McCain Wants Panel to Consider Changing Military Retirement Benefits

The Ledger ^ | Oct 14, 4:31 PM EDT | DONNA CASSATA

[Mr Rogers]

I did. It doesn’t discuss it intelligently.

Pensions are prepaid. Since 1984, the military has set aside money to fund retirements. Since only a small part of the military stays in to retirement, it is a good deal for the government - they fund future retirements at a fraction of the cost of doing a 401K.

[sargelarry]

Back when I made my decision to reenlist and commit myself to a career, one of the factors was the promise of free health care (access to the military system, which was d#mn good; that was in the days of battalion surgeons, which gives you an idea of how many doctors the Army had). Before I finished my 20, that promise had gone away. I kept my part of the deal; I wrote the United States a blank check for up to my life (as did everybody else). WHY IN THE NAME OF PATRICK HENRY WON’T THE GOVERNMENT KEEP ITS PART OF THE DEAL?

[goat granny]

If Mccain and that jerk Levin are for it, I am automatically against it...both are far left and McCain has gone senile years ago...guess too many planes crashed and being a POW decades ago turned him.Talks conservative to get re-elected, governs far left...Those that keep electing him must be brain dead or a lot of leftys in his state...

Like you said, he and Hanoi Jane have lots in common.. GG

[OldGoatCPO]

You are right, with dental I already pay over $3k per year. McCain acts like I only pay a few hundred per year.

[OldGoatCPO]

It is not the changing of an unsustainable system that vets object to. McCain supports making it retroactive on all vets who retired under the system that went into affect in the 1970s. You may not remember the 70s. Even into the 80’s it was hard to recruit quality people to serve. So the government offered us a decent retirement to stay. We did, I was in the Corps when Saigon fell, I served through the entire Cold War, I served boots on the ground in the Persian Gulf, retired in 2009. NOW this POS wants to change the retirement I worked for, I EARNED. Nobody gave me this, it is not an entitlement. It is not a student loan or welfare or SSI, it is something I earned. Change the system for anyone with under 10 years, sucks, but it is the reality. Retroactively change the system for Combat vets from Vietnam, Gulf War and War on Terror, that is BS.

[Poundstone]

Yep, agree completely. Change is inevitable, but don’t inflict it on people who have alreadt retired.