Posted on 08/19/2010 6:10:43 AM PDT by same old song
I came across this article at Stars and Stripes via CJ Grisham, who is understandably angry — as am I. One would think that after putting up with 20 years of arguably the hardest job one could take on that veterans would have damn well earned their pensions. But oh no, say the civilians, who I’m sure understand fully all of the hardships of the job. We need to take the “lucrative” pensions away.
"The military retirement system is unsustainable and in dire need of repair, according to an influential Pentagon advisory board.
The Defense Business Board — tasked by Defense Secretary Robert Gates to find ways to reduce the DOD budget — says annual Treasury Department payments into the system will balloon from $47.7 billion this year to $59.3 billion by 2020.
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."
First of all, you don’t get a full pension at 20 years. You get a half pension. So really, if you’re only looking for that quick, easy retirement money, you would actually need to serve another ten years to get a full pension. Oh, wait a second, you don’t get full pension! The most you can get is 75% of your base pay. My bad!
Meanwhile, the answer — according to “experts” — is to get rid of the unsustainable retirement benefits and just give troops more benefits when they enlist! Well, let me tell you something, we have plenty of benefits in the military. We don’t need more benefits. (And no, that doesn’t mean start cutting military benefits. Those benefits are there to make up for the terrible pay and the hardships of the job.) That’s why troops deserve their pensions after 20 years. And I can tell you, they aren’t lucrative by any means My husband is an enlisted Marine looking to make a career out of it. He’s considering transitioning to a commissioned officer and even with an officer’s salary, a half pension after 20 years wouldn’t be much.
So here’s a few questions for this board of “civilian business leaders”, who probably can’t even comprehend the stresses of military life. Have they ever had to endure months, even years, away from their families while they are putting themselves in danger day after day? Have they ever had to know what it is like, every night, to think that the next day might be your last? Have they ever had to uproot their families every few years and move across the country — or even the world? No, they probably haven’t. I doubt any of them can comprehend the stresses of military life. Even when you’re at home, you work long hours. You have to stand duty so some nights you won’t come home. There’s constant training so sometimes, even when you aren’t deployed, you’re gone for weeks or months at a time. I can’t stand hearing civilians whine about being away from their families for a week or two for a business trip. They have no idea how lucky they have it. They have no idea what it’s like to deploy to a war zone and leave your family behind.
Take my husband, for example. He’s deployed to Iraq twice. He’s currently deployed to Afghanistan. He had a tough time getting ready for this deployment because I am currently pregnant. He worried every day — and probably still worries — about leaving his wife a widow and his future child fatherless. He’s got to go to Afghanistan to fight an enemy just desperate to kill him and every other one of the Marines he’s deployed with. They’ve got to worry about snipers, IEDs, mortars, RPGs, and God knows what else. On top of that, the living conditions there are awful. They don’t even have showers! Literally — they have to bathe with baby wipes. Laundry consists of laundry soap and a dirty bucket. There’s no internet access and phone calls are rare. Considering my husband wants to make a career out of the Marine Corps, it’s unlikely that this will be his last deployment, either.
And on the family end? You worry every day that you don’t hear from them that something’s happened to them. You worry about how you’re going to pay the bills by yourself. You worry about your kids, who cry at night wanting to know where Daddy is, because they’re too young to understand. You worry about finding a new job when you’re forced to quit because you’ve got to move across the country… again. You worry about your kids adjusting to a new school and whether or not they’ll make new friends.
Military life is not easy. We earn that retirement.
And for my husband — and thousands of other service members — that half pension is the light at the end of the tunnel. Why go through such hell, such stress, if that is taken away? Take away retirement for troops, and you’ll be seeing considerably less career service members. What would be the point? Only the most motivated troops would stay in without the promise of retirement. Some people might say that’s a good thing, but there’s a problem — our troops are already overworked as it is. We have basically the same group of soldiers and Marines deploying to the Middle East over and over and over again. We need to be growing the ranks, not shrinking them. Getting rid of retirement would result in a lot more troops doing the four-years-and-I’m-done deal.
If the government is really worried about where we’ll get the money to pay for it, maybe we could cut some money from the billions we waste in pointless social programs. Hey, we pay Planned Parenthood millions a year — over $300 million a year, actually. That money certainly could go to better use.
