Posted on 05/20/2011 8:01:18 AM PDT by Poundstone
BTW, there's no case law regarding that first sentence because you haven't looked into post Civil War Pensions.
One of the reasons military pensions continue to be UNFUNDED is very simple ~ with a Constitutional Obligation to pay them (14th Amendment) they don't need to be. The government would presumably have to sell assets to cover those pensions if it ran out of money.
Way back in WWII somebody (Congress I think) enticed men to join the military with the promise of a BONUS for service.
Payment was delayed. Eventually it was paid ~ but that was after the Veterans March on the Mall that had Eisenhower and McArthur being forced to clear the area with a display of military force.
As you no doubt recall the United States of America was created by a citizen army ~ they were paid little more than pocket change, cornbread and a promise of land patents for their heirs. The government made good with the land patents, and later on PENSIONS. I've read through all my ancestor's Revolutionary War pension applications. Most interesting!
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