, I would say in my I retired stateside, but in my opinion, going through it. Um, that's why I would think where y'all want me to have mine.
SPEAKER_02Uh, I don't care if you have yours or Devon, you're not retiring anyway, man. You're gonna be like a 30-year CMS sergeant. Yes, but people say you can't do that exactly.
SPEAKER_00That's crazy. I'm just kidding. That didn't come out right. I'm just kidding. That's crazy. Uh, but uh yeah, so I don't think it matters, but who you tell uh or how you do it is really up to you. Really, it comes down to the person you are. If you're real flashy, I want to show everybody, want people to give me likes and say thank you, post it on social media, do whatever you do. I'm not that type of person, that's just not me personally, so I wasn't that type. And like I said, I didn't want nobody know. I didn't I start people start hearing rumors, and so they would ask me personally, hey, I heard you're retiring. Nah, I don't I would lie, I don't know where you heard that from. They're like, Oh man, I was but here's the thing once you hit the button, it's like everybody knows it's somehow the rumor gets out, and everybody knows, especially depending on your position. Uh, everybody knows, but I would still hold strong to my guns and be like, nope, not retiring. And then, like, two, three months out, I was like, Yeah, I am. It's like you have no choice then.
SPEAKER_02Here's a provocative question. What about folks who are married and the spouse? How much does a spouse dictate whether you retire or not at that particular time?
SPEAKER_00I think it depends.
Who To Tell And Managing Perception
SPEAKER_02Here's the reason why I say that. What if you have a spouse that says, well, because there's our here's that fear. Well, if we retire, how are we gonna get medical care? Where are you gonna find a job? Where will we go? So we talked about this last show. You stay in the military so long, you feel institutionalized, you're used to certain perks that you receive from the military, a lot of security. So you may have a military member who's like, Look, I'm so burnt out, I'm ready to leave, I'm ready to do something else. But the spouse, he or she may say, you know, fear of okay, what do we do? We don't have a plan, blah, blah, blah. How much should a spouse dictate whether the decision is made to stay or go?
SPEAKER_00Robert Roller said my spouse was happy as could as could be when I told her the plan to retire. I think it uh like Ken Cliff said, you know, it's all about taking it, it don't matter when you get out, you take a leap of faith and you bet on yourself, right? You we all got to get out eventually. So whether higher tenure or whatever it is, and hopefully, if you're higher tenure, you built up a routine or a plan to get out. But uh to me, I don't think your spouse should matter at all uh when you get out. And to answer those questions, what are we gonna do? Shit, I don't know. Like, but you have to have faith in me as your husband, as your wife, as your spouse, to figure it the F out. Like, it might be you're not working for the first year of getting out. Now, if you are living paycheck to paycheck, and your family is counting on your military paycheck, well, then that's a different conversation, right? But you have 365 days once you hit the button. Now, can you look for a job and stuff like that? I'm going all over the place. Uh Dooley, we'll get to your question. You can, but if you are counting on your paycheck, well, maybe right now is not the right time, and you take another year to figure out your finances right, and then maybe go from there. That's my answers with that. Devob McCoy said, That's why I married a doctor. Type shit. Type shit. Uh, if you want to answer that, I'll let you, but Dooley has a question as well.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Why y'all think about seeing what y'all think about seeing leaders that opt not to have a retirement ceremony?
SPEAKER_00Um very disrespectful, Kim. 30 years senior. Very disrespectful.
SPEAKER_02You said you're married to a doctor, so it's too much of an issue. I'll circle back with that because uh what I don't want to do is get out of out of order. Let me let me let me double back on the the question I posed about spouses, and then do I answer your question. Um, I think I guess where I was getting at is it's easy for someone to give you input on whether you should not make a decision on something, and it impacts them versus them versus the person being in that particular moment. Case in point, if you have a spouse that may say, he may say, Well, we're we're used to this, like, what are we gonna do? Like, this should the conversation of retirement should not happen the day you decide to hit the button, right? Right, it should be, and frankly, I mean that goes more into marriage and the relationship thereof. You should know whether or not how your military member is doing in the military, you should have an inclination of how well they are, if they're feeling burned out, if they feel successful. If you have a spouse in the military and they've gone for promotion four or five times and they're not making it, you might want to start thinking, like, okay, well, what's the future look like? If you have a spouse that maybe has a lot of physical injuries and they're having problems with making physical, doing physical assessments and they're on waivers, you might want to start, you know what I mean? It should never happen the day you push the button. However, I do think ultimately it's the member military members' decision. It ultimately comes down to that because if you stay because of fear, because of comfortability, and because you want to please someone, eventually it's gonna catch up to you, you're not gonna be happy, and then trust me, it's nothing worse than have somebody come to work every day and they hate being there because people notice it, especially if you're higher in rank, if you're like a supervisor, manager, senior leader, commander. If you don't want to be there, don't think people don't notice it. You can only mask it for so long. And those folks that's gonna be still staying in, they're gonna depend on you. They're not gonna know that you are struggling to stay in because you really want to get out, but you feel like you cannot get out. So it's almost best to just really come to grips with your decision. Devon says, I see a lot of times where the member is not open with their spouse about their performance at work. Oh man, yes, yeah, man. That's another show for another day, but I've always had issues with that.
