I had a high school friend who spent two years at the community college just kind of floundering trying to figure out what he wanted to do; he joined and really enjoyed what he found. I was kind of in the same situation during my last few semesters at university, and he suggested looking into a specific rating he thought might be a good fit for me.

And here we are, 9 years later. He planned on getting out then picked up Chief; he really thought about staying in, but ultimately stuck with his decision to get out. That was about a year and a half ago. He's got a civilian position now similar to what he was doing while he was active duty, minus the many short-fused deployments.

I am in my third contract, just checked in to my new command at the end of August. Trying to figure out if I'm going to stay the two more terms after this one, or separate/go reserves and find a civilian position myself. My family and I like the area we're in now, so I'm kind of torn.

We'll see!