Though the title is an obvious line by The Clash, it's also an important decision every soldier, whether enlisted or officer, faces towards the end of their required term of service. In my 13 years of service I’ve seen a lot of junior officers and enlisted soldiers make a hasty, uninformed decision to leave the Army, most of them either because they don’t like their MOS/assignment, and would rather take their chances in the civilian sector.

In my time in the military I’ve faced this decision multiple times. Of note, at my 10 year mark I needed to decide whether to leave the military, or finish the remaining 10 years to retirement. While researching other available jobs and career fields within the military I found the Voluntary Transfer Incentive Program (VTIP), which allowed me to transfer from my basic branch, to a functional area available at the time of application. I am currently on orders to attend the transition course to start serving in a functional area I’m more interested in, and will hopefully offer greater job satisfaction.

My purpose in writing this is not to convince soldiers faced with the same decision to stay in the military. Instead I would like to encourage Soldiers to talk to their superiors, branch managers and peers, and do research to find all available options before making a decision. There are a lot of different MOSs and branch-immaterial jobs available that could satisfy most people’s interests. If in the end you still decide to leave the military, you will do so without any regrets.