SPEAKER_00We should be back. Uh, let's give it a second. We should be back. I don't know what happened with that. So give me a second. All right, we're back. All right, sorry about that. We got kicked off Facebook, but we're back. So those of you that will come back on, uh, we'll start with this question again. We'll just leave it up there so people can see. So uh opting out to uh hello, yeah. I'm here. All right, you can finish your thoughts.
SPEAKER_02We good now.
SPEAKER_00Yep, gotcha.
Overseas Vs CONUS Retirement Decisions
SPEAKER_02What was it? Yeah, I've always felt like it was good for people in your formation to see what it what it looks like for a military member to serve 20 years and then transition into civilian life. I think that's important, and I've always felt like it should be your responsibility to ensure that happens. The only issue I have with that is is the stress of financial-wise, of what it comes with. You gotta find a venue where to have it at. That costs money. You gotta get a cake, you gotta pay for folks to to eat during the reception ceremony. Then you have the shadow box. There's a that's a lot of stuff to consider when you plan a ceremony. And frankly, I don't think that should happen. I think there should be a way where not all, but there's certain things a military member shouldn't have to pay for. I think there should be provisions for the unit to pay for a standard shadow box for the member or a gift. And I know most formations they do gifts for folks, but you should not have to worry about that. And then there's the pain of just the whole the whole thing of it scripts, national anthem singer, all that stuff that can be stressful. And so I guess if it was for me, I think senior leaders should have a retirement ceremony. Although a lot comes with it, you should still have it. I think it's I think you should. I think it's the right thing to do.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think if you uh some people, you know, excuse me, if you don't have a because it's really not for you, it's for your family, right? So if you don't have a family that can make it for whatever godly reasons happen, and you don't want to have one because it's just you, I'm good with that. But if you have any type of family, especially kids and stuff like that, that can make it, it is your time to for them to see you and people to gather around to say thank you for what you did. Uh, whether it's mandatory or they want to be there, don't want to be there, it doesn't matter. It's really for your family. And I'll be honest, like for my family loved it, and that's all I can really ask for because they'd never seen anything military at all. So whether I'm the best troop in the world or the worst troop in the world, it doesn't effing matter. Like it's really just for your family to see you, and then you can get your medals, get your certificates and stuff like that, and they dig that stuff, right? Get a certificate from the president. We all know how that works, but they don't, some don't, and so if you don't have a a family that is uh been to these before or ever seen these before, uh, then it's cool. But um, you know, I think some people just don't have one because they don't feel like they had a respectful military career. Uh, I'm 75% on having mine at the Raven Stadium. Okay, well, good for you that has at the Ravens Stadium.
SPEAKER_02I was I wouldn't think about well, you know what?
SPEAKER_00It's outside.
SPEAKER_02Maybe it's good, maybe they might win something. Who knows?
SPEAKER_00All right, and then we have a long question. I don't know who Richie Brown is, but welcome to the show. Uh, I will try to move this up so we can see it. All right.
SPEAKER_02Richie Brown says, When I was ready, when I was ready, I told my spouse, and she was excited for planning the next step. To answer the question, she supported whatever decision I made. I did over-educate her on the next step, and we sat down and planned the future together. That way we were on the same page for the next step. Yo, shout out to you. You got a real one, man. That's how you do it. That's how you do it. I love it. What he said about his spouse, supporting whatever decision he made. John Becker, what's up, brother? I had a commander tell us, group of senior NCOs, that if you're over 20 as an enlisted member, it doesn't make fiscal sense to stay in. He said to get out and start earning. I financial disagree with that. I I will let you, I will let you answer that first.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it doesn't make financial sense to get out. I think uh it all depends on where you're at or what you want to do. Like, yeah, it I don't think that's a one-size-fit-all comment at all. Uh, some of it doesn't make financial sense, some of it does. And some people say you make more money getting out than staying in. You know, there's all these different theories, and then you have you know, veterans that are on the street being bums. So I think it all depends on who you are, where you're at in life, and uh it's a very crude thing to say that if you're over 20, it doesn't make financial sense. It's a very, it's a very negative mindset to have. And if you are in the military to be financial, then you're in the wrong business. And that's that has always been there since you've been an airman. Uh now there's their financial perks for being in the military, yeah. You get 10% off at the mall and stuff like that. You get you know credit cards for free and stuff, you get travel and stuff like that. So are there benefits? Yeah, but if you're in it for paycheck to paycheck, yeah, we don't make as much as you do working everywhere else. But if you're also in it because of that, then you're in the wrong spot. Uh R R R, what's up, man? Happy New Year, happy new year. All right, go ahead. Uh, we got two more questions, and I'll let you go on. Well, you can go on.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I won't go on the ramp for that. You answered, you nailed everything I was gonna say. Only thing I would say is whoever that commander was, shame on you, man. Shame on you. I would argue you make more money on the outside, whether you come in airman, basic, or lieutenant, anyway, right? You don't join the military to get rich. If you stay over 20 and you're telling people if you stay over 20 because it's not, it doesn't make financial sense. You can make more money. Shame on you, man. We don't you don't join the military to get rich. And I think if you stay past 20, you stay past 20 because you make the decision, you enjoy where you're at. Don't stay past 20 because financial reasons, then then I would argue how effective you are because you're not thinking about what you're supposed to be doing. When you get to a point where if you're over 20, you're worried about financial reasons, you probably shouldn't be in there because then you're not concentrating what you're supposed to be concentrating on, anyway.
