Sgt. Steven Lyzenga; 52-year-old basic trainee
Beretverde sends us a link to an article from the Waynesville, North Carolina Daily Guide about SGT Steven Lyzenga who began his military career in 1981 as a Marine, then transferred to the Air Force to be a pilot and now he’s in basic training at Fort Leonardwood as a soldier;
“I wanted to finish my term as a guardian of freedom. I am concerned with what is going on with terrorism. Before I got too old, I wanted to do my duty — and finish my 20,” Lyzenga said.
“Personally, doing this at 52, I’m raising all kinds of eyebrows. I don’t know if a fighter pilot, or a major for that matter, has ever gone through basic training. I’m still scratching my head a little bit — wondering why I am here,” he said.
His road to the Army began when somebody challenged him to finish his time in the military.
“I said, ‘No. I’m too old.’ Then, I ended up in the Air Force recruiter’s office where they told me I was too old to fly. I prayed about it. Then, the Army recruiter said I could go in as enlisted, but retire at my highest rank. So, the door was opened and we prayed about it some more. The answer was keep walking forward as long as the door stayed open. It was a year-long process for me. It wasn’t easy, but every door stayed open, so I kept walking through it,” Lyzenga said. “I’ve traded in my F-16 for an M16.”
But, even better than shooting a rifle has been the fellowship he has felt being back in the military.
“It’s been a good experience. I love the camaraderie. In my Christian humanitarian work with the church, and now I’m a Christian business owner, even in the midst of both of those, I missed the camaraderie that came from my military service. Even with these young adults,” Lyzenga said. “They are all here to grow up and become adults. I came here to stay young and feel like a kid again.”
Much luck, SGT.
Category: Real Soldiers
Hooah!
I retired from my less-than-stellar career at age 50. Best of luck, Sergeant.
I add good luck to you soldier.
MAJMike, I did 24 years & retired at 49. Good luck SGT!
Good luck Brother.
I don’t understand how he can do this. Is he a reservist who ‘voluntarily’ activated? If someone knows, please explain. The newspaper article is of no help at all.
@6 Good question which has run through my mind. In my day the cutoff was 35 years old, plus any time served. So a 35 year old guy with 8 years in could still reenlist at 43. Someone correct me if I am wrong and things have changed.
I guess some things are simply worth repeating. BZ, SGT Lyzenga.
7&8-here’s the best I can figure on this: If you are prior service you can re-enlist in the reserves so long as you have enough time to get to 20 years of service before age 60. But, if you have been out of service for too long (don’t ask me how long, but I think more than 10 years), you have to go back to boot camp. He’s 52 and needs 5 or 6 more years (as near as I can tell), but he’s been out of service since 1995 according to the story.
The Army Times has a little more information;
http://www.army.mil/article/118447/Basic_Combat_Training_NCO_soars_from_fighter_pilot_to_Soldier/
‘”I’m with the privates from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. It has taken a little getting use to,” Lyzenga said. “I’ve heard some of them call me ‘grandpa,’ but most of them call me major. I don’t think they are suppose to, but they still do.”
Lyzenga said his faith has helped him through some of the toughest times in BCT.
“When it gets me through is when I’m standing at attention and the wind chill is 10 below outside. I’m praying continuously,” he said.
When Lyzenga graduates next month he will be with a National Guard unit in Newport News, Va., as a 29E Electronic Warfare Specialist.’
Basically, for the Guard and Reserve, you can join at any age that allows you to complete 20 years of service by age 60. Not sure about the BCT thing (is that ‘boot camp’?).
I had broken service. Started in the Marine Corps and currently in the Navy Reserve. I did not have to go to Navy Boot Camp.
Okay, now going to boot camp at 52? Yeah, that might suck just a bit.
Good on the major, and serious props to him for this serious undertaking at this juncture of his life.
@9 and 10. Thank you. That makes sense.
Heh. I bet he gets all the pull-ups required of him.
Must be a pain to maintain that ribbon rack in basic when everybody else just has to pin on the national defense one (and gwot now?). So when he hits his 20, is it a percentage of his high 3 to include his officer time? I hope they don’t bone him on that one.
Good for him.
I wish I were in his shoes.
