ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL. (AP) – Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk plans to retire from the Naval Reserve, ending a 23-year military career.
Spokesman Lance Trover told the (Arlington Heights) Daily Herald on Friday that as Kirk resumes his duties in the U.S. Senate after suffering a stroke, he will “wind down his military career and retire.”
Kirk joined the Navy Reserve in 1989, when he was a congressional aide. He stayed with it as he held increasingly important jobs with the State Department, the World Bank and the House International Relations Committee. Kirk continued serving after his 2000 election to Congress.
He has spent his entire career in military intelligence.
Nearly a year after suffering a stroke, on Thursday climbed 45 Capitol stairs and reclaimed his seat on the first day of the 113th Congress.

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