<prompt> Human: Military offers really good retirement benefits.. after a mere 20 years of service, you get 50 of your base pay for the rest of your life, plus TRICARE medical coverage.That means if you retired at E-7 which is a fairly common rank to retire at, you would get about 2,000 a month, for the rest of your life, and have access to health care with a very low co-pay, and that all starts immediately out the gate as soon as you apply for retirement.. thus you are usually in your 40s is all.Yet I dont see people lining the streets to join the military. What are some other really great retirement plans out there in the corporate world?Im making this topic because Im currently active duty and thinking of getting out at 8 years. I just cant do this any more. My first sergeant counseled me that im making a huge mistake and throwing away the best retirement in America and that Ill always be worse off on the outside struggling to find a job and working until Im 80. His words, not mineEDIT: added clarification  <response>: Most people I know dont live their life around their retirement.They base their life off of their goals and their career. 20 years in the military is basically spending half of your career in the military. And for many people it simply isnt worth spending half of your career doing something you dont truly enjoy doing.---In terms of benefit packages in the private world... it is a mixed bag. Some companies cant even afford to provide benefits... while some executive compensation packages can be better than winning the lottery.I will say that, in general, larger companies typically are able to provide better benefit packages than small businesses. This isnt a universal rule by any stretch... there are some small businesses that provide excellent packages. But in general... larger companies will be able to provide more for their employees. 