On Saturday, September 12th, 2026, my family, my friends, and people I’ve served with since 2000 gathered on Google Meet to celebrate my retirement from the U.S. Army. After 23 years, I’m officially Lieutenant Colonel (United States Army Retired) Tenay Benes.
The Retirement Ceremony
Cat — a retired Chief Warrant Officer 3 who was once one of my soldiers — served as master of ceremonies and also drafted my Army Officer’s Virtual Retirement Script. (She’s incredibly motivated and detailed. Want to download it? Here it is!)
Welcome, Invocation, and National Anthem
Then, my friend, Father Chris, gave the invocation, after which we stood up during a video of the U.S. Army Band performing the National Anthem.
What a Retirement Ceremony Represents
Cat explained the tradition behind the ceremony, including this line:
“Retirement does not erase the title of a soldier or the years of service that came before it. Instead, it marks the completion of one’s mission and the beginning of another.”
Military Biography
I was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the early 2000s through ROTC at Johns Hopkins University. I originally planned to go to medical school, but after the Iraq War began, I switched to military intelligence. Within weeks of arriving at my first unit, the 1st Cavalry Division at Fort Hood, Texas, I deployed to Baghdad. I went back to Baghdad within 18 months of redeploying.
After that, I served in the Army National Guard and the Army Reserve, in Germany with U.S. Army Europe, and in joint and cyber assignments, including with U.S. Cyber Command. In 2023, I took command of the 338th Military Intelligence Battalion in San Antonio, Texas. My final assignment was here in Denver with the 91st Training Division until my last day of duty in September 2026.
Meritorious Service Medal and Retirement Orders
The Army presented me with the Meritorious Service Medal as a retirement award.
“The people of the United States express their thanks and gratitude for your faithful service. Your contributions to the defense of the United States of America are greatly appreciated.”
Family Recognition
I spoke about Brett and my daughter as they received their retirement gifts.
Brett’s Remarks
Brett is an Air Force veteran, so he opened by telling me he’s incredibly proud of me “despite the fact that you chose the Army. Go Air Force.” Then he read a tribute I’m going to keep forever. Here’s part of it:
“When you joined ROTC, you did it for a very Air Force reason, to pay for college, but you did it in a very Army way. You gave everything you had to take the hill, and that has been true of your entire life. … At the macro level, you pursued a career in intelligence to predict the future so others could live through it. And at the micro level, you’ve sat down with numerous struggling soldiers, listening to them, showing them compassion, and then stood up like a mother bear to go to battle to make sure they got the care they needed. … While some people go to war to fight, you go to war to protect.”
He also shared that my childhood ambition was to cure cancer, and that now I’m combining what I learned in the Army with that lifelong passion to transform healthcare. And the line I keep coming back to:
“You’re not retiring from what made you who you are. You’re just taking the fight somewhere new. … The battlefield is different, but the mission is the same. Protect those who cannot protect themselves.”
Digital Shadow Box
Cat presented me with a digital shadow box: a visual record of my career, with the rank insignia, awards, decorations, badges, and unit crests from second lieutenant to lieutenant colonel.
My Remarks
In my own remarks, I talked about the stars and the scars of my Army journey, and about the leaders who showed me what right looks like. On my first deployment, my brigade commander, then-Colonel James McConville (who later became Chief of Staff of the Army), picked me, a second lieutenant, to fill a captain’s job over two other captains. What he told me was, “The kids are running the house, and you’re gonna do great. I don’t expect any problems.” That deployment ruined me for life — in the best way — because I saw what right could look like.
Over 20 years later, when I took command of my battalion, I had one goal I didn’t tell anyone at the unit: I wanted to become “a good one.” That’s what soldiers quietly say about leaders they respect. It’s a reputation that follows you everywhere.
I took over a unit with really low morale. So we started with something basic: a little trophy with a dry-erase marker that we passed to someone every morning and every afternoon. Here’s how I explained it at the ceremony:
“We’re just going to start praising people for doing the things we’re asking them to do. Because, you know what? It’s enough if people do the things we’re asking them to do. They don’t have to go above and beyond for us to say thank you.”
We recognized soldiers for passing their fitness tests, making weight, and going to school. Basic things! And the culture started changing. When I had to end my command early due to health reasons, I heard one of my soldiers say, “It’s always the good ones.”
Mission accomplished.
At the ceremony, I thanked my country for entrusting the care of soldiers to me, and I asked everyone to stay in touch and share their struggles and victories with me, because one thing I’ve learned through this Army journey is that we are better together.
Guest Book and Retirement Gift
Everyone who chipped in to my gift fund paid towards a 1902 U.S. Army Officers Saber.
The Army Song
And yes, I sang the Army song one last time in a very overly decorated veteran hat. “Fifty-one pieces of flair,” according to Cat.
Benediction and Group Photo
Father Chris closed the ceremony with a benediction, and then everyone turned on their cameras for a group photo.
Farewells
After the ceremony, Cat told me, “You are definitely one of the good ones.” I’ll take it. And as Chris put it, I’m going “from retirement to refirement.”
What I’m taking with me
If military intelligence sounds abstract, here’s the short version: it’s the military’s version of information science. You ask the right questions, figure out where the data lives, collect it, and turn it into information, then knowledge, then wisdom. Wisdom means: if I do X, then Y will happen.
Those are the same skills I use every day at Benes Companies. Finding hard-to-find information and making it useful is what I was trained to do. Now I get to do it for patients/clients, caregivers, providers, practitioners, and the organizations that work with them. Eleven days before my retirement celebration, on September 1st, 2026, we launched the beta of TheCareWeNeed.com: a free whole-person care professional directory. It currently has 50,000 “golden profiles” of real care pros in the Denver Metro Area, searchable by the symptoms they most likely treat.
What’s next
My husband and I started Benes Companies to fulfill our 50-year plan, and this is my mission for the rest of my life: improving whole-person health outcomes across the U.S. care ecosystem. Retirement doesn’t mean slowing down; it means I get to focus on what’s next.
Thank you to my husband, Brett, as well as my friends, Cat and Chris, for coordinating the celebration, and to everyone who showed up, shared a memory, or sent a photo from our time together.
I truly felt your support and care!
If we served together, thank you.
If you missed the celebration, please reach out to me through one of my links or leave a comment below and tell me what you’re up to!
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