The Defense Business Board recently completed their meetings on overhauling military retirement. If adopted, any of these changes will mean the end of military retirement as we currently know it. Everyone should review the attached slides to get an idea of what is being proposed at the DoD level. While this will need to be pushed through Congress and signed into law before any changes are made, the time is ripe for issues like these to make it through the system. In the words of Rahm Emanuele, former White House Chief of Staff, "You never want to let a serious crisis go to waste."
Defense Business Board, Meeting on Military Retirement Briefing Slides
There are numerous statements made within this briefing that don't add up, for example, the board states that "Only 7% of personnel leave between the 15th and 20th year of service, compared to 76% of those serving 20 to 25 years. Within the United States Air Force, only 3% of our enlisted force is allowed to serve beyond 25 years and only 1% that can serve beyond 26 years. This so called "problem" as noted by the board is one that was created by the DoD itself, it has not been created by people wanting to just "take the money and run".
Additionally, there are many references to how the current system isn't what is being done in the civilian sector. While two of the board members had served in the military, I could find no information to indicate that any board members ever served until retirement. None of them know the committment to serve an entire career in uniform or they would not be making these comparisons to the civilian sector. Comparing military service to that in the civilain sector is a tough thing to do and can not be looked as a one for one comparison. There is a big difference between being a vehicle mechanic in Omaha, Nebraska and doing that same job in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Please be on the lookout for an upcoming blog on the Division 89 website.