Federal retirement is not what it used to be

I am a retiree.

As a reader might recall, I am what is officially called a federal 'annuitant.' This means I retired as a federal civil service and I am receiving a fixed-benefit pension. My federal civil service plus my military service buy-back gives me a pension that, combined with my Social Security benefit is ample enough for me to live "carefully comfortably."

[Note: the current federal retirement benefit is made up of three parts -- payment for length of service; Social Security benefit; and self-savings from the government's Thrift Savings Plan, similar to the civilian "401K" plans.]

I also pay to belong to a federal employee/retiree-oriented group called the National Active and Retired Federal Employees, NARFE. Each month, I receive their magazine and, each month for the past year or two, I have become less and less comfortable reading it. Why, you might ask? Let me explain simply.

As the recent issue says, the current administration and "some members of Congress are quick to see Feds as a piggy bank when it comes time to set the budget, despite the fact employees already contorted over $120 billion in deficit reduction..." These members of Congress and the current White House do not regard employees and retirees in the Executive Branch at the same level as previous members and administrations; combine that with the significant loss of federal revenue from the recent massive tax cut [which, by the way, largely benefited the group of people least needing tax relief, while almost totally ignoring the groups that did] means that the FY 2020 budget will have to be draconian in the cuts.

And it will be.

Through the budget reconciliation process, five Senate committees are required to combine $94 billion in cuts over a five-year span from programs under their jurisdictions. One of them is the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which is required to cut $15 billion from mandatory spending programs, mainly federal benefits.

Reading these words makes my blood pressure either go up or drop. In either case, it is difficult to understand why the head of the Executive Branch would treat his own employees and retirees with such disrespect, especially when they - we - have already given up so much...that is, until I consider the incompetent, selfish, extremist administration currently holding the White House. They came in hoping to unravel the administrative order and are well on their way to doing so.

I am glad I retired in 2011. According to a former colleague of mine still working, looking back, daily life has gotten much, much worse and looking forward, the future is much less appealing. I believe him when he says he will have difficulty finding anyone willing to go into federal service, especially considering changes to the federal pay, compensation, and benefits plans and the recent painful furlough, which I would bet will happen next time, too.

That is not at all what I experienced through most of my career.

I guess I should stop reading that magazine.

What would you do if...

While sitting here reading, a thought crossed my mind:

People should start careers when they reach age 50, not when they are barely into their 20's.

After military service in the Navy, I had a somewhat successful career in professional aviation. I was a flight instructor, helicopter and airplane pilot, small air cargo business owner, airline pilot, and I ended with an almost-30 year career with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration as an aviation safety inspector and manager. That career, while enabling me to be fairly comfortably retired, is not one I look back on with pride and a sense of accomplishment, beyond the financial success I have in retirement. What I would have done instead pops into my mind often, probably as a result of regret.

Flying, enforcing, and writing aviation regulations was never what I dreamt of for a living when I was a kid. In fact, that career path started somewhat by chance, almost by mistake. I was in the first few days of the Duke University physician assistant program, to which I was accepted on my very first try - an unusual accomplishment, I learned later - when a representative from the Bursar Office came into class to tell me there was "a small issue" with my enrollment. It turned out the student loan I had planned on was not enough to pay the full amount due and I had no other source of money. Consequently, I was removed from the program.

That was a very serious disappointment for me. Becoming a PA and graduating from the first and probably the best PA program in the country was something I had longed to do for most of my adult life. I focused my undergrad studies specifically toward Duke. I asked for and received glowing recommendations from college professors and from my best friend, a practicing physician. I never wanted to go to medical school; I did not need the science or liability of being a medical doctor. I wanted the practical skills of being able to be the best technician in the room when a patient needing care walked in.

Not being able to fulfill my healthcare dream caused me no end of angst. Even now, 35 years later, I am still upset by it. I was now stuck with the requirement to support a growing family somehow, but I had no prospects, no answer to the "What now?" question that plagued my mind.

Fortunately, in the early 1980's, aviation was growing stronger. There were opportunities to be explored and I had all the required credentials: valid medical, flight instructor and pilot certificates. I was young and attractive to potential employers. I had no trouble finding jobs to pay the bills so I could watch my kids grow up...albeit from afar because I was often away from home on some trip flying a rich businessman or a plane full of passengers or cargo around the country. In fact, it was one of those experiences that took me out of aviation in the first place

Being a professional pilot was lucrative but not fulfilling. I longed to be in that Duke University PA program chair, cramming anatomy, physiology, and pharmacological reactions into my brain. I wanted to be a remote medical provider in the Bush of Alaska, but I would never be able to.

And that brings me to the purpose of this essay. What would you do if you could do anything? No restrictions, no family, financial, or logical considerations. Finances would not be an issue nor would acceptance to a training program if required.

What would you do now, as a post-20 Something, with the knowledge and experience you have about you did or wanted to do?

For me, there are two answers. One would be to get back into Duke's PA program and fulfill the dream of being a remote medical provider in the Alaskan Bush. I have had an interest in medicine since I was a pre-teen in Jordan and watched several surgical operations, worked as a pharmacy tech, processed patients in the out-patient department (in Arabic, I might add), and even scrubbed in to help the scrub nurses during the first open-chest operation ever performed in Amman by a Harvard Medical School-trained Lebanese surgeon.

The second career I would choose based on my knowledge and experience on this side of retirement would be music.

I wanted to be a professional studio drummer from high school. I envisioned myself graduating from the Berklee School of Music in Boston and becoming a first-call session drummer. That never happened, of course. I applied and was accepted, but that is as far as it went, for a couple reasons. Instead, one day on the way home from my college training as an accountant (also something I never dreamt of as doing for a living) I joined the Navy. That changed my life's trajectory, but going to Berklee remains a dream. I think about it from time to time and wonder, "What if..."

Humans gain much with age. We often sit on this side of retirement and ponder our regrets. Some of us get so wrapped up in that regret that we do stupid and/or unwise things. I did not, but I do as "What would I have done it...?" often enough to warrant writing it down. We probably do not have that insight until we pass 50 and are well into our "chosen" career, even if it is not what we would have chosen for the Younger Me. So now that you are no longer a 20 Something with career choices ahead of you, put yourself into that perfectly delicious and totally unrealistic position and, much like wondering what you would do if you won the lottery, ask yourself: 

What would you do if...? 

Indeed.

Much-needed update

Well, Dear Reader, this blog did not turn out to be what I thought it was going to be--an answer to my beloved daughter's China blog. Alas, she stopped doing hers and has returned to the United States for a while and I, too, have changes in store for me.

In 40 days, as I write this, I will retire from the Federal Aviation Administration after 25+ years working for them. To be honest - and few-worded - the fun has been taken out of the air and the job. Working for the government isn't what it used to be and I need a change, so I have decided to retire, begin collecting an annuity, and, yes, finally doing something I have wanted to do for a long time.

I am going to become an over-the-road (OTR) truck driver. I have not picked the company yet, though it is really down to two: Swift Transportation, the largest in the U.S., and Stevens Transport, about the third largest. Hopefully, this Single Guy With Random Thoughts blog will include progress and thoughts about my progress.

Look for more and regular posts from me!