Retired Law Dawgs... What do you do "after the badge"?

[Capt. Jack McQuesten]

I just went to the retirement office on Thursday and found out that I can retire in mid-September ! For me, that is 57 more working days until my last shift and it will give me a total of 30 years "In the saddle"........I don't exactly know what  will be doing right off the bat, but I have a whole bunch of "Honey-do's" to take care of around the homestead.....

A couple of years ago, the lovely bride and I bought a little piece of dirt in the mountains of southern New Mexico (Hence my avatar). I need to build me a barn/workshop and then a house.... This will be the view off of my front porch when I get the "Hacienda" built:





One of my neighbors has some nice pets:



Right now we have a small cabin about an hour from the ranch. I have been working on it off and on for the past couple of years:



We get a few critters dropping by for a visit now and then:

[Texas Lawdog]

Kid, I am jealous of the fact you only have 57 more days and that you own that beautiful piece of land.  I can't leave until Jan. 2010.  Enjoy yourself my friend.

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

Howdy Texas Lawdog

          You have a beautiful place to retire, if you're not happy there I wouldn't know where to tell you to go , I've been retired for two years know , and you can't beat it, do what you want to when you want , stay up all night or not , GREAT LIFE, so I hope your last 57 days go by real fast for you , so you can get out there and enjoy things, it looks like you will have your own rifle range , can't beat that. So Congratulations Pard you deserve it.


                                                                     tEN wOLVES 


                                     

[Marshal Tac]

All I can say is "WOW"...

[Capt. Jack McQuesten]

Thanks for the kind words gang...... I got a call from the retirement board and they advised me to go on September 20th as that works out better for me for continuity of my paychecks and for my medical coverage. So that puts me out at 52 more working days and 109 days total left to go before my last shift.

I will be heading out to the ranch in July to burn off some vacation time and I can tell ya right now, it will be REAL hard to come back!

The countdown has started !!!!!!!!!

[Charlie Bowdre]

Be 2 years this August since the ticker made me Medically Unfit ..Huh been Mentally Unfit for years but that just made the job easier...
Thought I was different till I met up with Arcey on this Forum 

Took a while to switch off but one of the best things was this site. No crap or wawa , it just is a great place to spend some rainy days. Or any day..

My biggest chore now ..after the dishes  is do I shoot or go fly casting!!.

Your photos look great. I have never been to your neck of the woods . Planning a trip this winter to Arizona to visit a pard who is going to winter there ., around Yuma I think .also hope to do some snooping around. Now if I could just get some new toys back across the border!!

Those 52 days will breeze by . You take care , enjoy it all  , and all the best.

Dutch

BOLD from Chinook Country!

[John Smith]

I had worn a uniform and carried a badge for 35 yrs, one morning I realized it was killing me.  I had high blood pressure, carried 2 pagers, a cell phone, and a portable radio.  I only drove my POV about 1 day a week, had 900+ hours of holiday, vacation time on the books.  It was hard to believe, but I figured out the "job" would go fine without me.  I went in and told my Captain that I was retiring in 60 days, so he wouldn't assign any new cases to me.  I admit I was wondering what to do.  I went to Alaska, something a lot of you have probably thought about.  I ended up with a great job, instead of handing out carts and saying "welcome to Wally World" I would go to Ted Stevens airport in Anchorage and meet incoming passengers saying "Welcome to Alaska".  I was a meet & greet agent for a tour company.  The company provided me with a van (that I could use 24/7) and a list of flights and people to meet.  The job only lasted April through September, then I would draw unemployment.  I had to give that job up due to an injury.  Now I'm really retired, just go shooting, reloading, and have a small ranch.  There is lots of life after the "job".

[Texas Lawdog]

Being in Alaska would be neat but not during the winter. I don't like cold weather at all.

[aryfrosty]

I didn't kick in at first because I see myself as an old f*rt who doesn't know much after having been retired for 13 years. Howsoever, there is life after the badge.
I got out of the Navy in 1971 and went to work for a sheriff's office in rural Georgia. By the time I retired from the city PD in 1995 with 24 y and 7m I had worked my way up to Captain in patrol.
I went to Brink's Armored as a driver trainer and worked across the south before transferring to Boston to teach armored truck drivers in 1999. Can you guys just imagine taking young folks with an operator's license and trying to teach them to drive 30,000+ # trucks in downtown Boston? I like New England and disliked Boston...we bought a house in Concord, NH and I went to work for the New Hampshire Dept of Safety as a Supervisor in the Emergency Communications Bureau in 2000. We are in Safety with the state Office of Homeland Security and I also moonlight as an exercise and drill planner/evaluator with them. My sweet and long-suffering wife is an RN in our county nursing home. She and I are both about ready to pull the pin for the last time. I am ready to sit on my duff a little more often. In 2 years I will be vested in the NH retirement system. I have developed an abiding interest in Cowboy Shooting and finally have the time and resources to collect a few of the guns I owned and sold over the years as a young cop raising 5 kids who always needed the money from the guns for other things. Regards; Al (Chief John Ross; SASS # 80315. BOLD # 932)     

[Top Kick Ken]

Howdy Gents!

I just joined this board and am enjoying what I have seen so far. Tomorrow (April 1st, I thought the date was meaningful) it will be 1 year since I "pulled the pin" after thirty years of service. A buddy of mine sent me this and I thought I would share it with ya'll.

MRWILL


When Cops Retire

When a good man leaves the job and retires to a "better life," many are jealous, some are pleased and yet others, who may have already retired, actually wonder........

.....wonder whether he/she really knows what they are doing and are leaving behind....... because we already know.

We know for example, that after a lifetime of camaraderie that few experience, such will always remain as a longing for those past times.

