If you think its too generous just return your retirement and opt of TRICARE and STFU. Some of us who did something useful earned that retirement pay while your jolly fat ass hid behind a desk.
Posted on 06/08/2014 6:29:27 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Tom Slear, who retired from the Army as a lieutenant colonel in 2001, is a freelance writer in Annapolis.
A few weeks ago, I mentioned to a receptionist in a physical therapist’s office that I was covered by Tricare, the military’s health-care program for service members, retirees and their families. (It has nothing to do with the troubled Veterans Affairs hospital system.)
“Good deal,” I said.
“You deserve it,” she responded.
Really? If she only knew.
Though I spent more than five years on active duty during the 1970s as an Army infantry officer and an additional 23 years in the Reserves, I never fired a weapon other than in training, and I spent no time in a combat zone. I returned to active duty for five months in 1991 during the Persian Gulf War, but I was assigned to the Pentagon. My hazardous duty consisted of a daily drive on New York Avenue before its upgrade.
I am hardly unique. Despite the extended operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, nearly half of the 4.5 million active-duty service members and reservists over the past decade were never deployed overseas. Among those who were, many never experienced combat....
(Excerpt) Read more at m.washingtonpost.com ...
Literally millions of welfare recipients draw more than some retirees and they did nothing for their benefits but fail at most everything they tried and give birth to illegitimate kids!!!
I think that the guy is being misleading at the very least. When he retired from the reserves and was under 60 years of age, he was not eligible for TRICARE, but he could buy TRICARE coverage for himself and his family. Once he turned 60, then he became eligible for TRICARE, but only for 5 years. At 65, he becomes eligible for Medicare and his TRICARE becomes TRICARE for LIFE, a second payer only.
That’s probably about right given his service. He wants his uninformed readers that he has received full healthcare free of charge ever since he first joined the military and that is just not true. But, he has an agenda, doesn’t he.
Let’s take an axe to welfare, food stamps, Section 8, the multitude of bogus SSDI claims, etc. and then we can talk about cuts to the benefits that service members like myself actually worked for.
Nailed it. He doth protest too much.
Yoda say “Try? There is no try. Only Collect, or Collect not.”
Retiree ping.
I am a gray-area retiree (Commander, same as Lt Col in the article) and I will start drawing retirement in 5 years. I think the retirement benefits are pretty good but I did sacrifice a lot of weekends (some in non-pay status) and summers. My understanding is that TriCare is a pain-in-the ass to deal with, the docs I work with cringe at the thought of getting some procedures pre-approved. TriCare is only the primary payor until one is Medicare eligible.
Likely story..
IIRC, Corporal's pay was $190/month, Combat Pay was $66/month, Overseas Pay was, perhaps, $11/month.
Man, we were rolling in the dough! BIG BUCKS!
Plus free C-Rats!
/s
All military retirees are veterans, but not all veterans are military retirees.
Serving 4 and out is absolutely honorable. Serving 20+ has additional benefits. IF you make it.
So this idiot wants his experience to drive retiree benefit policy for everyone?
I served 22 years, 1977-1999, in the Reserves without an overseas deployment. But I did not have enough “good” retirement years so I get nothing, nada, zip. I got lots of retirement points on bad years (those where I was in the Reserve Control Group instead of a Reserve Unit) but one needs 20 good years for the retirement. I’m not complaining but just mentioning not all of us that put in lots of time fighting the battles at Forts Lewis, McCoy, Knox, Hood, etc are not on TriCare or putting any pressure on the budget by drawing retirement. We did not deploy but we often trained those who did. I was combat arms (12A) and ready and willing to go if called upon.
The benefit I did get was the salary at the time which did indeed help me out.
James Haltom · Richmond Community College
I spent 22 years on active duty. I was never in a Combat Zone but I was deployed to several “Eminent Danger” areas. I was never assigned to the same post twice and had 9 PCS moves. I had 2 tours to Germany and 1 to Korea. While I traveled the globe I lost one sister and one parent. This aside, I think I did an outstanding job in a small field where promotions at the top were slow but I did retire as an E-7. My pension is what it is. Is it too much or too small? Who can say? Did I earn it, oh yea! As for an LTC with some kind of guilt complex I say “Shut up”. If you feel you didn’t earn your keep, turn it in, give it away, write a check and shove it where the sun doesn’t shine. Just don’t whine to the rag called the Washington Post and have a pity party at the expense of real soldiers. You might have made the grade of LTC (the most useless of all ranks) but you never lived the life of a soldier and for that I’m thankful. Looking forward to more tales of your lackluster career. Mean while use some of you Tricare health benefits for psychological counseling.
Reply · Like · 5 · Follow Post · Yesterday at 17:58
If you think its too generous just return your retirement and opt of TRICARE and STFU. Some of us who did something useful earned that retirement pay while your jolly fat ass hid behind a desk.
There’s always one in a minority who will make the loudest noise. I’m sure those who spent most of their time in the Reserves spent a lot of time during the weeks of attending the so called HQ nights*, where even though you were there every week, you never got paid for it. When you retired you only received 25% of a regular’s retirement check. It was a payment that was earned, it wasn’t stolen, and no fraud was committed, as is the case in many of the government payment recipients these days.
*25 years of HQ nights is in the area of 1300 drills that were unpaid attendance.
Reserves and ARNG units in my time were a haven for those who feared the draft, but many of the units had prior service veterans as CO’s and Senior NCO’s.
I’m a military retiree’s widow, not old enough for Tricare for Life, and I have and use Tricare Prime and let me assure you, they have not been a pain-in-the-ass to deal with.
I’m sure there are exceptions for some people, but Tricare has really taken care of me and mine. I’m fighting cancer for the second time and they are doing everything that I need them to do and have given me a LOT of care straight through from the first time I had it, two years ago. My doctors (and they are legion) don’t mind it at all, are glad to have Tricare patients.
Well, she should decline to accept them if she does not need them to leave more for those that do.
Right, this will happen immediately after Warren Buffet and Bill Clinton send the IRS all of the extra tax money that they are so eager pay.
A Master Chief and a LTCOL ain’t that far apart, considering the educational requirements for an officer. Both live comfortably.
So he’s taking money he doesn’t need, that other vets need?
The contract I came in on (like every one else did) provided for Medical, Dental,(which was changed thanks to those morons in Congress) and a retirement check (E6 retirement is nice but it ain't no O5 retirement check) so if this clown is complaining refuse the dam check, send to to the treasury.
A retired Army LTC and the best he can do is “freelance writer” writing for a commie liberal rag like the WAPO? It sounds to me like somebody might have a few “issues”.
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