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I'm both retired Army (11 years active duty, 11 years reserve/guard), and have worked 20 years at a civilian career. Believe me, I will receive more from my civilian retirement than my military retirement. Engloid, if you suckered into believing what the recruiter told you about the great benefits, why didn't you join?
The military is a good life. I left active duty because the Army sent me to paid graduate school for a technical MS degree. I had to make a decision to either stay active Army and possibly watch all the technology advance past me, or get out, protect my years in by joining the reserves/guard, and staying current in my technical field. I chose the latter.
...but don't ever think the compensation is good enough to wipe away all those memories of constant moving (I moved 8 times in 11 years of active duty!), being away from home (I travel about 15% in my current civilian job, I travelled about 25% in my military job), pay that doesn't keep up with the civilian sector (and I am a retired "Officer", I know paygrades E1 - E6 struggle to keep a family!), making a spouse as excited about serving as the soldier, and combat!
I will soft-peddle this as much as possible, but one who has not experienced the "big green machine" (defference to you Navy/Air Force types - and my respect) doesn't have the knowledge to make a comparison. I respect all who serve in other capacities and I appreciate all who pay their fair share of taxes. ...and I do believe that all Citizens of the US have a right to exist. We don't just serve others in uniform. In fact, my method of serving now that I'm retired from the Army is to support some who still wear the uniform. I've given over $1000 worth of high quality combat knives (I have other interests besides firearms) to a few deserving soldiers and a Marine who live where you have to shake sand out of your boots every day. Vote for anyone who has the same values as you, but spend some time supporting one or more troops who had little to no say in their deployment.
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