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| Military retirement system broken, board says | |
| 2010-08-09 | |
The military retirement system is unsustainable and in dire need of repair, according to an influential Pentagon advisory board.
The 25-member group of civilian business leaders suggests that the Defense Department look at changing the current system, even hinting at raising the number of years troops must serve before being eligible for retirement pay. The current system "encourages our military to leave at 20 years when they are most productive and experienced, and then pays them and their families and their survivors for another 40 years," committee chairman Arnold Punaro told board members at their quarterly meeting late last month. Making troops serve longer before receiving pay does not sit well with some servicemembers. "No rational person would put up with 20 years of the hardships that you're forced to endure if it wasn't for the brass ring at the end of it all called instant retirement," said Petty Officer 1st Class Ethan Gurney, an electronics technician based in Naples. It's not really fair to compare military service to the civilian work force, said Gurney, who, at 38, is only a few months from retirement. "The continuous deployments, living conditions, remote and hazardous duty stations are unique to the military," he said. "This isn't a civilian company, so any civilian model that you use to compare to the military is impertinent. To do so is irresponsible at best." The talk of changing the military retirement system isn't new. | |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #17 I draw a military retirement AND a VA disability (double-dipping?). Between the two of them, I can make ends meet, but just barely. I'm going to have surgery on my cervical spine in two weeks - at a civilian hospital, because the military has no space to do it. That will cost me money - $25, believe it or not - because that's what TRICARE dictates as the co-pay. Memorial Hospital is a city-owned hospital, and CAN'T refuse, or they'd lose their Medicare/Medicaid business. Increased military benefits are scheduled to raise $12 billion. How much, in the same period of time, will the cost of retirement of presidents, congress-critters, and "civilian" government employees raise? Who gives the biggest 'bang for the buck'? How many of those "civilians" ever pulled a 24-hour+ shift, or got fired at, or worked in hostile territory where the "natives" hated you? How many people in civilian life HAVE to keep up their education in order to get promoted? Try making E-7 without at least an AA degree, and a Bachelor's or higher for E-8 and E-9. If you're an officer, you MAY be able to make Major/LtCdr with a Bachelor's degree, but if you want to go higher, you MUST have a Master's or better. I doubt there are many generals without a PhD. In the civilian world, you can screw up half the time and still continue your job, probably even get promoted. Make a mistake and see how quickly your career comes to an end. The "civilians" on that board more than likely never spent even one day in the military. I doubt half of them could have made it through boot camp - even Air Force boot camp. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2010-08-09 20:04 |
| #16 Oh, and one more thing But it was Al Gore who invented the Information Superhighway Thing - not DOD... Y'know, I'm pretty sure I was _on_ the internet _before_ Al Gore allegedly invented it. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2010-08-09 16:35 |
| #15 The Congressvarmints, that is. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2010-08-09 16:11 |
| #14 Maybe pay them some small percentage of whatever surplus the government shows? |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2010-08-09 16:10 |
| #13 But it was Al Gore who invented the Information Superhighway Thing - not DOD... 25-member group of CIVILIAN leaders? WTF does that have to do with the MILITARY? There's a big difference between civilian service and military service. For example in military service you may be call upon to DIE for your job - you also endure hardships and hazards which have no correspondance in a civilian - or political - 'job'. How about we raise the number of terms congresscritters have to serve to earn their pension (and healthcare) - to like 20 terms? (And I too have never served in the military - but I appreciate all those who have!) |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2010-08-09 13:37 |
| #12 We could destroy the military's budget entirely, force all the retirees out onto the street, and still not be able to make up for all the extra money the government has wasted, both in profligate spending and profligate regulation, over the past couple years. DoD's budget is what, 1/3 of what got spent on TARP in a year? Not to mention we only had the 90's boom economy because of the money DARPA threw into computer networking back in the 70's. And now we've restructured that shit so China makes money off of it now, but we don't. Where's the next big idea supposed to come from? THE LAST ONE WASN'T ANYTHING ANYONE WAS EXPECTING. If you're sitting at your damn laptop now, like I am, and reading the internet, YOU'RE MOOCHING OFF OF THE 1970'S DEFENSE BUDGET. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2010-08-09 13:01 |
| #11 The military can't be counted on to vote for them. If I were a smart progressive I would pay the only class of citizen capable of upsetting my socalist revolution. |
| Posted by: Hellfish 2010-08-09 12:37 |
| #10 Y'know, it's yet more passive-aggressive cocksucking bullshit. They never asked themselves "Can We Afford This" during their last three trillion dollars or so of past decisions, but they trip over the military pension thing, and _SUDDENLY_ they wanna pretend to be Responsible? GIVE ME A FUCKING BREAK. When the finance industry got in trouble, they got their two trillion dollar check, with little or no questions asked. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2010-08-09 12:04 |
| #9 You know, the government has been shutting down entire industries like it has _plenty_ of money without us. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2010-08-09 11:56 |
| #8 Why do you have a separate set of laws governing land and naval forces if it's comparable to civilian jobs? Military jobs are NOT comparable to civilian jobs. Military pensions, IMHO, are the only pensions the gov't should be paying. The rest of the government employees can save their dough the way the rest of us do (or don't). Obama can lead the way by cutting the pensions of future presidents to ZIP, ZERO, NADA. (BTW, I'm not & never was remotely eligible for a military pension.) |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2010-08-09 10:53 |
| #7 Seems like there are a lot of broken systems lately run into the ground by the Feds: Medicare, Medicaid, Post-Office, Social Security, Freddie and Fannie, etc. Many blue States are also going broke because of Federal mandates foisted upon them coupled with years of irresponsible spending and policies, and corruption. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2010-08-09 09:31 |
| #6 If the military retirement system is in need of revision then at 20 years, transfer to the civil service and work your last five years as a civilian. No hardship, deployment, or separation from family. No need to change the up or out strategy. A kind of try before you buy double-dip .... |
| Posted by: Mike Ramsey 2010-08-09 09:27 |
| #5 A military takes a physical and mental toll on your body that simply can't be ignored. Yes I get free medical care and a stipend each month for my service. While the medical is great, the actual pay is nothing close to live. So most "retirees" go into a second career which they pay taxes, SS, etc. It's not simple math and IMHO they can find a LOT better ways to trim the budget. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2010-08-09 08:58 |
| #4 Practically speaking, with a collapsing economy, the military will take a huge hit. Nationally, there may be a 50% unemployment rate, so Privates may only get $50/mo, and junior officers, $100/mo, with room and board. No marriage until E-7 or O-4. Families stay in the US. No new weapons systems. Retirement will probably be on a par with Social Security, which is to say, none. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2010-08-09 08:41 |
| #3 "This isn't a civilian company, so any civilian model that you use to compare to the military is impertinent. To do so is irresponsible at best." Any civilian job, even public employees as with police and fire, can quit their job tomorrow. Nothing said, nothing done. Why not give that civilian option to the military? Why do you have a separate set of laws governing land and naval forces if it's comparable to civilian jobs? /rhet questions. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2010-08-09 08:13 |
| #2 Treasury Department payments into the system will balloon from $47.7 billion this year to $59.3 billion by 2020. But we have 10 billion dollars this year |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2010-08-09 08:08 |
| #1 ...That's okay, they want to freeze military pay and kill the military medical system as well. OTOH, I'd have no problem with going to 25 years for full retirement - the problem is the 'up or out' rule, which is really what would need to be changed. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2010-08-09 07:38 |