Or here’s a better idea. Why don’t we cut the bloated congressional pension plans? Our troops certainly deserve better retirement plans than they do. After all, our troops actually earn it. What do politicians do to earn such gold-plated retirement plans? Yet somehow, I doubt that these civilian business leaders have such a problem with Congress, though.
Not a good thing...pissing off all those vets at the same time destroying what they stood for.....rather dangerous move poking an armed tiger....
This country needs to decide if it wants to maintain an all-volunteer military, or to go back to the draft. Hint: watch how many congresscritters this fall run on a platform of re-instituting the draft.
But UAW, Teamsters, Teachers and SEIU Pensions need to be bailed out because they are important jobs.............
Meanwhile, a desk jockey at any ol’ Gooberment bureaucracy will enjoy a full pension...
Have the civilians forgotten about the “Bonus Army”?
Well, if this does not clue people in that the left is provoking us, nothing will. Wow, what a moronic decision.
Yes, they have.
Next time, there WILL be massive violence.
Hey, bub, read my tagline!
My dad retired from the USA in 1963 as a CWO2 and his monthly pension was $192 (served 1939-1963).
We grew up in the military’s version on National Socialist Health Care system. 3-6 month wait for any treatment and you were lucky after driving 3 hours to the nearest base hospital if they actually had your records ready for your appointment...
They also need to realize that it is 50% of the BASE pay. It does not include allowances such as housing and subsistance.
I’ve been telling the Captain (my wife) that the retirement benes will be targeted soon and she might have to stay until 30 to get anything close to what she was promised with she signed-up. “oh, that’ll never happen”.
yea, and we were never going to get socialized medicine and a foreign born muslim would never stand a chance at becoming president either.
Remember that the “Bonus Army” was put down by force. I’m sure that BO can find a modern day MacArthur to put in charge of putting down any present or future “Bonus Army” movement but I’m not sure that the outcome would be the same today.
FUBO
Ok, let’s turn this around. Who was on this “influential board” that arrived at this stunning conclusion??
How many years did THEY spend in the military; living on the edge; being sent to one armpit of the world to another and exposed to God knows what because the people represented a threat to America?
And, how much do the people on this “influential board” get paid by the taxpayers?? How long have they served on this “influential board” and what kind of retirement are they looking toward??
I’m really tired of people, most of whom who have never served a minute in the military, deciding what the military can/should/will do with their pay, training and benefits. And, clueless boneheads like Gates suck this crap up!!
And that bailout is to shore up their pensions.
Fine and dandy. However, members of the armed forces are apparently not “worthy” of their pensions. We could always reduce or eliminate a few Federal departments or bureaus.
Remember the duty of any political class, regardless of party affiliation, is stay in power any way possible.
Why did “civilians” make this recommendation? The military doesn't represent a voting block. Since the military is the ONLY national group that can not block vote - no politician wants to make an effort to find a way to “buy”” its vote. Therefore the military can do without.
A contributing factor to this “recommendation” is the liberal/socialist/progressive/democrat drive to make everything equal to make it fare. If you deal with shades of gray you realize that everything isn't equal when it comes to risk, danger, and discomfort. The military, by the nature of its service to the Republic, lives at the bad end of the scale, THANK YOU. The civilians who made this recommendation live at the opposite end and have no idea that life exists outside their gated, high value, communities.
I would recommend that all federal retirement plans are made to match the military’s: 20 years of service in miserable conditions (no private aircraft or limo service and no reserved parking) for 50% of the base pay. And Congress is the first to be FORCED into this new retirement system. BTW no grandfathering.
Congrats on your retirement, but do you not think that there are, indeed, many offices, departments, or divisions that are either overstaffed or, GASP, unnecessary?
It’s 50% of the base pay AVERAGED over the last 3 years of service, which drags it down to less than 50% of your final year’s pay
And oh by the way, it’s up or out because once you hit your 40’s, its a lot tougher to get up and out! Maybe these civilians want an army of 50- 60 yr old overtly gays, seems that’s where we are headed
Here, cops and firemen sign up for massive overtime to make over $100-$200K a year in their last year, because their pension is calculated on their last year’s earnings
I would like a full disclosure of the pension sources and amounts of all those civilians who sit on this advisory board
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