Money Myths, VA Assumptions, Six‑Figure Lore
SPEAKER_00All right, Charles David said he says so. Real life uh hit this past week. MDG, uh I think that's uh medical, yeah, hit me 30 days out from overseas PCS and said, You gotta push 90 days because two medical things were flagged, and there will most likely be an MEB medical review board or medical evaluation board, so that put things in perspective. Military's temporary life with my spouse is permanent. 100% not having a ceremony, and wife is 100% good with me, so he's good with not having a ceremony. Oh, and the wife is 100% good with me. I I just disagree with that. I just disagree. Uh, while I don't agree with the statement, I uh what statement don't you agree with about being rich outside of the military? Because Devon, we're gonna talk about that one if you if you disagree with that. But uh for Charles Davis, if you don't oh go ahead. No, go ahead.
SPEAKER_02No, I was gonna say I think he's talking about the statement that commander made.
SPEAKER_00Oh, okay, okay. Yeah, I understand it, I just don't agree with it. I if you're talking about that, I I get you, but everybody is different, and everybody cannot jump, everybody, oh man, and um stop me if I go onto a rant. Everybody talks about when I get out, I'm getting a six-figure job. Everybody talks about that. The likelihood of getting a six-figure job out of another job is not easy. It is very now. Some people get there. I'm not saying it's 100% guaranteed you won't, and I'm not discouraging anybody, but it is not as easy as just snapping our fingers and getting six figures. It's really not now. Unless you have those lucrative skills, engineering background, if you have uh um computer science background, contracting background, yeah, there are some companies that will, but everything's about timing. Maybe they're not looking to hire nobody, maybe they're in a hiring shortage and now they need people. So it's all about where you are, time and space in the United States or outside the United States. But it is not as easy as people say, I'm just getting out and getting a six-figure job. I understand what the CC is saying, it particularly is true depending on your VA rating.
SPEAKER_02I won't yeah, I will say this because we'll we'll cover a little bit of VA piece, very general next episode in phase three, but you should never depend on VA. You hope for the best, but you never depend on it, and uh to tell people. Again, if you go past 20, it doesn't make financial sense because if you're alluding to because of a VA rating, then you are already setting them up for failure. You stay in for 20 because you still feel like you're contributing, you enjoy, or if you don't, you transition. And to your point, I agree. My wife says it all the time, who is considered an expert in employment at the family military family readiness center. Folks between senior NCOs and officers believe when they get out, they're gonna make six figures. Not everyone will make six figures. And in some cases, you may have to humble yourself and start off at the entry level. There are a lot of civilian organizations that love the military. There's also some civilian organizations that maybe are have a military bias, meaning we're too rigid, we're maybe too straightforward, you know, and it could be intimidating. Devine says that's why I say partially true. Thank you, brother. So anyway, I want to get too far on that because that's later on in the episode series. So we'll we'll double back to what we were saying um about episode or phase two where we're talking about. So we talked about who you tell, we talked about some of the thoughts you may feel or others may feel when they find out you're hitting the button. Um, let's talk about guilt. And what I mean by that is speaking for me personally, there are times I felt guilty for wanting to retire because I thought about who's gonna take over for me if I leave, what would happen to the airmen? Is this am I choosing choosing myself over the military? Is it the right time to think this? Who's gonna judge me? I think those are all fair things to think about and be concerned about. But how do you navigate? Did you feel that way? How did you navigate?
SPEAKER_00No, not at all, didn't feel guilty at all. I feel like the Air Force is gonna move on without me, regardless. So uh they were here before me, they're they're gonna be here after me. I feel like I can still contribute uh with the podcast or stuff like that, but I didn't feel guilty at all. Zero zip nada.
