I am not sure where you got those figures. I was making good money before I retired but get less than half of what I was making in retirement. Typically west coast firefighters and police are payed more than people on the east coast. I am getting no where near what you say the Broward County cop is making.
But regardless... you make a good point. But it is equally interesting to me why people who pursued a basically worthless degree during four to five years of partying and merriment believe that their degree entitles them to make more for the rest of their lives than those who actually get their hands dirty doing the actual work or in the case of engineers calculations.
My brother has no degree, but he has been a captain at a major airline for decades. He calls himself a glorified bus driver; I don't even want to tell you how much he makes. But he is good at his job and is responsible for many millions of dollars of equipment and dozens of lives. These days you get payed mostly for what you do and not so much the degree that you were pursuing in your youth. Coal mining is not what it used to be. It is largely running heavy equipment in often challenging conditions, something your wife would have no clue about. Coal mining still can take a terrible toll on your health as well.
I went to a high school prom with my best friend's sister. She became a vet. She thought that she should be entitled to more money than others for mostly spaying puppies and kittens and giving them shots. She was always unhappy about something and eventually killed herself.
About the pension thingie, surely you must be aware that it’s (ahem) common practice to let the soon to retire (insert publicly employed union person) max their overtime just before they retire so that they can get the maximum, even absurd pension?
Also, about your veterinarian friend, that’s sad. I know a girl from my high school whose Dad was a vet, and they did very well.