When I first heard about the Deferred Retirement Program (DRP-1) offered from January 28 to February 6, 2025, I was resolute in my decision. "I will not take it," I stated firmly at the time. My wife Rose and I had already mapped out our future – a December 2025 retirement was the plan we'd crafted back in December 2024, and I was sticking to it.
Yet here I am, writing this post as someone who accepted DRP-2 and will officially retire on September 30, 2025 – three months earlier than originally planned. What changed my mind? The answer lies in a combination of deteriorating workplace conditions, practical considerations, and the simple recognition that sometimes life presents you with an opportunity that's too sensible to pass up.
The Numbers Tell a Story
The scale of federal employee participation in these programs is staggering. Approximately 154,000 federal employees accepted DRP-1 when it was first offered. For the Department of Defense alone, about 22,000 employees took advantage of the first program. When DRP-2 came around from April 7-14, another 33,000 DOD employees signed up. While the final numbers for DRP-2 across all federal agencies aren't in yet, it's clear that tens of thousands of federal workers made the same calculation I did.
These aren't just statistics – they represent a massive shift in the federal workforce, and frankly, I think it hurt the federal workforce overall. Not all, but many of these departing employees were going to retire in the near future anyway, so the program essentially accelerated the inevitable while creating significant institutional knowledge gaps.
When the Workplace Changes Everything
Between DRP-1 and DRP-2, something fundamental shifted in my work environment that made the decision much clearer. We were operating under a hiring freeze, which meant that as personnel left, we couldn't fill their positions. The mathematics was simple and brutal – fewer people, same workload, declining morale.
Everyone was being asked to do more, and the quality of work life deteriorated rapidly. I found myself spending most of my time answering constant data calls from higher command and handling administrative tasks rather than focusing on the actual work I was hired to do. It became monotonous and frustrating. The daily turmoil of managing vacant positions while being prohibited from hiring replacements created an environment where I knew things wouldn't improve over the summer and into the fall.
This wasn't the federal service I had dedicated my career to, and I didn't see any light at the end of the tunnel.
The One-Week Decision Window
When DRP-2 was announced, applicants had only one week to apply. There wasn't much time to be emotional about the decision – it required quick, practical thinking. Since I was already preparing for a December 2025 retirement, shifting the timeline to September represented only a minor adjustment to plans already in motion.
The application process itself was straightforward. You simply had to ask for it. In my organization, I don't know of anyone who applied and was turned down. The program was designed to facilitate departures, not create barriers.
The Financial Reality Check
One of the most important factors in my decision was understanding the actual financial impact of retiring three months early. My federal retirement is calculated based on three key factors: the number of years I've served, a multiplier (0.1 if serving less than 20 years, 0.11 if serving over 20 years), and my high-three year average pay.
While staying those additional three months until December would have marginally increased my high-three average, the change was minimal. The financial difference simply wasn't significant enough to endure seven more months of the workplace conditions I described earlier.
The Administrative Leave Advantage
I accepted DRP-2 on April 14th, and while participants were permitted to begin administrative leave as early as May 1st, I recognized I had significant responsibilities to wrap up and knowledge to transfer to others. I stayed through the end of May to ensure a proper transition, then began my administrative leave on June 2nd.
This leave period has been invaluable. I continue to receive my regular paychecks through September 30th while having the freedom to begin my retirement lifestyle. It's essentially a four-month bridge between my working life and full retirement, allowing for a gradual transition rather than an abrupt stop.
A Word of Caution
Despite my positive experience with DRP-2, I want to offer some important advice to anyone considering similar programs in the future: retire when you're ready to retire, not when a program pressures you to do so.
You need to be both financially and emotionally prepared for retirement. Don't let a DRP or any other external factor push you into a decision you're not ready to make. The financial incentives and workplace pressures may seem compelling, but retirement is a major life change that requires careful consideration beyond immediate circumstances.
In my case, the timing worked because Rose and I were already prepared mentally and financially for retirement. The DRP-2 simply accelerated our timeline by a few months, rather than fundamentally changing our plans.
Looking Forward
So what's next? The simple answer is freedom – doing what I want to do when I want to do it. This winter, Rose and I plan to head south and become snowbirds, escaping the rainy, dark environment we've endured for too many years. We're looking forward to exploring new places, setting our own schedules, and rediscovering life outside the rhythm of federal service.
October 1st will mark the official start of my retirement, closing the chapter on a 20+ year career in federal service and opening what I hope will be many years of new adventures and experiences.
Reflections on a Massive Workforce Shift
Looking back at the broader impact of these programs, I have mixed feelings. While DRP-2 solved my immediate problem of deteriorating work conditions, I wish the disruption it caused across the federal workforce had never been necessary. The loss of institutional knowledge and experience across agencies will likely have long-term consequences that extend far beyond the individual decisions of retirees like myself.
However, for those of us who were already retirement-ready, these programs provided a pathway to accelerate our plans while avoiding the worst of what appeared to be a challenging period ahead in federal service. Sometimes the best decision isn't the one you planned to make, but the one that circumstances make obvious.
As I prepare for October 1st and the official start of my retirement, I'm grateful for the career I've had in federal service and optimistic about the adventures that lie ahead. The DRP-2 may not have been part of my original plan, but it turned out to be exactly the right choice at exactly the right time.
