What would you recommend for me in regards to retirement?

I'm a bit confused. Do you have enough AGR or Active time to retire on a Regular Retirement? If you don't and are talking about a Reserve Retirement, you won't drop the actual retirement package unit 9 months before the date you are eligible. I assume from the age 57, you picked up some of the early retirement time credits. If that is the case, my advice would be to hang until you got your TIG for SFC, then you request transfer to the Retired Reserve. You still get some of the privileges of Retirement, access to the Commissary and Space A, as an example. But what is more important, you still pick up TIS until the time you retire. Then you will retire at SFC with 31 years TIS.

I can tell you that my DD 214 is my second most prized piece of paper, second only to my marriage certificate.

But the Army and I weren't really seeing eye to eye for about 8 years, and I had zero chance of promotion.

If you still love what you do, or if you even LIKE it, stay with it. Especially if you have a shot at a diamond.

I was told many times that when it comes time to retire, you'll KNOW. That was certainly true for me. If you don't KNOW, then keep on trucking.

Please keep in mind it is the average of your last three regardless if a promotion happened or not. I was of the belief my retirement pay since I was a major for over six years that my last pay would be split in half. Nope, with the raises we get, they literally take your monthly of the last three years add together and divide by three then 50% of that.