[Sleeping Freeper]

The water is swirling faster as the tub empties.... this nation is not long for demise....

[Gamecock]

Simplest way to cut spending in the Military is to stop moving everyone every 2-3 years.

PCSing a family costs a ton of money. Paid moving truck. cash allowences, about 4-5 weeks in lst productivity.

Keep people in their assignment for 4-5 years.

[The Sons of Liberty]

Military retirees: You betrayed us, Congress

What a lot of these retirees never seemed to understand is that when it comes to cutting, their retirements are "low hanging fruit" to politicians, especially ones like our commie CIC. It is very easy pickings. It will only get worse. Except for the lousy economy, which the kenyan muzzie liar claims is getting better, I really don't know how the military is able to recruit.

[Route797]

This is outrageous, but how many people who are rightfully incensed over cutting military pensions are indifferent, or pleased, at the prospect of Detroit retirees losing their pensions? The spirit of austerity is like a prairie fire, once it erupts it's hard to control, and nobody can tell who will wind up being burned.

I don't want to see anyone's pension benefits decimated. Of course, the military is a special case, but we also need to be concerned about Social Security, Medicare, 401ks, and private and public pensions. We also need to be concerned about the fate of future generations and the sustainability of retirement systems. These need to be addressed in a spirit of fairness and a desire to advance the common good. It's depressing to see the young set against the old, the public against the private, and the civilian against the military. We're all in this together, and there shouldn't be any second class citizens.

[csmusaret]

The article says 1%. I believe they must mean 1 percentage point? The article also says it would cost the average retiring E7 about $3700 a year. That must have been one hell of a COLA. This is just crappy journalism. The article raises more questions than it answers.

[clintonh8r]

I'm sure they'll be cutting civil service pensions as well.

Just a moment...

Oh, I'm being told they won't.

[petro45acp]

Makes perfect sense fromthe gub point of view. Apparently, the “the only really constitutional spending is the military in defense of the country” concept is lost on critters who have been buying votes and pull with taxpayer funded entitlements for many decades (not to mention all those infrastructure projects).

Rendering unto caesar....then off to the dentist....grinding is getting bad.

KYPD

[drypowder]

Complaining to congress (this US government) for their betraying military retirees (as well as the rest of the people) is analogous of pointing out to Satan that he is evil. Serving themselves is a politician’s nature and what they are doing and allowing to be done to this country is proof that most in DC don’t even care about their own families.

[SandRat]

PING

[Amendment10]

I think that military retirees need to start beating the drumbs about Congress's constitutionally limited power to tax and spend. As mentioned in other threads, Justice John Marshall had clarified that Congress is prohibited from laying taxes in the name of state power issues, essentially any issue that Congress cannot justify under its constitutional Article I, Section 8-limited powers.

“Congress is not empowered to tax for those purposes which are within the exclusive province of the States.” —Justice John Marshall, Gibbons v. Ogden, 1824.

If Congress would stop spending fo things that it has no constitutional authority to tax and spend for, then it may be much easier for Congress to pay for its Section 8 obligations, obligations which include the military, including military pensions.

[RetiredArmy]

I retired with 20+ years of service. I made all my life's plans based upon what the US government promised me all those years ago. After retirement, those things started to get cut, then cut more, and finally chopped up with a chain saw. Now in my 60s, I am 60% disabled. It took me the past 21 years to get the VA to recognize three injuries from active duty service were actually more than just "strains". After two back surgeries for collapsed discs, and spinal fusion, they finally agreed that it was not just strains. So, up from 30% to 60%. The group that I hired to assist me with my appeals told me I should be at a minimum 80-90% disabled. They will appeal the VA's decision to the Board of VA Appeals in Sodom on the Potomac. That will take about 3-5 years. What they are hoping is that I die before they are all done with this, thus they save my military retired pay, my VA disability pension, and my social security. That way they have a hunk of change to put on their vote buying. They know this guy ain't voting for a bunch of communists. In my time, they trained me to shoot at communists, not vote for them. They have been screwing us in the ground for years. AFTER we are retired, old, used up, there is nothing you can do about the cuts.

When you are still on active duty, you can walk away and tell them to kiss your hip pockets. If I had known back then what I know now, I would have walked and never completed a military career. I tell any kid that asks me now about a military career, to just forget it. Don't do it. The government will just screw you in the ground. I tell them that if they absolutely HAVE to go into the military, choose a job that you can train up on, use for three years to gain experience, then walk. Take that to the civilian sector and get hired. A good example I give them is police work. You cannot become a cop at 18, because you cannot carry a gun until you are 21. But, in the military you can. So, go in for three years, get the MP training, then come out and go to a police, sheriff or state trooper job. You have the up side of three years military police training. Civilian forces like that. They know you are trained, experienced, and disciplined. That is the only way I would tell them to go into the service today. I DO NOT TRUST ANYONE IN SODOM ON THE POTOMAC. DIMOCRAT COMMUNIST A-HOLES, OR THE RINOS. None of them. They are all lying scum as far as I am concerned. If you think I will go into the field and get shot at today to keep these scum in office, think again.

[Theodore R.]

"This nation is not long for demise"

Ah, the American people can neither spell or define "demise".

[VerySadAmerican]

So, they really DID write a strongly worded letter.

[Future Snake Eater]

Congress: Yeah, so? What’re you going to do about it?

[Revel]

The US military needs to think “Egypt”.

[aomagrat]

Just what did the republicans get in return for throwing the military under the bus?

[Jet Jaguar]

Active Duty/Retiree ping.

[Osage Orange]

They been getting screwed since the “Bonus Army”

[RedEyeJack]

The second and third order effects of this action have not been considered. Studies have shown that the retirement system serves to keep active duty personnel in the service when they reach the 10-15 year mark. Otherwise, the drain on talent, particularly technical skills, would be significant. The military is not a career that you can recruit people for at mid-career. You have to grow them and invest in them to develop the right mix of talent and maturity in a given cohort. If they walk replacing them takes a long time and that is dangerous for force effectiveness. Tampering with the effectiveness of the experienced officers and senior enlisted, who have been screened and found capable of greater authority and responsibility, is a road to future defeat. Third order effect will be to require higher and higher re-enlistment and continuation bonuses.

Additionally, if and when the economy improves, the ability to retain and recruit will be negatively effected. Reduced benefits will intensify the problem. Retention and recruitment have been easy, despite the danger during the last decade of serving in wartime, because the economy has been bad. Finding high quality in a vigorous economy will cost much more than we are paying now. Accepting lower quality will undermine the combat capability of the force and push us toward becoming the “hollow force” of the Carter years.

The current system, including the retirement benefits has PROVEN successful. It ain't broke... It doesn't need to be fixed... Using it to fix other economic, social, and political problems is a mistake UNLESS this is a burden that is equally shared across the public sector... Let's “spread the wealth around” and apply the same policy to all government retirement programs including those for civil servants, congressmen and senators, and all other elected and appointed officials including Presidents. That might make the additional (shared) sacrifice less onerous to past and future military retirees.

[goodtomato]

Payback for storming the “barrycades” Remember who stood with you, and who just voted against you. My Rep, Tom Rooney, a vet himself, voted for this bill. We can send them packing, and we shall!

[paristexas]

Sounds fairly reasonable to me. They are also talking about making similar cuts to social security. Sacrifices have to be made.