My retirement ceremony was held at Fort Lewis on the 31st of October 1977, effective the 1st of November. I retired with 23 years of service: one year of national guard and inactive reserve and 22 years active duty.
My initial gross retirement pay was $800.59 and a net of $631.72. A surprising discovery was that my pay equaled that of a lot of people working full time. It was a surprise because while on active duty the general belief was that all civilians made much more than soldiers. Thanks to nearly annual cost of living increases, my retirement pay 47 years later has grown to $3,781 gross and $3,183.73.
Initially, I took retirement too literally, but soon learned how bad daytime television was, so I let everyone know that I was available to help them with anything they needed. That was a mistake. I was quickly overwhelmed by requests for assistance. I was, in general, not happy. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was quite depressed. It was years later until I realized it.
In September 1978, I enrolled in The Evergreen State College, just outside of Olympia, Washington. Besides being a highly ranked school, I could easily commute from home. I planned to major in Counseling Psychology. I’d had quite a bit of counseling experience in the Army and thought I’ d like it would make a good second career.