Posted on 08/07/2010 1:55:51 PM PDT by Flavius
You're talking about a guy that will suspend contract law to meet his ends. Grrrrr, indeed. And thanks for your service.
So, I take it you advocate blocking retirees from taking any position in the government after retirement? Say, FAA for example.
Let me also add it is not retirement in the true sense. We who are military retirees are still accountable to the UCMJ and recall to active duty.
Military retiree pay is part of delayed compensation for serving at least 20 years. When Congress & the civilian bean counters at the Pentagon can give me back my twenty-two years of making do with little, deployments, worrying about my family, chemical and nuclear contamination's (it was great getting a full blown case of diabetes at 38 years old and not an ounce of flab then), etc, etc, then they can then take my measly E-8 retirement checks.
My dear old dad told me once that congress would figure a way to not pay me my military retirement.
I reminded him that the military also tought me how to fire a gun.
Did you bring 10 to 15 years background? Not book reading but honest “We don't want to do this because ...” knowledge? How about contacts - like having serving Major Generals has personal friends and ex-subordinates?
I will be the first to agree that there are many Retired on Active Duty (ROAD) personnel in and out of uniform plus probably an equal number serving as contractors. But, don't use a paint brush trying to describe everyone.
Did 20 years as a crew dog in the USAF, half of which was in Spec Ops before it became popular. Retired and spent another 20 years as a contractor in flight test, acquisitions, weapons and tactics. Why 20 years - because the AF didn't train anyone to replace me when I retired. I
left the contractor side of the house this year because I found myself ROADing and resenting; I was becoming a burden so I punched.
Because it is really stupid for military contractors to hire people who understand the mission of the military customers better than anybody else ever could, right? I guess you believe it would be better for contractors to hire corporate people to go to dreamy third world locations who have aboslutely zero experience in such places or with the military, wouldn’t it? All you have to do to get that awesome military retirement is give up 20 years of your life and go on a few deployments. Start now if you think it is such a great deal. Get back to me in 20 and let me know how it worked for you.
I want to thank you for your service. Now a few answers:
“why we’re paying 38-year-olds as they embark on their second full career.” Maybe because not enough of us will get off our dead asses and join.
“I know of no one who retired from the military after 20 years of service, who can live solely on his retirement income”. If they’re single and live somewhere real cheap & don’t want many things then it might be possible.
“Because that was what we were promised when we signed up”. For every 100 who volunteered, only 7 are left at the 20 year retirement, 93 found something better to do.
Why are we arguing over the measly military retirement? What about the U.S Congress, now that is a rat hole that needs plugging. Amen!
“Back in 1985 at West Point, one of my professors told us about a plan that the Academy staff came up with to save money for the government and give a better deal to retirees. The USMA Economics Department recommended to the Army and Congress that each service member be given an IRA instead of a pension plan. The government assumes an extremely modest rate of return for the I.O.U.’s used to compute retirement pay. An IRA is real and pays out a better rate. (401k’s had not been invented yet.) “
It is more accurate to say that 401K’s had not been LEGALIZED yet.
Most of the WW II era retirees are dead. Few of the Korean War era retirees are still alive. Viet Nam era retirees are rapidly dieing off. Every year there are fewer and fewer retirees collecting retirement.
Sorry I don't buy it, Many people live on wages a lot lower, I know some people that retired, and I sure would like their retirement pay. Even so I don't think the system was designed for people to retire on, most people retiring from military are around the age of 40-50. There is plenty of good years in their life to keep on working to Social Security kicks in, the system was never designed for people to get out and sit on the ass collecting a big fat paycheck.
For one thing a Military career is a job for the young. I spent 25 years in the Navy and I can tell you as a 50 year old I could not do what I routinely did at 25. Take a look at fight deck operations on a Carrier. There are hundreds of jobs in the military that challenging or more. How about hiking through the mountains of Afghanistan with a 120 lb pack on your back.
Most (not all) cannot meet the requirements in their 40s and 50s.
Just one point
I agree with you, the military is for the youngsters. I have enough trouble hiking in the Colorado mountains without the 120 lb pack.
But of course the retirement for politicians is in perfect working order.
Where to begin.
1. “...and then pays them and their families and their survivors for another 40 years.” I have no idea what this means. The only way a member’s retirement pay continues after their death is if they opt to participate in the Surviver Benefit Program, SPB, at the time they retire. The member can elect to participate in the program and have a portion of their retirement pay continued after their death. Not the full retirement amount, only a portion. And to participate a deduction is made from the member’s retirement pay. Payment is only made to the surviving spouse, not dependant children. When the surviving spouse dies then the payment ceases. Also, if the spouse dies before the member then all contributions to the program are lost.
2. “...idea of a 30-year retirement with a possible pay-in by servicemembers.” A 30 year retirement is only available if the member progresses to a specified rank. Each grade has a high year of tenure, the maximum number of years the member may remain on active duty unless promoted to the next grade. For enlisted, only E-9’s are eligible for a 30 year career, and by law, E-9’s are limited to only 1% of the enlisted force. Making E-9 is not the easiest thing in the world to do.
3. “civilian business leaders... Are these the people to be making any suggestions on changes to the military retirement system? There is absolutely no correlation between military service and a civilian job, you cannot compare the two. The are not the same and their retirement and benefits cannot be the same.
4. “calculate retirement pay based on a servicemember’s time in service and salary...” What do they mean by salary? My retirement pay is calculated on base pay only, not my total salary. Total salary included quarters allowance (if I lived off base) and allowance for subsistance. Base pay was only a little over half of what my total salary was. So what do they mean by salary?
5. “...a possible pay-in by servicemembers...” I remember when I was an E-6, stationed overseas with two small children. Because we were overseas my wife, an accountant, couldn’t find a good job so we were living off my pay alone. There simply wasn’t any money left over to make any contribution to a retirement. That would mean that the government would have to increase base pay to cover whatever the retirement contribution would be, so the end result would be the same.
6. Lastly, if military retirement is such a great deal why is it that so few of those who enlist decide to go the distance and retire?
Just the idle rambling of an old Sergeant.
IMO the retirement benefits are inadequate to sustain a retiree for the remainder of his or her life
Active duty/Retiree Ping
I have always thought that credit for retirement ought to be doubled for time in a combat, especially for Infantry, Armor, Special Operations. The system isn’t fair util the people actually doing the killing or getting killed get some extra perk.
Thanks for the ping. This administration is going to find more and more ways to screw the military.
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