You might have a hard time getting into an equivalent government job, and many government jobs have mandatory retirement ages (which I think are not as common in the private sector); so if you tried that, you could find yourself shut out with not enough years at the high ranks to make the pension worthwhile. Read about cop salaries and notice how much of their pensions are based on their final years out of 20 or 30. ('spiking' and vacation-time etc.)
