This is the story of my life so far: 68 years and counting.
Prequel: A Brief History of my Family in France
The story starts here
Previous episode: Part 87
When I arrived at the CAD in 1986, I knew my reputation as a technical Navy officer, and I knew that if I was staying in the Navy, I would not have many postings that would be interesting o me.
So, in 1987, I decided that I would leave active duty in September 1988, exactly 20 years after arriving at the École Navale.
In the French armed forces, as in many other countries, there cannot be as many generals or admirals as there are lieutenants. The statute of the French Navy officers guarantees that they can stay in active duty for at least 25 years. To encourage some of them to leave before these 25 years, there is a situation called "disponibilité" (availability), that may start after 15 years of active duty.
When an officer is in the "disponibilité" situation, he will receive one-third of the pay he would have if he was in active duty, but he is also allowed to take a civilian job. The officer is still "available" in the sense that he may be recalled to active duty, but this has not happened for many years, as France has not been involved in any major conflict.
When an officer in disponibilité reaches 25 years of service, he is automatically retired and starts to receive a military pension.
In the Spring of 1988, a retired Navy officer who was working in sales for a software house, CR2A, was visiting the CAD and we talked for a while. I told him that my goal was to go into disponibilité in September and that I was looking for a job in software. He asked me for my CV and indicated that his company was in need of a Navy officer for a new contract that was indirectly for the Navy.
I had two interviews at CR2A and was hired. And I started to work there on September 1st 1988.
As I indicated above, five years later, in September 1993, at the age of 44, I became automatically retired and started to receive a pension, which was more than the one-third pay that I had received during the five years.
So, as you can see, as of today, I have been a retired Navy officer for almost 25 years.
Continue to Part 89.
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Summary
Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7
Part 8 - Part 9 - Part 10 Part 11 - Part 12 - Part 13 - Part 14
Part 15 - Part 16 - Part 17 - Part 18 - Part 19 - Part 20 - Part 21
Part 22 - Part 23 - Part 24 - Part 25 - Part 26 - Part 27 - Part 28
Part 29 - Part 30 - Part 31 - Part 32 - Part 33 - Part 34 - Part 35
Part 36 - Part 37 - Part 38 - Part 39 - Part 40 - Part 41 - Part 42
Part 43 - Part 44 - Part 45 - Part 46 - Part 47 - Part 48 - Part 49
Part 50 - Part 51 - Part 52 - Part 53 - Part 54 - Part 55 - Part 56
Part 57 - Part 58 - Part 59 - Part 60 - Part 61 - Part 62 - Part 63
Part 64 - Part 65 - Part 66 - Part 67 - Part 68 - Part 69 - Part 70
Part 71 - Part 72 - Part 73 - Part 74 - Part 75 - Part 76 - Part 77
Part 78 - Part 79 - Part 80 - Part 81 - Part 82 - Part 83 - Part 84
Part 85 - Part 86 - Part 87