Average Age of Forum Members?
- Thread starter larryh1108
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Obturation
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... I'm a 120 year old stuck in a 30 something body...
It takes a special kind of person to do that. We had a Vietnam vet come in here that was in khe sanh during the bad part.....one of the kids here said wow that had to be really stressful....yes it was....for about a month....you do this for 12 hours a day, every week, every month, for 40 years.....I only had to do one year.....I had it easy.
I never really thought about it like that before.
There is lots of stress at every level, you deal with a meth head, or someone doing a swain dive off the second floor of your jail....to the suits that always come after that. It is a profession I never really understood till I worked here.
And you think being a cop is not a thankless job? Ahh....you watch the news lately?
While it may not as be as tough on your body, I did work at Pontiac for a while back in the early 80's and know that business as well...at least from that long ago. This business will....or I should say CAN turn people "a little mean" pretty darn quick.
Like with any group of people you have all kinds....good ones, bad ones, talkers, doers.....and there are all kinds of positions. But I will also say both to you and the college person, you will need to go to an academy and get all those "classes" out of the way. You can't just leave college and go to work as an officer (at least in Missouri) you need to go to your "cop specific" classes get your paperwork then you get the ok to work in missouri.
Speedo66
Member
LE isn't the best job, I wouldn't recommend it. I did 40 years with a state agency in NYC. Talk about times changing, we went the other way. When I started in 1969, you had to have 60 college credits and 2 years work experience just to take the test, which was ridiculously hard. I took the NYPD test at the same time, got a 99.7, must have checked a wrong box because I knew every answer. The agency test I got an 86 and struggled. Grammar, sentence structure, reading comp, math, Latin legal terminology, law enforcement, situational questions, etc. You also had to be Dudley Do Right, no scrapes with the law, perfectly clean even to the point where you had to explain driving tickets.
They had to give the test again because they didn't have enough candidates, and combined the lists. Years along the way they decided they needed more diversity, race, gender, etc., and dumbed down the test and requirements. Height requirement was eliminated, physical strength requirements were lightened, GED was OK, only certain misdemeanors eliminated you. The new people were of a much lower standard. Even firearms training was lightened, no more actual grades, just pass/ fail.
It got to the point where I was afraid to work with certain people. There were instances of people "going" for help rather than being the help. Some of them couldn't do paperwork, when they did some looked like a 10 year old had done it. Towards the end I was disgusted.
Plus dealing with criminals and lawyers on a daily basis, but as Mark Twain said, I repeat myself. I was still in good physical shape and of sound mind when I'd had enough. Good pension, although along the way they dumbed that down too. They had 4 or 5 different tiers when I left, each with lesser benefits.
Although I stayed married, my wife says I hardened along the way. All in all, again, I wouldn't recommend LE, certainly glad my children didn't enter it.
They had to give the test again because they didn't have enough candidates, and combined the lists. Years along the way they decided they needed more diversity, race, gender, etc., and dumbed down the test and requirements. Height requirement was eliminated, physical strength requirements were lightened, GED was OK, only certain misdemeanors eliminated you. The new people were of a much lower standard. Even firearms training was lightened, no more actual grades, just pass/ fail.
It got to the point where I was afraid to work with certain people. There were instances of people "going" for help rather than being the help. Some of them couldn't do paperwork, when they did some looked like a 10 year old had done it. Towards the end I was disgusted.
Plus dealing with criminals and lawyers on a daily basis, but as Mark Twain said, I repeat myself. I was still in good physical shape and of sound mind when I'd had enough. Good pension, although along the way they dumbed that down too. They had 4 or 5 different tiers when I left, each with lesser benefits.
Although I stayed married, my wife says I hardened along the way. All in all, again, I wouldn't recommend LE, certainly glad my children didn't enter it.
Paul Toms
Member
I'll be 59 this year and nearing retirement. The thought of it is more terrifying than getting my first job 44 years ago!
Move to a free state where your vote actually counts and cost of living is half of CA.
Bruce D Pease
Member
78 here. Voted 70ish. Born under FDR. Remember Truman. Actually shook Ike’s hand. Loved JFK ( the whole country did). Thought LBJ was a jerk. Voted for Goldwater, and Nixon Reagan, Perot, bush, McCain, Romney (not a good choice but better than the alternative) and Trump. Will vote Trump again. My SMLE cost $ 9.99 COD delivered by UPS. Grew up around guns and family all served ( except 1 uncle who had a bad limp from polio, and he worked at Springfield Armory in WW2 with his dad my gramps and my mom.) dad in army, uncles in infantry and combat engineers in Europe and one uncle in the Navy in the North Atlantic . Uncle and cousin walked out of Chosin Resevoir. I was a Marine mos 0311.. ( cArrived US rifle caliber 30 M1) secondary mos 0331 ( Browning 1919 A4 LMG).... in before Nam started and out before it really got hot.
Yeah I like guns.
Ps. I’ve been mostly retired since 2002.
Yeah I like guns.
Ps. I’ve been mostly retired since 2002.
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Zaydok Allen
Member
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- Feb 12, 2011
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- 13,274
One of my employees is 62 and scared of retiring also. Not an ideal home life. Scared of the isolation of living in the middle of nowhere.
Do it when it’s right for you man. People keep asking the person I mentioned when it’s going to be. It’s no one’s business but yours.
choppertime
Member
My mind says go...body says no...64...kinda forced to retire due to cancer issues...but i keep on trucking.....i think my hornady lnl ap press puts me in overload when the gremlins attack it.....so it sits collecting dust...easier than stressing out
Paul Toms
Member
Thanks 460Shooter.
