The military retirement system is unsustainable and in dire need of repair, according to an influential Pentagon advisory board.
| That sounds oh-so familiar ... |
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.
"No rational person would put up with 20 years of the hardships that you're forced to endure if it wasn't for the brass ring at the end of it all called instant retirement," said Petty Officer 1st Class Ethan Gurney, an electronics technician based in Naples.
It's not really fair to compare military service to the civilian work force, said Gurney, who, at 38, is only a few months from retirement.
"The continuous deployments, living conditions, remote and hazardous duty stations are unique to the military," he said. "This isn't a civilian company, so any civilian model that you use to compare to the military is impertinent. To do so is irresponsible at best."
The talk of changing the military retirement system isn't new. |