Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Report: Pay and benefits panel to recommend killing 20-year retirement [Getty, AP Photos]
Getty, AP Photos; Stars & Stripes ^ | January 28, 2015 | Stars and Stripes

Posted on 01/28/2015 6:35:47 PM PST by Timber Rattler

The Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission will release its long-awaited report Thursday, which will propose fundamental changes to military benefits including ending the 20-year retirement, according to the Military Times, citing sources familiar with the report.

The plan calls for Congress to create a hybrid system of smaller defined-benefit pension along with more cash-based benefits and lump-sum payments. A significant portion of retirement benefits would come in the form of government contributions to 401(k)-style investment accounts, those familiar with the report told Military Times.

In addition to the 401(k) for troops serving less than 20 years, the commission will suggest promising a pension to troops who serve a long-term career, but one that would be more modest than what military retirees receive today, a defense official briefed on the plan told the Times.

And, unlike the current system, this pension would not start upon separation from service; instead, those payment checks would begin at a traditional retirement age, such as 60 or older, according to the official.

(Excerpt) Read more at stripes.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: benefits; dod; military
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-89 next last
To: redlegplanner
Have you ever seen a 50 year old Captain trying to lead 18 year old soldiers? I have (Bundeswehr and U.S National Guard). It is not a pretty sight. War is a young man’s game. And no, there are not, and should not, be enough slots for uniform folks to sit while others bear the real burden.

Thanks for your informative and thoughtful posting, redlegplanner!

One question, though: What kind of person is still only a Captain at age 50? Wouldn't that, all by itself, be a warning sign? And aren't many 50-year-olds in the military still in excellent shape?

Regards,

41 posted on 01/28/2015 9:22:22 PM PST by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: Timber Rattler

I’m not speaking as a veteran, but I think we need to make sure that actual combat veterans are well served, but that career military who don’t see combat are treated more like other government workers.

IMHO, if you serve a year in a combat zone, that is worth 5 years stateside.

There is a huge difference between someone who does aircraft maintenance in the US and someone who serves in a deployed brigade combat team.


42 posted on 01/28/2015 9:32:28 PM PST by MediaMole
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Timber Rattler

Screw over the Veterans, give more to welfare mommas, more to illegal aliens.
Sounds great! What a crock!!


43 posted on 01/28/2015 9:35:17 PM PST by vpintheak (Call them what they are - regressive control-freaks)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: vpintheak; MinuteGal

“Screw over the Veterans, give more to welfare mommas, more to illegal aliens.
Sounds great! What a crock!!”

Bingo. Best post on this thread and sums it all up.


44 posted on 01/28/2015 10:09:30 PM PST by flaglady47 (The useful idiots always go first)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: Timber Rattler

I don’t know. Doing one enlistment just long enough to earn the GI bill would be worth it. It will be tough for them to retain quality people past that.


45 posted on 01/28/2015 11:28:58 PM PST by jospehm20
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: redlegplanner

War has changed a lot; what was a young man’s game fifty years ago has morphed technologically into something different altogether. While select units might require youth & stamina, more and more of wars are waged from behind computer consoles.

I think these things are being re-examined (in both the public & private sector) as people live longer, and to pay a retiree for thirty years after they’ve worked twenty isn’t economically feasible. As with so many programs, everybody wants the best benefits but nobody wants to foot the bill.


46 posted on 01/29/2015 2:04:36 AM PST by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic warfare against white males (and therefore white families).)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: dragnet2

You’re right; younger people now will work more hours for more years and have less to show for it. It is not a coincidence that the middle class birthrate has dropped so steeply; home ownership and families (even holding the title to a car) are viewed as out of reach for many young people.


47 posted on 01/29/2015 2:08:31 AM PST by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic warfare against white males (and therefore white families).)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: txrefugee

“Congressional retirement pay should be cut by 50%.”

All assets of current and former members of CONgre$$ should be seized.

http://www.usdebtclock.org


48 posted on 01/29/2015 2:20:32 AM PST by PGalt
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Timber Rattler; Jet Jaguar

Don't worry Dreamers! I have Billions, even Trillions of dollars to give away to you! How? Again, don't worry. I am stealing it from the military and their families.


49 posted on 01/29/2015 2:47:45 AM PST by SkyPilot ("I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: redlegplanner

I say we start with your tagline. Fix that, and a lot of other things will get fixed reasonably quickly.


50 posted on 01/29/2015 3:12:47 AM PST by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]

To: kearnyirish2
One thing nobody is mentioning. Our number of End Troop Strength meaning the allowed number {ceiling} congress sets on Active Duty has actually drop by IIRC a third since the early 1990's. Less people doing more on active with some task contracted out.

