Reading through this I guess the ones still around are able to reply...............
I am aware of friends of my parents (public services not military) who stayed in the jobs they doing until final last day they could 65 / 60 or whatever and within 12 months one of the couple was dead. Both my parents retired early and enjoyed it, one still doing so.
Never really gave it much thought until a conversation at lunch on a Uni Course I was doing.
Psychologist taking course listened in and said there was a part of people that became institutionalised and once you take that away there are many people who cannot cope with this.
He indicated that it was similar to Prisoner being released after 30 years on inside and human nature not being able to cope.
He didn't know the statistics but said marraige break up, alcohol abuse, early death etc can often be caused by a sudden termination in what someone had been doing for 30-40 years where a future plan hasn't been put in place.
Also something he was looking at was Redundancy and effect on people.
Gave it not much thought at time but having done 2 rounds of redundancy I treated it like a bereavement and gave myself a couple of months for it to work through the system. It worked for me but doesn't mean it would work for everyone.
Question is for those leaving (left) is whether there is someone who talks to your head about impact ?
Oh and good luck to the guys entering civvy street and thank you for your service.