SPEAKER_02And I did you feel guilty that you were leaving stuff on the table, like a promotion to see your master's starting, a particular assignment or anything?
Ceremony Or Not: Purpose And Pressure
SPEAKER_00I did until I realized it wasn't gonna happen. But once I realized it wasn't gonna happen, it's like, who cares? Like they're gonna move on without me. I think that's uh part of the realization of retirement is you are done. It's like retiring from anything, you're not retiring and then gonna be a consultant, you know, for the squadron or wherever you leave. So you're done, like just be happy with being done. And I think you know, two two two different opinions on that. Some people say you have those people that retire that just can't let it go, and then you have the people that retire and never show up again. It's like you're at one side or the other of the spectrum. Like, don't call me an airman, don't call me a uh NCO, don't call me sergeant this or chief this, like just call me Bob from now on, and they just let it all the way go. Uh Dell Brown, come back as Daf, come back as Daf. Never. Well, I wouldn't say never, but if I can help it, if I can help it, never, never. Uh Charles Davis said when I got out, I wanted a job, but I didn't want to work. I've I hope your employer doesn't hear this. Uh, no supervising. I don't want all that 23 years in MX uh maintenance made me realize enough. Plus, we moved to Thailand and doing the DVT visa until I reach the retirement visa age required. I don't know what DVT is. Uh Triple R says, never cared about the job spot, it will get filled every single time. I agree, I agree. In four months, they won't even remember you were there. Now that I don't agree with, that I don't agree with. They'll remember whether you're good or bad, they'll remember, definitely remember. Charles Davis also said, Guilt man, DC, the Air Force been around for 75 years. U.S. Air Force will be all right. Kind of my mindset. Go ahead.
SPEAKER_02So I would compare it to the feeling you get when like WAPS testing. For those who are old as me and they've done WAPS testing, and you go in there, or maybe not WAPS testing. Let's say you're doing a test at school, and you are going through your tests, and you know you said one shot, and that's it. And then you hear that voice say, pins down, and you put your pens and pencils down, and you get this feeling like I know I got it. But then you start thinking, what if question three was wrong? Maybe I should have changed it. Yeah, we should have changed question five. Maybe I should have quainted changed question six. I would liken that experience to this because yeah, I know the Air Force continues on, they're going to have somebody fill your position. Heck, Ronnie Woods was already named when I decided to retire. So someone's going to take my spot. But you always think, I don't know about you guys, but I've always thought when I made that decision of one, what if I could have just stayed another two years? I could have maybe gone to another NAF job or a MACCO. What would it have been like to go back to a squadron? What if I would have stayed a little bit longer and I could have been a part of the deploy combat wing? There's a or what do I do with Airman So-and-So that I see every Sunday or every Monday for a mentorship? What's going to happen to them? You for me, those thoughts always went through my mind. I think of that as I think for those who may feel that way, maybe not everybody, but if you do feel that way, I think it's perfectly natural. It's perfectly okay. That means you had a lot invested in this enterprise. I think it's perfectly natural. In fact, I'm a little surprised people may not feel that way. Because I think in the end you have to realize you have to move on. That is certain. But I also think there is nothing wrong with having that feeling. What if, or if I could have done this.
SPEAKER_00All right, Charles Davis said, I said, when I get out, Pete. Pete's still on that military reading, aka speed. Yeah, hey, very true. Maybe that, maybe that is true. All right, my bad. I misread that. Uh, you never told us what the next job you got offered was. Okay. Uh can anyone name the ninth president of the United States? Nope. And he said that because he said, Do you even know your great-great-great-grandpa's name and he's in your family? I get what you're saying. I get what you're saying, bro. But I think it's a little different, like with that. Uh Tony Renee, what's up? Said Devon McCoy, he sure didn't. Huh. Okay. Uh, what's up? What's up, Miss Ferguson? Uh what ifs? Question mark. Say you started or say you stayed in say you stayed in longer to see if your what ifs happen and you miss out on everything else in life, like family and moments you never get back. Good point. Uh Pete, you had a job but didn't work. You were a dog. I can't hear my butt. You picked up poop every day. I can't hear my butt, but that that's a good point. That's a good point. You picked up poop every day. That's what he's trying to say. You picked up poop every day. He just reading uh DC. DC, what was the job? What you mean? You said, well, they're both on something that you say. He said you never told us what the next job you got offered was.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so let me clarify: I didn't get offered a job, but for folks in these positions, there comes a time when they start asking you what do you want to do in your next job? And typically they send your name for slates for consideration. There's no guarantee you'll get another job, but if you do, you may have to move. And so I was I wanted to be transparent, and I told my command chief that I was not willing to leave Texas. I would be willing to serve, but only if I could stay in this area. And do you think that's a good thing? Thankfully for him, which is what go ahead. Thankfully for him, Bill Fitch shout to Bill Fitch. She was honest, he's like, Hey, look, there's nothing open in Texas. Are you sure you want to stay in Texas because there's not many opportunities there? So then I had to decide. I could have just like, okay, fine, you know, open my name up for everything, but I wasn't willing to leave. And I think the right thing is to realize, you know, no matter what position you're in or how long you serve, Air Force needs come first. And how can I be mad at the Air Force for saying, look, there's nothing open in Texas. I can't expect for them to move somebody so I can go there. And I still had to interview for the job. So there could have been another position out there, but it would have required me to leave, and I wasn't willing to do that.