It's not the fear of being alone in a strange place. I've been happily married for almost 30 years & we have plans to play like "snow birds" once it happens. The fear is financial. Will we have the $$$ to live out our lives.
doubleh
Member
Wow, only seven of us will admit to being real geezers. I'm kind of proud to be shooting or doing anything else at this age.
CoalTrain49
Member
You adjust. I lost half of my income when I retired and I don't regret a day of the 6 years I've been retired. I had places to go, things to see and things to do. I wasn't able to do any of that and work. Working can be great or it can be like prison. I made a good living but just wasn't built to take the load I had. Too demanding physically and often very stressful.
I guess I'm number 8. The other people must regret their decision to retire.
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Shanghai McCoy
Member
They are those snack y things you get at the bar during Happy Hour cause you're retired and can hang out at the bar during Happy Hour and eat the 1/2 price "apps"...
SwampWolf
Member
I've been retired for over twenty years now. If I could have retired when I was twenty, I would have. I've never understood why anyone would rather work for someone else rather than retire and "live" for yourself (and family). If I have any advice for those who might be "terrified" at the prospect of retirement, it would be to develop interests (even obsessions) for things to do and like all along the way of life. If, after getting your gold watch at the end of your working days, you think that reading up on Golf (or Fishing or whatever) 101 will take the place of having done it all your life, well, for most people it won't.
Your post reminded me of a plumber I used to work around a lot. He told me once that you know you had a messed up job when you wash your hands before you use the bathroom.
I am another building trades union guy. I am a sheet metal worker (tinknocker) by trade. These days they want us to be more literate than in times past. I believe there are better ways to make a living but there are a lot worse also.
I am 54. I honestly didn't come to the forum boards until I was in my 40's. Prior to that most of my interest in firearms was related to hunting. When I was single if I saw trouble brewing I pretty much just eased the other way. I got married late (one week before my 39th birthday. When my oldest girl was 3 & her little sister 1 1/2 I was at Wal-Mart with my wife the girls & their 3 year old little boy cousin when I wondered what I would do if something happened. I knew by the time I got them to all understand we needed to go & moving in the same direction whatever was going to happen would already be over with. I also knew I couldn't bail so I decided to start carrying. I came to the forum boards in search of information.
For whatever it is worth most of the guys I work with own at least one firearm of one sort or another. Most have pistols. There are varying degrees of knowledge there. Most don't participate in forums like this. One guy is interested in carrying. I have been telling him where to go to find information on getting his license, applicable laws,etc.
X62503
Contributing Member
Would skew the data.
BigBL87
Member
32 here.
GunnyUSMC
Member
I’m old enough to have been divorced twice, fought in one war, had cancer and about to retire from Law enforcement with 20 years. Boy that second divorce hell.
When I look back on all that I’ve done in my life, I wonder how I was able to do it all in 56 years.
I should have died a few times but St. Peter keeps telling me that the Marine barracks in heaven is full and I have to wait.
Fourteen years ago the doctor gave me six months, or less, to live without treatments for tonsil cancer. He didn’t tell me that he was going to almost kill me to save me, but I’m still here.
Cancer changed my outlook on life and some say a better person, you can ask my last wife, she is always saying how I used to be a mean $0B.
I’m still young enough to do a lot of things, but old enough to know the things I shouldn’t do.
I spend my money on guns and young women, but for those that read my post, y’all can tell where I spend most of my money.
I hope that I’m able to keep posting for years to come.
When I look back on all that I’ve done in my life, I wonder how I was able to do it all in 56 years.
I should have died a few times but St. Peter keeps telling me that the Marine barracks in heaven is full and I have to wait.
Fourteen years ago the doctor gave me six months, or less, to live without treatments for tonsil cancer. He didn’t tell me that he was going to almost kill me to save me, but I’m still here.
Cancer changed my outlook on life and some say a better person, you can ask my last wife, she is always saying how I used to be a mean $0B.
I’m still young enough to do a lot of things, but old enough to know the things I shouldn’t do.
I spend my money on guns and young women, but for those that read my post, y’all can tell where I spend most of my money.
I hope that I’m able to keep posting for years to come.
230RN
2A was "political" when it was first adopted.
New York, Flushing, 12 April 1945, right about sunset.
I remember coming into the house from our gang playing street games, maybe stickball, maybe ringolevio, immaterial. Pop wasn't home yet. The kitchen was in the west side of the house with the sun coming in from a low angle.
Mom was there, standing by the west wall of the kitchen, crying her eyes out,
"What's wrong, Mom?"
The President was dead. She had a hard time saying it.
I remember that with Kodachrome accuracy.
Almost exactly four months later, the Japanese Emperor announced Japan would surrender.
Call me 81.
Terry, 230RN
I remember coming into the house from our gang playing street games, maybe stickball, maybe ringolevio, immaterial. Pop wasn't home yet. The kitchen was in the west side of the house with the sun coming in from a low angle.
Mom was there, standing by the west wall of the kitchen, crying her eyes out,
"What's wrong, Mom?"
The President was dead. She had a hard time saying it.
I remember that with Kodachrome accuracy.
Almost exactly four months later, the Japanese Emperor announced Japan would surrender.
Call me 81.
Terry, 230RN
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Obturation
Member
....and all the rest you've just wasted.
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