Thinking purely of the economic issue, it would be in your best interests to stick out the next eight years in military service. The field of management/human services is not exactly booming right now, from what I see in the papers, on these boards and just word of mouth.

Many people who leave military service find themselves faced with entry-level jobs as their main possibility for employment and these jobs pay far less than the $2000 per month that you will receive for retirement pay.

If you are truly seeking advise, then keep this in mind. It is what my husband did and what several of our friends did. Three years before military retirement, they took part time jobs in the fields of thier choice. In my husband and four of his best friends, it was civilian security work, which for my hubby meant police work. He took a part time (3 nights per week) graveyard shift job as a corrections officer an the city jail.

One year until retirement, he started classes at the police academy 3 nights a week. After about 7 months, he was required to go in the field as a rookie and needed to secure a letter from his commanding officer allowing him to do this. He had to give up his corrections officer job and go on patrol 5 nights a week.

At the time of his military retirement, he had graduated from the police academy, had corrections officer and field police experience and it made it easier for him to secure a position in the sherriff's office.

Now, five years later, we have moved to a larger city where he is a plain clothes lieutenant (I never could spell that word correctly) in charge of a homicide team.