An Old Hand: MS -> Army & 11 Years Later -> Back in finance

Dear Monkeys,

I've taken a great pleasure in peaking around the forum every once in a while since it was started. I used to have a username back, sometime ago, but it was lost and there goes that.

I just wanted to say for perhaps any of the vets here in this forum could relate to, there's a larger exodus of the finance 9/11 men into the real world now that the army cuts and cycles are beginning.

A little information for those who may not know who the 9/11 men were, I and a thousand or so who worked in finance enlisted very quickly after the attacks. Most became officers, served in Iraq and Afghanistan in all four branches, and now its time for most of us to hang up our boots. The recent cuts in the army have taken its toll, with a good deal of former finance guys returning, either through business school or directly into jobs they lined up. Also, the cycle to get on the fast-track toward becoming a General, since very few us went to West Point and attended the required schools or are simply not in a position to have such a thing happen (family , too many tours), are now with 11+ years of service,are finishing our contracts and going into civy life.

I just wanted to give a shout out to any vets who were on this path. We lost a lot of good men and women over the years, some heroically did a dozen tours or more, some lost limbs, some lost much, much more. I doubt our new futures back in finance will be easy, but hopefully it'll be as enjoyable as it had been before 9/11.

• now a former Army Staff Officer, now a Monkey