I look forward to retirement 20-25 years from now. 
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I do miss my yoot (sometimes)
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but for toys, the sooner the better
Congratulations! I said good-bye to the funny five-sided building 7 years ago ending a period of over 21 years in the Air Force, a year as a “beltway bandit” and just over 20 years civil service and haven’t looked back. It will take you a while to get your retirement sea legs. And life still intervenes in the myth of perpetual vacation. Just make it the best time you can.
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tens of millions of dollars came from that building to prove my 60 Minutes and BBC coverage and my congressional/presidential testimonies wrong. the medical community grievously chimed in (violating repeatedly the Hippocratic Oath), collaborating with the vile position that the vets were only psychosomatic freeloaders and not to be trusted or cared for. Their illicit collaboration failed. 60 Minutes – scared to broadcast my interview – told me that my it was the most responded-to story it had ever presented. (this gave them the fortitude to finally air its making-cigarettes-addicting story which had been closeted due to industry pressure)
notably, ‘the White House’ called me often soliciting my interest to be a member of a presidential commission. when they finally understood what I was saying – that the diseases caused were real and had predictable causes – they stopped inviting.
I dedicated 4 full time years with no support except 100,000 veterans pleading for medical care but dismissed by government (and 10 more years part time). Ross Perot and other politicians were no where to be found on the side of vets. my published research 12 years before 1990 Gulf War showed why the experiment on 700,000 troops was a criminal act (eg, my analysis of a Nuremberg Code violation appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1997; there were several US laws and regulations flagrantly violated as well). Perjury too. Eg, Pentagon’s lead medical officer testified to congress about an hour before my testimony that the Pentagon had no relevant laboratories. FALSE. I worked in one as did my co-authors, who later duplicated my research many times.
Senator John Rockefeller and Rep Chris Shays were my congressional champions. I collaborated with Rockefeller for a study documenting illicit experiments on soldiers going back to the Civil War. Only they and then Rep. Bernie Sanders endorsed my mission. Eventually, laws were passed to care for Gulf War vets.
finally, in 2008, the Pentagon agreed with my testimonies, which cost me out of pocket about $100,000 to speak out (paid for with my credit cards). its report acknowledged my contribution.
we (including vets) were mad as hell; some paid with their lives, some with horrific neurological diseases
was difficult to go against illicit vested interests but we must do so
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I served during OIF and OEF and enjoy good VA healthcare & benefits. Thank you for your service and dedication to bringing these issues to the forefront. Your sacrifice made a difference and the result is a better VA for million of vets! I wish it hadn’t cost you so much personally (time, health, money, etc). But thank you!
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And still people think ever bigger, deeper government is the solution.
I admire your fortitude. Please give us something to read about your experiences.
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of course, would like to share the full story, but this is a large story of who are the proper patriots and what they deserve. For me, the story began with my mid 70s medical research, then the 1990 Gulf War and lies, then the veterans’ predictable illnesses, then the government cover ups, and at last culminating in 2008. The lessons are still vibrant and always will be, including that a determined advocate, even if alone as in my case, can break through the noise and get the media, government, and medical community to wake up to truth and help those suffering and in need of due attention. Sadly, such bravery has little purchase the last 10 years of foolery, but its value will eventually return.
This experience always gives me pause, and a lump in my throat, and drove me to testify afterward with all that I had…
While on hearing break just before my April 1997 congressional testimony, a timid elderly man slowly approached me, reaching out his right arm, which was visibly shaking. “May I shake your hand,” he asked. His hand was trembling. “Yes,” I said, wondering who he could be. “His mother will be so very comforted when I tell her I met you. You are the only one giving us hope, thank you. He is my son, Captain Michael Donnelly. He just testified.” His son, now with severe Lou Gehrig’s Disease, testified, “I am not the enemy. I come to you today to tell you that I am yet another Gulf War veteran with a chronic illness…Part of the ongoing cover-up has been to trivialize the illnesses Gulf War veterans are suffering from…Congressman Shays…I salute you for what you are doing. You go a long way to restore this soldier’s waning faith in his country that so willingly deserts its own.” Barely able to speak from his parent-purchased wheel chair, even he was treated as a psychosomatic freeloader by DOD and DVA.
Years later, I was asked if the Pentagon’s 2008 report vindicated my long mission. “No,” I said. “It was only a matter of time for the truth to come out. However, the veterans and their families were. They finally got a small measure what they needed, the need to be believed.”
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thank you, and thankfully you received healthcare support
I moved on from the Gulf War Illness saga to (successfully) battle other large perpetrators who harmed millions with unsafe drugs, toxins, and bank fraud. The perpetrators were closed down and/or lost tens of billions of dollars in litigation losses and far more in loss of sale of the resulting market bans.
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the cost to me was tiny compared to the pain of veterans and their families and the general public who experienced again, even if subliminally, the injustice that liars too often succeed (which has broken the trust of almost everyone)
Okay Debbie Downer.
Back to happy retirement tales.
Who did next to nothing today? Raise your hand!
(I can’t)(mowed the lawn)
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Retired in 2008, feels like yesterday
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Did next to nothing. (Still milking the surgery) 
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I had a big day. Cleaned a bathroom and my listening room. Guess I deserve to take it easy today. Right?
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Congrates on retirement, i can’t wait. 18 months 17days and 7 hours but who’s counting? Enjoy!
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on the 18th day, will seem like a blink of the eye
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That’s true. The whole 42 years seems like that.
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Dusted.
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Let in the cleaning lady. Went back to the important work of this forum. Ha!
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It’s just gone 8 am, waiting for my coffee to brew before I tackle breakfast. Besides that, I’m faithfully retired.
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