You and me both Mudward. I had been in for 3 years, 9 months (out of a 4-year enlistment) when I was offered E-6 to stay in. I'll admit, it was tempting, but Vietnam was shut down and I'd heard rumors of our unit coming to an end. With the uncertainty of what I'd be doing, I was a bit concerned. I knew I'd still be in Military Intelligence, but had no clue what sort of unit I'd be reassigned to. I'll never know, but the rumor did turn out to be true. I took an early out in August of '75 (orig. ETS was November) and our unit was disbanded in 1976. The CIA took it over, sanitized it and moved on.

To help with my decision, my dad was REALLY campaigning for me to come home and help him with his start-up custom car business ... which I did.

BUT, I always wondered what "may have been" if I'd stayed in. When it REALLY sucked is when I hit what would have been my retirement age with full benefits while I was only in my 30's. That's when it really struck home with me as I COULD have been retired with a nice pension, benefits out the wazoo and still young enough to do whatever I wanted, including the option of staying in the military, or going back to work and receiving a "double pay check". I can now look back at all the struggles I would NOT have had if I'd stayed in, but then again, who knows what could have happened while serving? Life is a coin-toss I suppose.