Have to give the SGT credit… this is what honorable service looks like. Not like the other crap we see on this site, like Phildo, WILLIAM DEREK CHURCH, Daniel Bernath and the others
I’m pretty sure all of his active time in the Marines and Air Force count towards retirement from the NG, so he won’t have to spend 20 years in the NG. I also remember being told that if you have been active before and get out, then go to rejoin, they add however many years you had on active on top of the age limit for enlisting.
I seem to remember a story from the early 90s of a flight surgeon in the Coast Guard. He was the last WWII vet still on active duty. He had been in the Navy I think in WWII, got out, went to college became a doctor and did that until the late 70, early 80s. Then decided he wanted to rejoin. He shopped around and the Coasties were the only ones that would take him and commissioned him as a flight surgeon.
with regards to my post @16, http://www.uscg.mil/psc/psd/fs/docs/casualty/obituary%20120923%20CAPT%20earl%20fox%20USPHS.pdf
OK, short version of how his reserve retirement pay will be calculated.
He’s a reservist. His retirement pay high-3 will be determined by the pay scales in effect during his last 3 years in the reserves – typically those in effect during the last 3 years before he turns 60 (time on the retired reserve list still counts as time in).
His reserve retirement pay will be determined by how many “retirement points” he accrued, provided he has 20 “good” years (a “good year” is a year with 50 or more retirement points). Each day of active duty is 1 point (annual training counts as active duty, as does basic and any service school for which you’re on active duty orders). Each drill weekend (4 drills) is 4 points. Every 3 hrs of correspondence course work is 1 retirement point. (There are a few other “corner case” ways to get retirement points, but they’re kinda rare and I’ll omit them here.)
His retirement pay will be a notional high-3 based on his final 3 years in a reserve status times 2.5% times total retirement points divided by 360.
A typical reserve career (4 yrs active duty plus 15 qualifying years in a drilling unit afterwards plus a total of 1 year in cumulative schools) nets about 2950 retirement points, for a total of around 20.5% of that notional high-3 average. More active duty raises this total.
In general, unless he has contingency support serviced after 28 Jan 2008, he won’t collect his retired pay until he turns 60. Contingency support service after 28 Jan 2008 gets you earlier retired pay, essentially 3 months early for each 90 days of such contingency support active duty occurring in a single fiscal year.
Edited to add: as observed below by 68W58 (hat tip), his retired grade on which his retired pay will be based will be the highest held successfully. In this guy’s case, he’ll almost certainly retire as a Major.
Wow, when I read the intro paragraph, I was mentally prepared to read about another case of SV…..
Glad to be wrong.
Dang … I think I might be jealous … p)
“I was concerned about terrorism, I prayed, I wanted to finish my 20, I prayed, I traded in my F-16 for a M-16”.
For those scoring at home – this is what makes us a GREAT country!
His retirement should be based on the highest ranks he has held (so long as he satisfies time in grade requirement). I know an AGR E-5 who was an m-day CPT. When he retires from the AGR his pay will be calculated as an O-3.
68W58: unless he was reduced for cause or as the the result of a court-martial, that’s correct; I should have mentioned that above as well. And I think we can exclude those possibilities based on the fact that he was allowed to re-enter the service.
Best wishes – and kudos – to the good man. I should have said that up-front above.
More than likely, he probably got riffed or an early out option that included severance pay. If so, he will have to pay all that back out of his retirement pay before he gets to keep any of it.
It’s good to see that this nation still produces some great individual citizens, good job SGT Lyzenga. Oddly enough, there was another AF fighter guy who did the same kind of thing back in 2004.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/07/international/middleeast/07sarge.html?_r=0
That guy was really hard-core, leading patrols in Iraq with the ground-pounders. Hopefully, with examples like these two gentlemen, I will stay motivated enough to maintain my physical fitness into my 50s, I really don’t want to be one of those retired cake-eaters (ie. officers) who blows up like a blimp after retirement. Time to hit the gym!
I’ve got mixed ideas on this…both pro and con. Anyway he is in and good luck with buffing the floors, guard duty, KP etc.
Hell, I’m 52 and getting OUT after 26 years. Jan 31 is my last day of paid service.
I’m too old, fat, busted up, and slow for this shit anymore. So HOOAH to the MAJ for getting back in and showing the kids how it’s done
That is the 2nd article of a two part series. The 1st is at http://www.army.mil/article/118093/Aged_to_perfection__NCO_trainees_add_experience_to_BCT_company/
It says that company has NINE prior-service NCOs in it at the same time!