This is so dumb it pisses me off.

[Quantum Windbag]

The military retirement system is unsustainable and in dire need of repair, according to an influential Pentagon advisory board.The Defense Business Board — tasked by Defense Secretary Robert Gates to find ways to reduce the DOD budget — says annual Treasury Department payments into the system will balloon from $47.7 billion this year to $59.3 billion by 2020.
The 25-member group of civilian business leaders suggests that the Defense Department look at changing the current system, even hinting at raising the number of years troops must serve before being eligible for retirement pay.
The current system “encourages our military to leave at 20 years when they are most productive and experienced, and then pays them and their families and their survivors for another 40 years," committee chairman Arnold Punaro told board members at their quarterly meeting late last month.
Making troops serve longer before receiving pay does not sit well with some servicemembers.

Military retirement system broken, board says - News - Stripes


WTF???


20 years is a long time to put up with the stress of being in the military, and I admire anyone who puts in that amount of effort for that long. There is no way you are going to convince me that they do not deserve to retire at half pay after putting up with it for 20 years.

 

[uscitizen]

Ahh sounds like the military is reaching the same conclusion as the US auto industry did?

and with about 10% of the employed in the USA going to get govt paid for pensions....

 

[Quantum Windbag]

That civilians are idiots?

 

[California Girl]

Ahh sounds like the military is reaching the same conclusion as the US auto industry did?

and with about 10% of the employed in the USA going to get govt paid for pensions....

On the day that Auto workers get shot at, separated from their families for months on end defending their fellow Americans, I'll accept the comparison. Until then, you are, yet again, talking out of your ass.

 

[Modbert]

This is sadly not the only issue that needs to be fixed to make things easier and better for our soldiers. The least we can do for them for when they come home and or retire is not have them go through hoops to get what they earned.

 

[Procrustes Stretched]

The military retirement system is unsustainable and in dire need of repair, according to an influential Pentagon advisory board.The Defense Business Board — tasked by Defense Secretary Robert Gates to find ways to reduce the DOD budget — says annual Treasury Department payments into the system will balloon from $47.7 billion this year to $59.3 billion by 2020.
The 25-member group of civilian business leaders suggests that the Defense Department look at changing the current system, even hinting at raising the number of years troops must serve before being eligible for retirement pay.
The current system “encourages our military to leave at 20 years when they are most productive and experienced, and then pays them and their families and their survivors for another 40 years," committee chairman Arnold Punaro told board members at their quarterly meeting late last month.
Making troops serve longer before receiving pay does not sit well with some servicemembers.

Military retirement system broken, board says - News - Stripes


WTF???


20 years is a long time to put up with the stress of being in the military, and I admire anyone who puts in that amount of effort for that long. There is no way you are going to convince me that they do not deserve to retire at half pay after putting up with it for 20 years.

Stress?





depending on what years one was in the biggest stress would be from boredom.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

The military retirement system is unsustainable and in dire need of repair, according to an influential Pentagon advisory board.The Defense Business Board — tasked by Defense Secretary Robert Gates to find ways to reduce the DOD budget — says annual Treasury Department payments into the system will balloon from $47.7 billion this year to $59.3 billion by 2020.
The 25-member group of civilian business leaders suggests that the Defense Department look at changing the current system, even hinting at raising the number of years troops must serve before being eligible for retirement pay.
The current system “encourages our military to leave at 20 years when they are most productive and experienced, and then pays them and their families and their survivors for another 40 years," committee chairman Arnold Punaro told board members at their quarterly meeting late last month.
Making troops serve longer before receiving pay does not sit well with some servicemembers.

Military retirement system broken, board says - News - Stripes


WTF???


20 years is a long time to put up with the stress of being in the military, and I admire anyone who puts in that amount of effort for that long. There is no way you are going to convince me that they do not deserve to retire at half pay after putting up with it for 20 years.

Stress?





depending on what years one was in the biggest stress would be from boredom.

If you do not think boredom is stressful it is because you have never truly experienced it.

Besides, I saw the stress that routine deployments put on families while I served. Just doing routine watch standing with a 4 day rotation and weekend duty was enough to screw up some marriages.

 

[uscitizen]

Military retirement system broken, board says - News - Stripes


WTF???


20 years is a long time to put up with the stress of being in the military, and I admire anyone who puts in that amount of effort for that long. There is no way you are going to convince me that they do not deserve to retire at half pay after putting up with it for 20 years.

Stress?





depending on what years one was in the biggest stress would be from boredom.