In the same realm the number of vets being buried in veterans cemeteries is dropping off. WW2 had the highest modern times number eligible and most WW2 vets are gone. Korea and Nam Vets will be next. The eligibility is simple for a VA operated or subsidized cemetery. 180 days active duty minimal with an Honorable Discharge. The Civil War up to WW2 had the highest number of vets in these cemeteries. So despite what congresspersons Wiz on military & vets say the money saving nonsense at expense of Vets the cost have been going down and reductions made.

51 posted on 01/29/2015 4:06:33 AM PST by cva66snipe ((Two Choices left for U.S. One Nation Under GOD or One Nation Under Judgment? Which one say ye?))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies]

To: Timber Rattler; zot; 2ndDivisionVet

Once again my question is: Will this new recommendation include the current requirement that all “retired” at 20 years military personnel are subject to recall to active duty until they have a combined 30 years of active and retired service?

Traditionally the “retirement” at 20 years at half pay was actually a “retainer” pay for excess officers during peacetime that may be needed to recalled to active duty if a war came.


52 posted on 01/29/2015 4:11:43 AM PST by GreyFriar (Spearhead - 3rd Armored Division 75-78 & 83-87)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: GreyFriar

I doubt it.


53 posted on 01/29/2015 4:13:31 AM PST by Timber Rattler (Just say NO! to RINOS and the GOP-E)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 52 | View Replies]

To: cva66snipe

In discussing any pay/benefits for government employees, I always look at the state of the taxpayers first. I don’t know specifics (I plead ignorance on that), but I do know that expecting workers to shoulder the burden for benefits that have disappeared for most of them decades ago will never be popular.


54 posted on 01/29/2015 4:15:28 AM PST by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic warfare against white males (and therefore white families).)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 51 | View Replies]

To: Ken522

Yeah and that is later pay for part time work. Full time enlisted military get darn little for what they put in.


55 posted on 01/29/2015 4:16:08 AM PST by Shimmer1 ("If you say you support liberty, show me where you stood up and fought for it." Ted Cruz)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: MediaMole

I retired from the Air Force after 22 years as an E-7. My retired check is almost what an E-2 now makes. Our pension gets smaller in relation to current active pay every year.

Try to explain to the Marines from 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines and the many AF pilots and crew members that we thank them for their sacrifices during their action in May of 1975, but since they were not stationed in a combat zone for a year they do not qualify for the extra benefits. They were stationed on Okinawa and in less than 48 hours they were fighting and dying on a small island off the coast of Cambodia. (Mayaguez Incident) I was in Thailand at the time, just arrived a week before this, which was designated as a combat zone since I was drawing Hostile Fire/Imminent Danger Pay, and I lost several Security Police friends when one of those responding AF helicopters crashed. It was then that they called for the Marines to respond. What I’m trying to get thru to you is ALL active duty are COMBAT VETERANS in some way or another. The only time I was ever shot at was when I was stationed in Montana guarding one of those Minutemen Missile Silos. Was some drunk cowboy just having some fun.

I do not see a huge difference just because of where one is stationed. Fourteen of my years were spent at overseas locations. Numerous times I had been asked to “volunteer” for this and that, but I never did after seeing the fiaso of the Mayaquez Incident.

BTW, it is known as the final battle of the Vietnam War and the deceased names are the last on the Wall.

If the 20 year retirement wasn’t there I would not have made it a career.


56 posted on 01/29/2015 4:16:16 AM PST by smoky415 (Follow the money)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 42 | View Replies]

To: cherry

Maybe you come from a family of officers, I don’t know, but enlisted retirement pay is DESERVED and EARNED. and they should get it.


57 posted on 01/29/2015 4:17:57 AM PST by Shimmer1 ("If you say you support liberty, show me where you stood up and fought for it." Ted Cruz)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Greenpees

What little I get (half my late husband’s retiree pay) he earned. It was never a gift. We struggled through years of pay that got us food stamps, although we only tried for them a couple of months. Because we were military, for some reason we had to prove our income and bills every single month. Weird. Who fights the wars, who protects our nation????? The military, that’s who. Even when not in a war, they are on call all the time.


58 posted on 01/29/2015 4:23:58 AM PST by Shimmer1 ("If you say you support liberty, show me where you stood up and fought for it." Ted Cruz)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: DJ Taylor

Oh my gosh, I’m moving to Hawaii!!!!!


59 posted on 01/29/2015 4:25:01 AM PST by Shimmer1 ("If you say you support liberty, show me where you stood up and fought for it." Ted Cruz)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: PCPOET7

Ahhhh, the entire point!!!!


60 posted on 01/29/2015 4:31:12 AM PST by Shimmer1 ("If you say you support liberty, show me where you stood up and fought for it." Ted Cruz)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-89 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson