This vet went in for a number of complex reasons, but getting benefits for my service was never one of them.
Anyway, anybody old enough to go into the service ought to be old enough to know not to trust the promises of the government. Anybody who has served should have learned this in spades.
And quite frankly, what in the world’s with this retirement after twenty years thing? Go in at twenty, roughly, “retire” at forty?! Who the heck else retires at forty, and why? You retire when you get old - isn’t that it? Isn’t that what retirement is all about? At forty a Chief or Captain is too old to do his job? Is that it?
What a scam. Reminds me of the union mentality.
Yep and the best years of your life are left at the door sill as you leave, with a little deferred compensation as your "thank you for a job well done."
The military has decided that after 20, up or out...not the servicemember.
I have no problem with getting a haircut, IF everyone else gets one as well.
That is not the case here.
So, in the spirit of your "union mentality" slur, stick it.
“Who the heck else retires at forty, and why?”
You were in the military? Hmm.
Who the heck else goes into a job which is 24 hours on call for twenty years, deployment with 12 hours on for six months straight, for instance, days off numbering a couple?
It’s like dog years.
If you don’t know that, I wonder what you did, but not too much, so don’t bore me with the details.
Union?
Yes, there are all kind of strikes and demands from the military s/
Detroit was run into the ground as was the car industry. Name one thing the military retirees did similar to.
No.
Who else retires after 20 years?
Police and Fireman, who are also asked to risk their life and limb. In your forties, and after being rode hard for twenty years, few can keep up with the twenty year olds in the physical demands of warfare. That is to say, they ARE too old to do their job - fighting against twenty year old enemies. It is not just a desk job. In the forties, we start having guys die of heart attacks just taking their Physical Training tests, much less than the demands of war. In the forties most are getting too old to keep up with the young guys in physical contests - they are getting too old to do their jobs
Let’s face it - more is demanded from the military, which deserves more pay (even if it is deferred until retirement). I have been trough Walter Reed many times before its closure, meeting with horribly wounded soldiers. I have not seen similar facilities thronged with deformed union members. Being deployed to a combat zone not only puts you at risk, it tears apart your family. You are legally and practically denied the ability to have sex or drink alcohol while deployed - perhaps for years of your young adult life (as in my case). You can be forced to live in conditions like those of a homeless person (as I did), lose out on developing equity in a home, and are constantly subject to a more restrictive legal system entirely than the rest of the citizens of the country.
So the twenty year retirement is there to incentivize people to gut it out, as well as in recognition that most people cannot maintain physical competitiveness of twenty year olds through their fifties and sixties, and need to be eased out without just being dumped to start over at entry level when their kids are coming to college age.
I guess that in your inch deep analysis of this as a “scam”, you would just dump folks on the street whenever they can no longer keep up on the runs, and expect all the rest to not jump ship while they are still young enough to make a good career somewhere else.