Spouse Role, Faith, And Planning Together
SPEAKER_00Devon, what he basically says, you ain't up there on his level yet to understand. Nah, Devon didn't say that. He said that's basically what he said. Uh Dale Brown, what up, big homie? You know, you could jump on the show whenever you want. I know you have a lot of stuff going on, and it's different time zones. But anyway, thank you for coming on. Uh, I ain't gonna, I think he meant lie. Uh, when Pete put on the diamond, I thought he had more runway ahead of you, bro. You had a different desire about the Air Force that I saw just outside looking in. Nothing but hey, I'll be honest with you. I think you man, you already know more than anybody. No, man. I just did that to get out of security forces. Man, F that. Like, I knew I was good at the job, I knew I would be pretty good at doing diamond stuff for what they did, talking to people, being around people, uh, advising commanders and stuff like that. But man, F that, man. I I I knew it was time to go. I think this is a true point, and you can answer this, Philly. I think when most people retire or decide to hit the button, they knew it probably a year before they hit the button or months before they hit the button. It ain't like they just woke up on a Tuesday, hit the button, and was like, Yep, I'm gonna retire a year from now. They probably thought about it a year ago, two years ago, had conversations, even a self-conversation. So I think once you reach that point, and that goes to a point where it's like, when do you know? And people always say that you know when you know. I think that's very true. It's hard to understand, but it's very true. It's very true. I'm a personnel, so I understand slates that come from stats. He said, Get your mind right. Uh, triple R said, I did eight years and should have got out. Oh, wow, I would love to hear why. Yeah, that's kind of crazy. What's up, Lorinaga? Pete, did you stay in Arizona? If so, you end up pursuing the teaching route. Hope you're doing, yeah, yeah, yeah. We can talk, man. You could always text me, man, or call me. But uh, yeah, I'm still out here for now and still trying to find that that avenue because it is it's quite difficult to find places, but hopefully, January will open stuff up. But uh, what's the next thing we had to talk about?
SPEAKER_02Okay, I want to pass on the comment I got from Tony Renee through a DM. Tony Renee says, I got my dream job as the DA development advisor this upcoming June. Congratulations to congratulations. Yep, I felt bad about getting it because I know I'm only going to do two years and then retire, and it's a three-year tour. My mentor said what Pete said the Air Force is going to move on after I retire, so take the job. Thoughts.
SPEAKER_00The Air Force is take the yeah. I mean, take the job.
SPEAKER_02So let me let me let me rephrase that because there are a lot of folks I know. You can kind of relate this to stratification too. There are folks I know that end up getting a strat for chief or made chief, and they turned it down and transitioned. And to Tony Renee's point, she gets this new job, it's a three-year tour, but she knows she's gonna only do two because she's gonna opt out the last year to be able to transition. And she felt some some she felt guilty to some to some degree about that. And her supervisor said, You should take it, the Air Force is gonna move on with us.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I if I totally agree. At the point that you're at that you have put time and effort into the military, as long as you're honest and open, and people who select you know that this is your plan. Now, if you go there with the preconceived notion you're gonna do three years and only gonna do two in your mind, that's kind of dirty. But if you're open and honest and be like, hey, I'm only doing two years, that's all I can give you. And it's at the location you want to retire, so you think about your family aspect, take the job, and you can do well in the job, take the job. Because you know what, there'll be somebody else in your in your shoes that is not thinking that way, is not being honest, but can only do two years. So that's my ask, that's my uh thoughts behind it. Uh Nikki Vision Vanish, I think it's vanished. Uh, I'm tired and ready to go. Hey, if you're tired and ready to go and you're ready to go, go ahead. Uh I'm tired. Hey, if you're ready to go, go. Tony Renee said, or excuse me, Devon said, uh P the teacher. Oh, hell no. Yep. Uh police work said if she didn't do it, the next person would. Yeah, exactly what I said. Exactly what I said. Uh, yeah, don't nobody care. Uh I meant for you to stay with stay without my name. That is crazy work right there. That is I'm sorry. Probably why she DM'd you.