We know in the law enforcement life there is a fellowship which lasts long after the badge, cuffs and weapons are turned in and the uniforms are hung up back in the closet.

We know that if he actually might even think of eventually throwing his old uniforms away, they will be always on him with every step and breath that remains.

We also know just how the very bearing of the man speaks of what he was and in his heart, still is and always will be.

These are the burdens of the job.

You will still look at people suspiciously...

Still see what others do not see, or choose to ignore...

You will always look at the rest of the law enforcement world with a deep respect for what they bravely and unselfishly do.

This remains from a lifetime of knowing it, doing it, and living it.

Never think for one moment that you are escaping from "the life."

You are only escaping "the job and we are merely finally allowing you to leave an active duty."

So what I wish for you now is that whenever you eventually and finally ease into your well-deserved retirement, that in your heart you never forget for one moment....

Blessed are the Peacemakers for they shall be called Children of God....

and never, ever forget that as a law enforcement-retiree, you always are part of one the greatest fraternities that the world has known.

Be Well! Be Safe! Be Fair! Be Strong! Be Proud!

Wow, that was awesome!

As for me, I am new to BOLD, but not to this board.  I retired in 2005, after 26 years of military law enforcement in the USAF.   I have thought about the gunsmithing route too, or maybe the range instruction type stuff;  but those doors just don't seem to be open or feasible to me at this time. 

I took a part time job when I retired to stay busy and supplement my retirement.  It turned into a full time job.  The company I worked for was not operated with "The Cowboy Way" as part of their mission statement.  I was let go because my work ethics were too good and my eyesight was too clear.  I also have a tendency to express how I feel, with the "bark on".  I am a straight-shooter and they didn't appreciate that and I was "let go".  I have been out of work for over a year now and I am now contemplating the same things you are.

I recently got my state gun and guard cards and will probably start working in the Private Security and or Executinve Protection arenas just pay the bills.  I really don't want to go back to the rotational shift work but it seems more and more likely that I will have to.  The military retirement is not as much as it needs to be and should be (and quite frankly should be) so Ill need to do something relatively soon.   Even though the Government seems to run on a deficit, I can't.  If you get it figured out, let me know.  Good luck we both need it!

Top Kick Ken

[Fairshake]

Tac, I'm 61 and had to leave after 15 years on the SO. I had bleeding ulcers, high blood pressure and unknown to me at the time diabetes. I worked for the So in Baton Rouge ,La. I worked at the prison, jail, uniform patrol and narcotics division. In those years I put 7 friends in the ground; 2 of them riding partners. I found out later that stress brings on the diabetes. I was told by my doctor that I had the worst bleeding ulcers he had seen and that I needed time off for stress and treatment. My colonel told me no; so I resigned. That was Dec 1990. You will miss the guys you care about and the work that you like. I think Arcey pegged it. You will be gone for years and still remember that Lic # on that strange vehicle. Why do you think so many law enforcement officers are drawn to this sport? As our work it's not for the rewards but the camaraderie. Almost all the guys I worked with that retired went and took a job with some other branch; local ,state and federal. I hope you find that spot that will let you have a nice retirement and enjoy those years you worked for. I'm new to SASS this year and have made the move to the "Holy Black". Pick up my BP on Wednesday and start loading those cases. So hello guys my given name is David Shultz . My aka on the Cast Boolits site is Cajun Shooter and with SASS it's Fairshake

[Marshal Tac]

Thanks for the comments Fairshake. I truely beleive that I will miss the people most. I won't even look back at the "work" aspect. I think you are right about the comrodery (sp?) aspect of this sport. There isn't another sport like it in the world for people wanting to help one another. I was sceptical at first, then I went to my first match and was amazed! I didn't have all the needed guns, but everywhere I went, someone was trying to stuff thier gun in my hand, just so I could shoot... Never seen anything like it. As for the "holy black".... watch out... it's like "crack" stuffed into shell casings... it is ADDICTING!

[Wiley Desperado]

Howdy Law Dawgs
I am just getting back to visiting this site because I have been working to blasted much and I am really going to rietire this time.  Two law enforcement careers one with the state for 27 years and another with the county for 10 years and then I went to work part-time with the feds, all that was after being a Marine for 4 years and 4 months and a tour in Vietnam, enough is enough its over. Wow, now that felt good!! Lets see what am I going to do with myself... be with my family, work around the place, cowboy action shooting, reloading, leather crafting, play the guitar, and anything else I feel like doing... as long as the Good Lord will allow me.   

[Henry Andrew Thomas]

Howdy,

I hae been shooting SASS for about ten years and new to this site.

I retired at the end of September 2008 with 34 years in.  We do pretty well with retirement in MN as we get 3% for every year of service.  I figured I can make more money NOT working than working and without the "benefits" of job related stress.

I was pretty active in volunteer organizations (Salvation Army, United Way, Boy Scouts, Federal Credit Union Boards of Directors)
and stepped out of all of those to decompress, re-figure what is next etc.  I am still signed up to do critical incident stress debriefings but after 16 years of that, may give that up also.

I shot in theAZ State Cowboy match in Tombstone in October as a retirement gift to myself.

Other than that I am just relaxing and although I don't have a real plan every day, I find that by bedtime I am only half finished.

I had thought if my USMC son got deployed to Afghanistan I might find a police misson to be in-country with him but we shall see how that plays out.

BOLD #3

[Shotgun Franklin]

After I retired I went to work for the Constable, I wish I gone with him years ago. I'm a Campus Cop at a charter school on the eastside of San Antonio. I've learned a whole new kinda Law Enforcement. I've learned that to turn a kid around and make a good person out of'm is plenty of work but worth it. I could not have done this job 10 years ago but I guess with time I've changed some myself.