U.S. Army Reserve officer of a 4yr-old here, with multiple military tours and 21 years of service going strong. I’d like to make a point about MSG Walz (Retired) I feel everyone is overlooking… He mobilized to Italy in support of OEF from Aug 2003- to Apr 2004. That would be when his long awaited IVF baby, Hope, was 2 and 3-yrs-old. Walz came home with over 23 years of service, and relatively soon after he dropped his well-earned retirement paperwork. He did not miss Hope’s 5th. My husband just retired from the Guard with 23 years of service—we are both at those years in our life, but also older with young children, including our own 4-year-old. We’re also in a transition of trying to make service beyond uniform our future (yeah, I’m also running for office). It’s up to all citizen-Soldiers to make the best decisions for their family. Sometimes those are decisions where public service leaves the uniform and family is a priority. We may even retire at the lesser rank (MSG versus SGM) because it’s THAT important. My two cents: unless you’ve been in this position, it’s truly not yours to judge.