SPEAKER_02Hey, so attention all it's too late.
SPEAKER_00Forget what I said about the name. A certain person I know, a lovely lady.
SPEAKER_02I know.
SPEAKER_00That's crazy. I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_02I'm sorry. Yeah, I I boo-booed today. Anyway, um, that's an interesting point because, like I said, some people will make you feel guilty for doing that, and I I'm kind of torn on both ends. I think you already said, as long as you're honest, as much as you there's no need to reveal everything because I've had people also say they didn't want to do anything. Now I'm about to give out. No, you're not, you're not. We're not about what, Tony. I don't know what saying her name.
SPEAKER_00Stop saying her name.
SPEAKER_02No, I'm just saying, I don't know what she's talking about. Do you? You don't know what she's talking about. I need Pete to read five pages out of a Harry Potter book during the interview. Better yet, say, does it no? I did not. Yes, I don't know what we're even talking about, Tony. Four, who is this person?
SPEAKER_00This is crazy.
SPEAKER_02Who is she?
SPEAKER_00Please, somebody asked another question.
SPEAKER_02Anyway, as we move on, in the end, you've got to do what's best for you, but be as honest as you can as as much as possible. Okay, so Charles Davis is divine. I said the same thing. I know he's not going to be a grammar teacher. Yeah, future employers looking at this and saying, Hell, yeah, I ain't gonna teach English.
SPEAKER_00Like, what are we talking about right now?
SPEAKER_02Yo, I don't even know why we talk, I don't even know who Tony is.
SPEAKER_01What are we talking about?
SPEAKER_02Moving on, moving on, moving on. Okay, so I think in the end, um, I think you have to be comfortable with the decision you made. You've got to realize some people are gonna support you, some people will not. You've also got to realize some people will assume because if your performance dips, or if you decide to miss a meeting, or whatever, some people are gonna just assume that you're checked out because you're retired type shit. And it's nothing you can do about that. I think you still maintain your performance as much as possible, which brings me to my next point. You're gonna get to a point, at least for me, I felt like I'm struggling with two things in my mind. I'm struggling with the now and what's to come. Because when you hit the button, the button, the clock starts, right? Because now you have to start preparing, all the while serving in your current position. How did you navigate that?
Staying Engaged After Hitting The Button
SPEAKER_00I think uh well, let me get to this comment and we'll go through that. Uh you will know when it's time at the end of the day. Only you oh, Russell, wait, what's up? Only you will take care of you. Transitioning is stressful until you make the decision. I wasn't ready, but it was the best decision for me and my family. Yep. Uh Devon, which what if you had to pick between Pete and Floyd Maybe? I'm struggling with what with what to come. So cheese.
SPEAKER_02Hey, uh, Mr. Wait, why you ain't at me on your LinkedIn, man? You ghosted me. I was trying to connect with you, brother. So I want to pose a question.
SPEAKER_00What's to come? Okay, go ahead. Pose your question.
SPEAKER_02I want to pose a question, Mr. Wait. There is, would you agree you being I hate to put your business out there?
SPEAKER_00Even though I've been doing it all oh, please, please stop people putting business out.
SPEAKER_02You being a former commission officer in the area and now a civilian, you've been pretty successful. I mean, you got all kinds of Louis bags and anything, but what is it? Is there a difference in the thought process of a commissioned officer versus a senior enlisted of transitioning when it comes to financially and experience-wise? Devon says, DC called another person out. No, I'm not trying to be like that. It's my bad, you know. And if you guys want some some stylish tips for high fashion, see Mr. Russell Wick.
SPEAKER_00Hey Devon, you hit the nail on the wheel. Yeah, I would, I would I used to work for you, Mr.
SPEAKER_02Wick. I would give you the boob.
SPEAKER_00I would give you the boo if I could.
SPEAKER_02I'm open.
SPEAKER_00That's hilarious. Hey, love Robert. Hey, Devon, you'll see, you'll see when you get out. You use all your resources you can. I ain't even mad. I ain't even mad.
SPEAKER_02So, Mr. Wade, it'd be nice if you put some comments in there. I'm curious to hear your thoughts. But anyway, you said back to your back to the question. You said, how did you navigate splitting your time between doing your job and you had a high profile job being a first sergeant? You still had to take care of people and all that, and still worry about transition.
