Paul Yingling is leaving the military for teaching. (Photo courtesy George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies)

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After a long, distinguished military career, Army Col. Paul Yingling will be eligible for attractive retirement benefits in just two years. But that’s not enough to make him stay.

He’s ready for an encore, and he’s going for it.

Yingling explains in the Washington Post why at 45 he opted for the Troops to Teachers program, which helps military personnel transition to teaching careers. He plans to retire from the Army in the summer and begin teaching high school social studies in the fall.

“My friends think I’m crazy, and they may have a point,” he writes. “Colonel is the last rank before general’s stars, and it comes with significant perks.”

Here’s one: His pay is triple the national average teacher salary – roughly $55,000, according to the U.S. Department of Education. But he’s not into teaching for the money. The desire comes from a deeper urge to help children gain self-confidence, which Yingling cultivated during years of teaching youth baseball.

He tells of helping kids struggling with the game. Coaching a child one on one often leads to “a glimmer of recognition,” Yingling says. The child realizes he can achieve something that before had eluded him.

Yingling draws the big picture: “The glimmer grows each day – if I can hit a ball, what else can I do? It spreads – if one of us can get better, why can’t we all? This moment becomes a series of moments, experienced individually and as part of a larger whole.”

That’s why he wants to teach: to help shape the character of children, to build among them a passion for excellence, a willingness to work and a commitment to others.

It’s an encore shared by millions of Americans. According to new research from MetLife Foundation and Civic Ventures, 30 percent of the 9 million people ages 44 to 70 in encore careers are working in education.

For Yingling, and others, an encore in teaching offers opportunities to do good. “Amid the clamor of a youth baseball practice,” he says, “I’m part of a conversation on character that echoes in eternity. The opportunity to engage in that conversation more often is why I want to teach.”

To read Yingling’s Washington Post piece, go here.

To find out more about the new encore careers research, click here.