What did you do in the days and weeks afterward when you left the service?

I was medically retired in November of 1988. The Cold War had ended and there was a mad rush to cull 2 million Sailors out of the Navy. I didn't actually get out until April 1989. I moved to England with my English wife and quickly got a job and settled into a civilian life. I found it quiet. Very quiet. I was not used to going without being grabbed for a last minute job here and there and it took some getting used to. We missed the hustle and bustle of the USA and soon moved back, landing in Florida.

A few years before retirement, all I thought about was relaxing for a year after I retire...maybe get a part time job and live the relaxed life. That was my thought process as I was obviously getting anxious to retire. In reality, 5 months prior to my retirement, I was searching for another full time job! Hmmm, something wrong with that picture. I lived near Jacksonville, Florida at the time. I did not start going to college and using my GI Bill until 2 years after I retired. It felt great retiring and having that extra pension coming in. Once I started using my GI Bill, life was good and I was getting my undergraduate and grad degrees...

I remember it well. I found a job within a couple weeks. I also started evening college within about 6 months. I didn't get a vacation for 3 or 4 years because I joined the active reserves and my employer counted my 2 weeks training as my vacation.

I had a plan to attend college, but that was in January....I got out at the end of October. I went to the State Employment Office where a nice lady told me I could collect unemployment for 90 days and did the paperwork immediately. With the money I saved and the wife's job, we got by. I had bought a lot in town in a new subdivision and this other couple wanted a double lot and made an offer I could not refuse and double my money. I attended on the old GI bill in 1978. I received a monthly pay check and was only had to pay $75 a quarter at the community college, plus books which averaged about $7. I could pay my tuition and get my books out of my first check. The next several paid my rent, bought my gas, and I still had some left over to put with my wife's income to pay for everything else. After getting my AS, I moved on to a private college which cost me a whopping $360 a quarter. I could still pay for my tuition and buy my books from my first check, but I didn't have as much left over the month. I went to college the year round so it cost me $1080 a year! The cost of college rose quickly after I graduated. I got lucky and one of my instructors was the local Superintend of Schools. He offered me a job 8 months before I graduated. I retired from that system just a couple of years ago. Seems like everything just fell into place.

I was depressed as it wasnt my choice to get out. I couldnt sleep as i started having the dreams. I unfortunately began drinking heavily I stayed pretty much drunk from oct 94 to jan 95 i finally with the help from God and the VA got sober May 97

I retired from the Air Force at Tyndall AFB Florida, and while on terminal leave was hired as a script writer and photographer, and later took a votech landscaping course. After a year I was hired into the civilian service. I was pleased to be a civilian again. I was fortunate that I didn’t require unemployment or other assistance.

COL Mikel J. Burroughs, got a job at a new C&W Bar across the street from the San Diego Arena call the Mustang Club as a bouncer and also taught to the Cowboy wanna be's, Urban Cowboy had been released and everyone wanted to learn how to Two Step. LMBO

I went to work while still being on terminal leave

COL Mikel J. Burroughs I went into being a grocery clerk for several years and decided I didn't like the hours, so I went to college and got my teaching degree.

Since I left the military in Germany, and my separation date turned into a charlie foxtrot, I found myself unemployed with a son to take care of; so I took a job on post at the bowling alley. I got out after Desert Storm, during the whole "everybody get out quick" era. I knew I was sick already then, but I had to rally myself because I had a child. Originally I was going to live with my mom in Germany and look for work in Munich, where she lived; but come crunch time, she reneged, so I stayed in Ansbach where I'd been stationed and worked for AAFES until I got remarried 2 yrs later. Life sucked on AAFES pay, but with the help of my fiancée, we were able to remain in my off post apartment & still eat. It wasn't a fun time at all. I can't say that I look back to those days with fondness.
I really wanted to be a lifer. It was my goal when I joined up. I wanted to be a SgtMaj, like my dad had been. But when I came home from the war, I was a complete mess. Tired all the time, for no reason. Depressed, in pain all the time, just an overall feeling of inexplicable malaise. After an unintentional near OD of pain meds (I took them to be able to sleep), my chain of command gave me an (illegal) ultimatum: get out on a hardship or they would forcibly separate me. My CoC hated me anyway because I was always getting them busted for illegal orders/behavior (no, I wasn't the unit narc; these people were elbow deep into some SERIOUS illegal maneuvering that was costing troops' careers, & really messing up people's lives!) I was too tired at this point to fight, so I took the hardship - which really turned into an actual hardship. So my separation from the military basically just sucked.