What was the hardest part of military retirement for you?

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I drove Truck for a while cross country and border. Got tired of it and went to work for Army Civil Service for many years at old job. Then to work at a Ford Truck Dealer driving new trucks to customers.

I had the same experience and worked for Army MWR. The real challenge comes when you finally really retire! You need to cultivate outside interests and activities so when you actually quit working you can stay active and engaged. Sitting on the rocker is death for a person active for 40 or 50 years.

Well said, CSM. In my case, the first job I got upon retirement was a total mismatch with my actual skills because the man who hired me "always hired army." I know that because that is what EVERYBODY who worked there told me the moment they met me, and there was actually a bit of condescension in the way they said it. Of course that wasn't the real problem. The real problem is the only job he had open was basically clerical, though the title was a lot more impressive than that. I could have excelled at it if I could type 60 words per minute, but I could only do 30. That sort of thing did not come up in the job interview, and the result was misery for me and the boss.
To make matters worse, I had jumped the gun in taking the job that I knew wasn't perfect and on my very first day at work, the very first call I got was from a guy who had the perfect job for me. He wanted to interview me, but I told him I had given my word to the new boss and that was that.
If there is a point to this, it is that I was too anxious to secure my next paycheck and the first guy I interviewed with was too ready to hire a veteran to tell me that he didn't have the kind of job I was looking for at that time.
By the way, the job was in manufacturing and the auto industry. The company had no military contracts or sales, but it did have focused goals, a sense of community--small town and company community, and even a sense of urgency to be the best it could be. Maybe its advantage was that it was a small company in a small community and every employee knew that the boss cared about them as much as about himself. It really is a shame that I couldn't type 60 words per minute.

MSG Dan Walther - Very true.

Definitely true. The camaraderie between soldiers has no equal, and you will never find anything close to it in the civilian world. I miss it like crazy. My buddies were like my second family.

SPC Jerry Jones - You have that right Jerry.

LOL sure you were Jeff, I felt the cushiony water sprouting from your eyes, that's ok Pal, I'm there right along side of you - pass the tissue...

LTC Jeff Shearer "wife/best friend/girl friend, oh same person" ... suuuuure... =)

One of my buddies got hit the deployment after I left, nothing serious in fact he actually got shot in the ass, and it was in a way where fortunately he can laugh about it now, but I remember thinking if I was with them I could have somehow stopped it from happening. I think we all know deep down that's bullshit but it takes a while to remind ourselves its the truth.