SPEAKER_00I think that's what helped is that you still had to do your job because uh I didn't know my replacement. I think I had my replacement about uh two weeks out, maybe less, maybe a week out, and we only had like a week transition in between there. So you still are in the game. And as being a first star, everybody knows this. I'm not tooting any first sergeant's horn or anything like that, or saying that our job is more or less important, but you still have people to take care of. You take care of people uh from the commander on down, and so you really don't have time to take days off or uh think about yourself too much. You still gotta stay in the fight, uh, as much as you can, as much as you can, and uh go to meetings and stuff like that. Now, when they talk about stuff like 2026, as we are now back in 2025, uh Uh yeah, I kind of tune that out, you know, tune off my like what can I do to get y'all close? But I damn sure don't care about the finish line with this. Uh, but certain things you have to decide what you're gonna tune out and what you're still gonna be invested in, you know, award programs and stuff like that. You still gotta be invested in those because those ain't for you, it's for other people, and you can't leave them as having a uh a bad notion about what a first starting is because you got somebody else coming in for you. What up, what up, what up? I don't know who you are, but what up?
SPEAKER_02What up, brother? Welcome to the show, man. YouTube subscribe. What's up?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think Russell Waite uh just ignored you, but moving on.
SPEAKER_02Damn, why you had to say it like that for? I don't think he ignored me. Maybe he just thought I was kidding you. Okay, we should do a poll. I wish you know, I need to find out a way to do a poll because I would put a poll up there. Those who think Pete isn't isn't oh, put yes or no.
SPEAKER_00Yes, or do a poll. We can always do a poll, those are easy. Those are easy. I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER_02Anyway, I digress. I think it's different. I think for me, it's it's it was hard, man. Because what's up, G? Because you know, my job, I still have to do my job, but my mind was thinking about the things I have to do to prepare. Absolutely. What's up, brother? Um, PJ was and it was hard. Put the application in the shred pile. That's messed up, man. Jessica Play says, Y'all still on. Yeah, girl, we still on.
SPEAKER_00Wait, no, he answered your question. So here you go.
SPEAKER_02He actually Russell Wade says, Absolutely, as you may know, my wife was a senior master when we both decided to retire. Big money. My advice is to know your worth. Most of us think that the retiring officer always gets the better opportunities as ooh, compared to senior NCOs. I like that. Thank you, brother.
SPEAKER_00I appreciate that. I would agree with that mindset. What are you talking about? I said, I said, yeah, I agree with him. What you talking about? No, he said most of us think in parentheses that retired officers always get better opportunities as compared. I would think that's correct. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought that was a thing. I agree.
SPEAKER_02I mean, it's assumed. I mean, yeah, I agreed with him. That's what I'm saying.
SPEAKER_00Uh oh, what's up, Wallington? Uh, what's going on, bro? Great perspective. Uh, great perspective, right there, Pete. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Just read the comic, focus. You are right, having the bandwidth for your people. As I'm getting close to the end, I often think about what I need to get ready for transition. Oh man, my wife was initially offered a GS12 position. Hit the money, hit the money bell for that. Uh, we discussed her opportunity, and she was offered a GS4, hit the two money bells for that. I can can we know your uh how that happens? Like, how does that is it just right timing, right place, right time? How do we get in the same uh part of the GS level like that? That's I mean, shout out to her and y'all, but that's crazy, crazy, crazy. Go ahead. Uh well, I was gonna say, um, you said you were struggling.
SPEAKER_02I'm kind of I'm kind of I kind of get ahead of myself because Russell Wade's comment was interesting about some folks. I think Charles Davis mentioned it earlier. You have some folks in senior positions when they get out, they don't want to supervise or leave nothing. Then you have some people that feel compelled, they have to get back into that rhythm. Russell Wade says, All our records speak for themselves at this level, it's about what you know and who you know.
SPEAKER_00What do you say?
What‑Ifs, Regret, And Letting Go
SPEAKER_02That's right, networking. So, Russell Wade, if you got a job for me here in Texas, you know, I'm gonna use you down as a reference, brother. Devon says it's assumed, but dead ass the civilian I worked with was the previous FSS commander, and I never know it, never knew it until somebody randomly said it.
SPEAKER_00I like people like that. I I admire people like that. You would never know where they come from or who they are. Like, man, we have this dude, he's a retired lieutenant colonel. Never knew, never knew. Eventually, he told me, he's like, Yeah, he's an army lieutenant colonel. I was like, goodness gracious. Uh yeah, in fact, wasn't it?
SPEAKER_02Isn't it true? Like at your last job, I'm about to add see exactly. Hey, add Mr. Wade, he's that dude, man. He's gonna get he gonna get a hundred freaking freaking friend connections to this day. I still shot out job announcements that come across my desk. I didn't get one.
SPEAKER_00He said senior and CO's, not chiefs.
SPEAKER_02Um I didn't get one.
SPEAKER_00He said senior NCO is not chiefs.
SPEAKER_02Um, what I was gonna say, fudge.
SPEAKER_00What was I gonna say? Oh, he said I got you.
