re: Am I early retirement ready? Updated

I don't know how you have your money invested, but you're starting to hit the 'land of critical mass' with your $1.2m saved. If you worked just a few more years and made a decent return you'd be in a lot better position. That $56k pension is a pretty damn nice safety net, so that would give me confidence to be aggressive with my positions.

Having said that, kids (known to be expensive) and medical expenses (unknown even if you get military benefits) would scare the hell out of me. The advice I always heard was to try to live as if you were retired and see how things fare. If you're well within your budget then at least you pass the sanity check. Just don't let cost of living kick you in the balls.