Yes we do, he states it on his home page and that he went home to Iowa to retire. Good for him that he presumably found himself a new job at the AFB in Nebraska..
Does that new job as a presumed contractor include a pension? It's certainly a legitimate question and whether or not he wishes to answer it is up to him.........There's no need for him to be obnoxious about it tho unless it struck a nerve......
.........There’s no need for him to be obnoxious about it tho unless it struck a nerve......
If there were not people like US Navy Vet, my husband and many like him, the military members would not get the support they need. But we are bashed here unrepentantly and with regularity.
People make assumptions and think we’re all making 6 figure incomes with the fed. Guess what, we aren’t. They assume we have a “Cadillac health plan”, nope. Yesterday I was told my husband has 8 weeks of paid vacation per year, nope, not that either.
There are good, very good civilians working for the fed and then again there are some not so good. That is in every industry, every business, everywhere! People on FR love to support the military but gosh the ones that work day to day supporting the military are scum to a lot of FReepers here and it feels like a betrayal.
THAT might be why he got defensive.
To All Concerned...
I wish him all the luck in the world.. I retired in 1975 as a Platoon SGT (E7) and so far have beaten the actuary tables.. I am now working on 39 years of miniscule retired pay for serving my country through 2 wars and also in Germany during the tense Cold War, I was in 7th Corps (LRRP) Jayhawks which was disbanded and became the 75th Rangers. We Retired Vets earned and deserve our Retirement pay.By the way, I am 80 years old and hope to draw at least another 10 years of it.
Airborne All The Way
Vet doesn't say, but he could be either a government contractor or a government employee. The military retirement system is a vestige of a centuries old system called half pay where they could put you "on the beach" with half pay, but you were liable to be called back if they needed you. True today, but much more complex. While you become eligible to retire at 20 years service, if you leave at 19 years you get zip. A very high bar, no vesting or equity before you hit eligibility. You wannta sign up for that. Every military member gets, in writing, once a year a notice explaining how much their compensation really is because of the retirement benefit. Pay is suppressed to account for the fact that you are not paying into retirement. There is no free lunch.
Since the military is a young person's game, you don't get to stick around until you are 65 or 70. You're gone early without enough to live on and years before Social Security. So, you get another job. If you get a government job, the pension today works like a 401K - you pay in and the government matches a certain amount. You start over at zero paying in. Same with government contract work. Your company may or may not have it's own 401K and you pay in according to their rules.
Most people's biggest asset is their home. They buy as soon as they can and build equity over the years in hopes of owning their home outright upon retirement. Very few in the military can manage to do this with frequent moves, overseas assignments, often these moves come at very bad times in the housing markets. Many military people have lost their shirts in the housing market because of the demands of service.
If it's such a cushy deal, why aren't people beating down the doors at the recruiting offices so that they can jump on the gravy train? Why didn't you? Tobasco comes in the rations these days, but I guess that you wouldn't know that.
Thanks vets, all of you.