U.S. Senator Joni Ernst plans to retire as a lieutenant colonel in the Iowa Army National Guard “within the next year,” she announced on Iowa Public Television’s “Iowa Press” program. Click here to watch the whole video or read the full transcript from the May 8 edition; I’ve enclosed the relevant portion after the jump. Ernst explained that it is “very hard” to balance her obligations as a senator with her National Guard and desire to spend time with her family. She said she would probably retire in about a year, to give plenty of time to train her replacement.

Stepping back from military service to focus more fully on the U.S. Senate is the right decision for lots of reasons. I didn’t expect Ernst to make that choice, given how central her identity as a soldier has been to her political image, from the beginning to the end of her Senate campaign.

Any relevant comments are welcome in this thread.

P.S.- In what struck me as the most interesting part of Ernst’s “Iowa Press” appearance, Iowa’s junior senator sounded like a veteran pol as she thwarted three experienced panelists’ best efforts to get her to commit to specific federal spending cuts. The portion comes just before the discussion of Ernst’s National Guard work. Referring to recent budget votes in the Senate, Radio Iowa’s O. Kay Henderson asked Ernst, “as you funnel more money to the Pentagon, what are you going to cut elsewhere to make up for that?” After Ernst gave a meandering non-response, Iowa Public Television’s Dean Borg tried to follow up with another question about what domestic programs might need to be cut, but no dice. The Des Moines Register’s Kathie Obradovich then asked, “You campaigned on cutting pork […]. Who are you going to be making squeal?” Ernst responded with more vague talk (“we really do have to look at government and what we’re doing”), plus a few examples of cuts that wouldn’t add up to any meaningful amount in the context of the whole federal budget.  

Excerpt from Senator Joni Ernst’s interview on “Iowa Press,” May 8:

Henderson: One of the decisions that you have made since becoming a United States Senator is to remain in the National Guard. You had originally thought you might retire rather than do both jobs. Why did you decide to continue?

Ernst: Well, I’m continuing for now but I think that that will be fairly short-lived and just in discussions really trying to see how is this balancing and it is very hard. I had drill last weekend so spent a day on the road visiting a number of counties on Friday, Saturday and Sunday reported to drill to do my normal duties with Camp Dodge. So it is very difficult to do that and of course I have a wonderful family that I like to spend time with as well.

Borg: You said it’s fairly short-lived.

Ernst: I think so. Yeah, I think probably within the next year. Now this will be breaking news probably to my chain of command. But working out a timeframe that works well to go ahead and ease off of those duties and make sure that we have someone coming in behind me.

Borg: How close are you to retirement from the National Guard?

Ernst: I would say probably about a year out or so. And, again, I just need to make sure that we have an appropriate backfill for me and, of course, make sure that I’m easing out of my duties and making sure we have someone that can follow on.