If you do not think boredom is stressful it is because you have never truly experienced it.

Besides, I saw the stress that routine deployments put on families while I served. Just doing routine watch standing with a 4 day rotation and weekend duty was enough to screw up some marriages.

This is not that unlike some other jobs?
Operators at the telcos used to work split shifts.
I personally have worked rotating shifts and 10 days on with 4 off.

Military life is not conducive to a good family life.
Other jobs are like that as well.
Oil rig workers? Firemen?

 

[anewhope]

The logical conclusion is, Don't be soldier, you don't get paid, just a bullet in the head.

 

[Toome]

Depending on where you've served, but the general definition of combat is lots of boredom interrupted by moments of sheer terror. I'd like to see the scumbags who came up with this idea go through some of that and see if that doesn't change their perspective.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Stress?





depending on what years one was in the biggest stress would be from boredom.

If you do not think boredom is stressful it is because you have never truly experienced it.

Besides, I saw the stress that routine deployments put on families while I served. Just doing routine watch standing with a 4 day rotation and weekend duty was enough to screw up some marriages.

This is not that unlike some other jobs?
Operators at the telcos used to work split shifts.
I personally have worked rotating shifts and 10 days on with 4 off.

Military life is not conducive to a good family life.
Other jobs are like that as well.
Oil rig workers? Firemen?

Last time I looked none of those people get told when they show up for work in the morning that they are being deployed now for a few weeks. Also, all of them get paid a lot more than the military does, which means they get compensated for the stress.

Like I, and others, have said, civilians don't get it.

 

[daveman]

I joined up late in life; I turned 28 in Basic. I hit 20 years next February. It's time to go and do something else. I don't think my knees would tolerate any more time in anyway. Running is killing them.

 

[Article 15]

I joined up late in life; I turned 28 in Basic. I hit 20 years next February. It's time to go and do something else. I don't think my knees would tolerate any more time in anyway. Running is killing them.

Jeez ... you were prolly a few years older than your TI

Were you the dorm chief? It seemed like they gave that job to the biggest or the oldest guy in the flight.

 

[geauxtohell]

I don't really agree with this, but as long as people know what they are getting into before they sign up, I don't see it as a fairness issue.

 

[daveman]

I joined up late in life; I turned 28 in Basic. I hit 20 years next February. It's time to go and do something else. I don't think my knees would tolerate any more time in anyway. Running is killing them.

Jeez ... you were prolly a few years older than your TI

Yes, I was.

Were you the dorm chief? It seemed like they gave that job to the biggest or the oldest guy in the flight.

Nope, I lucked out. Didn't want that job.

At tech school, there was a 45-year-old in the dorm.

 

[ABikerSailor]

The military retirement system is unsustainable and in dire need of repair, according to an influential Pentagon advisory board.The Defense Business Board — tasked by Defense Secretary Robert Gates to find ways to reduce the DOD budget — says annual Treasury Department payments into the system will balloon from $47.7 billion this year to $59.3 billion by 2020.
The 25-member group of civilian business leaders suggests that the Defense Department look at changing the current system, even hinting at raising the number of years troops must serve before being eligible for retirement pay.
The current system “encourages our military to leave at 20 years when they are most productive and experienced, and then pays them and their families and their survivors for another 40 years," committee chairman Arnold Punaro told board members at their quarterly meeting late last month.
Making troops serve longer before receiving pay does not sit well with some servicemembers.

Military retirement system broken, board says - News - Stripes


WTF???


20 years is a long time to put up with the stress of being in the military, and I admire anyone who puts in that amount of effort for that long. There is no way you are going to convince me that they do not deserve to retire at half pay after putting up with it for 20 years.

You know.......I'm one of those 20 year military types. I joined at 17 1/2 (didn't have enough money for college), and decided to stay after my third tour.

During that time, I spent half of my career OUTSIDE of the US, learning to speak to people who didn't speak English, as well as getting shot at, putting out fires at sea, and watching things break and kill people on flight decks.

For all that? I was entitled to 30 days paid vacation (leave) per year, subject to command approval, deployment schedule, and whether or not there were enough people in the office.

My very last tour? I was working at a MEPS, as the head classifier. When I left, the other one tried to commit suicide, so I had to come back off of terminal leave for 3 days until they could get a replacement.

Civilian assholes would never come back to work unless dragged.

Keep the military pension system where it's at. It's a hell of a lot cheaper than a congress person's pension, and you get more service out of the individual.