Backtalk: Retirement-pay delay would discourage service

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Retirement-pay delay would discourage service
By Theodore Jakaboski

The proposal to award 25 percent of basic pay to a retiree with 10 years of service, but not until the retiree reaches 62, ignores reality, history and human nature.

Saving money by throwing out the current system — which, admittedly, has problems — is courting disaster.

There is an unwritten social compact that the military will take care of its people, and the current slogan is that people are the most important element to the services. Both notions, which set the moral tone of military service, are not just overlooked, but also are savaged by the proposal, which appears to assume abject stupidity on the part of the troops.

Will future wars require healthy, agile and aggressive 19-year-olds, or will those members 10 or more years older be what we will need? The most obvious result of the new plan will be the graying of the ranks.

Why do I say this? Under the proposal by the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves, retired pay would begin at age 62 for those with 10 years of service, age 60 for those with 20 years, and age 57 for those with 30 years. Let us examine how long three service members enlisting at different ages would need to wait after retiring to collect pension payments:


Rest of article at: http://www.airforcetimes.com/community/opinion/airforce_backtalk_paydelay_042108/