The Commission on the National Guard and Reserve, chartered by Congress to study and propose changes to every aspect of the reserve components, released its final report Jan. 31.
The most eye-popping proposal in the 432-page report has little to do with the Guard and reserve; it’s a call to blow up the military retirement system as we know it.
Instead of starting retired pay for active-duty members at 20 years of service, the commission proposes to start dispensing retirement benefits for as little as 10 years of service. But checks wouldn’t start until age 62. Those who served 20 years would have to wait until age 60; those who stick it out for 30 years would begin cashing in at age 57.
The plan would allow early payments — but at reduced annuity levels.
Delaying retired pay would help the Pentagon rein in its soaring manpower costs, now well north of $100 billion a year. But with current troops grandfathered under the old system, significant savings would be years away.
And left unsaid is the potentially disastrous effect of such a change. The last time the military tried to cut retirement benefits, it wasn’t until the mid-’90s, 10 years after its enactment, that problems with the Redux retirement system surfaced. By then, dissatisfied troops quit in droves, and Congress had to offer troops a choice: a $30,000 bribe to stick with Redux or switch to the older, more generous system.
The commission far overstepped its bounds with this idea.
http://www.navytimes.com/community/opinion/navy_editorial_retirement_030308/