SPEAKER_02What was I gonna say? Tony Renee says, That's my husband. He took a GS12 non-supervisory, a 13 is available as supervisor, and he was like, Nah, so that's what I want to say. Why would people Pete? Yep, he was a UPC, it threw me off. Why do people feel like two dynamics? Why do people feel like when they retire, they don't want any job where they have to supervise, or people that retire and they feel like, uh, no, last I checked. Go ahead, keep your thoughts, keep your thoughts going, keep your thoughts going, keep your thoughts. Anyway, don't worry about me, I'm good. Anyway, why do people feel like, and I think I could be wrong, but I think the majority of officers I met, especially commanders, they feel like they have to roll right into that GS 13, 14, 15 SES job, or they don't feel fulfilled.
SPEAKER_00Why is that? I would think their experience where they've been, and uh, you know, nobody it's hard, it's very humbling and hard to take a step back. Uh, I personally don't care. Like, I don't care what position you put me in, as long as there's room for growth, I think I can move up. Uh, I think with our experience of where we've been at, especially being security forces, coming in with a different mindset. You start on the gate and you have aspirations to move up from there, get patrol or whatever your aspirations are from there. But some people are, I mean, are in the same job they did as an airman when they do it 20 years later, and so their mindset is how do I start back over from doing this? They want to stay or they want to stay fulfilled. I don't know why it's like that, but yeah, I don't know. Supervising civilians completely different from a man, I would hit the money bell if I could, bruh. Amen to that. A little different, a little, a lot different, a lot different. Uh, used to abuse the military for 20 years, they want to chill. Yeah, yeah, I get that. Don't want to supervise. I definitely get that. Supervised civilians complete. Oh, uh, we just said that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, uh, I definitely think it for me is tough. I I'm kind of 50-50. There's a part of me that doesn't want anything to do with supervising, but there's a part of me is is in my not so much the supervision part, but the part to be able to be in a position to take care of people because some people think of supervision like being responsible for people, but there's another element as being able to guide and mentor and make decisions to help move people. What's up, chief? It's it's a part of me. What's up, chief?
SPEAKER_00Non-supervisory. I would think like I don't want to because you're not supervising to mentor people anymore. That's okay. Anyway, I probably got as many people as you got, but anyway, anyway. I think not. I think think I'm glad you said think is the key word.
SPEAKER_02That's wrong.
SPEAKER_00Uh I'm gonna get to uh Russell Waite's comment. Uh, I seen it here. Honestly, majority of FGOs, uh, primarily Foolbirds, Foolbirds seem to have a need for the power, respect, and privilege they used to have in uniform. Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_01Very common.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. Very common. Oh my goodness. Okay, hold on. In y'all's opinion, is it wrong going from being a leader high biz to just wanting a job to go home on the civilian side?
SPEAKER_02No, yeah, that's what we're talking about now. Yeah, I don't think it's wrong. I think you gotta do what's there's to Tony Renee. I said something, she said something about 20 years and burnt out. There's some people that have been in positions and they just can't take it anymore, like they just don't want to be in that position. Amber Green says, For me, when I punch, I don't want the feeling I currently have with always feeling needed. You go from being needed all day long at work by your folks to come home and be needed at home. I want to be able to put that energy at home and I feel siphoned by the time I get off work. I like that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, give her a but yeah. Oh Charles Davis. Hold on, I'll wait for it to come up. That this is funny. All right, Charles Davis.
Supervising After Service Or Stepping Back
SPEAKER_02Also, I don't want to work on or next to any aircraft, especially Grey Tails. I see my maintainers retire and then do it all over again as a civilian. Hell no! It's funny. I got a friend, Mike Evans, who used to be a chief shout out to him in Arizona. He's actually deployed as a civilian working as a contractor. I remember that not working on jets, but kind of like you know, supervising folks working on jets. Devon says, Well, DC, since you got that bitch, I need a records review. You know, I got you, brother. I'll, you know, I'll do it. Tony Renee says, Michael Waddington, hell no, especially for a few years. I feel I want to take a year off and do nothing, then get back into it. I don't know, to be honest, for you, I told myself I was gonna say that. Anyway, I felt like I feel like after four or five months, I'm ready to go back to work.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I feel the same.
SPEAKER_02I feel like I'm ready to go back to work, but preferably I would not like to be in a position where I'm the one making all the decisions. I would like to be in an environment where I can help people. That's what I would like to do. But I don't want to be in an environment where I have no control over things. Russell Wade says, I supervise officers and senior NCOs, but not civilians. I love mentoring and coaching. Real talk. If y'all need advice, recommendations on how to navigate the process, feel free to reach out. Russellway.mil. Appreciate it. I'm not surprised. Russell's always been a good friend of mine.
SPEAKER_00Javon McCoy, Chief first time.
SPEAKER_02Chief first time, ha ha. Hey, you know what? I won't be surprised. After all, he's it, he does have his face in the 362903.
SPEAKER_00Hey, you're you're frozen by the way. You're frozen by the way.
