Military Officer Promotions

[maxrandb]

Well, those of us recently selected for promotion got some bad news due to the budget situation.

Background: Once selected for promotion, officer are promoted monthly based on seniority throughout the fiscal year. Think of it this way. Promotions occur each month of the fiscal year, starting in October 2010 and ending on September 2011. Spreading promotions out over a year has always been standard practice. That being said, this YEAR IS DIFFERENT.

Promotions used to occur at the rate of 5% a month for the first 8 months of the fiscal year, and then 15% for the last 4 months. If you had 100 officers selected for promotion, 5 a month would be promoted for the first 8 months. If you were number 4 on the seniority list, you got paid in October.

This year, promotions will occur at 3% each month for 11 months of the fiscal year, and 67% will occur in the 12th month.

What does all this mean? Well, if you were selected for O4, that is approximately a $500 a month raise.

This new promotion plan will result in a large number of folks being promoted 5-6 months later than they normally would.

What's the impact? Well, in most cases, if you got a $500 raise a month and that raise is delayed for 6 months, THAT'S $3,000 IN LOST WAGES

But...at least the top 2% won't have to worry about the Dems holding a vote to allow their tax-cuts to expire until after the elections. The hard working men and women of the military will just suck it up.

FYI - I have no problem with paying my fair share, and if delaying my promotion for a few months will help plug a hole in the budget, then I understand and accept that...AND I AM GOING TO WORK MY ASS OFF TO ENSURE REPUKES DON'T GET A CHANCE TO FUCK THIS ECONOMY AGAIN.

I guess that I understand that part of the reason I've been able to be successful is because my taxes have helped pay for the greatest country in the world. My taxes have helped me and others have the opportunity to be successful. My education, this countries infrastructure, the GI Bill for my father, the Social Security and Medicare for my mother, the education of the people that work for me...HAVE ALL CONTRIBUTED TO MY SUCCESS!

Anyway, it would be nice if the top 2% acknowledged that they too are successful because of this great country and its opportunity, because afterall...you get what you pay for...and right now, we're getting shit!

[LiberalLoner]

1. This is very interesting to me personally...my husband is getting promoted to 0-6 this Thursday

and let me tell you, we were wondering why they were promoting so very few each month. My husband was kind of down in the dumps when he finally figured out he wasn't going to get promoted nearly as soon as he'd thought. Because, like you wrote, the difference in pay is a BIG DEAL.

But the way it's going I guess we will have to be grateful we get any pay at all. Or any benefits. Or any retirement. Because I have a feeling what we do have is going to be taken away from us PDQ until we are all complete paupers.

[maxrandb]

4. It really is a big deal

We're talking about thousands of dollars. I am extremely thankful that I at least have a job, and got a promotion, but it does say something about our priorities, doesn't it?

I read somewhere that the Bush tax-cuts alone cost us almost $2 Trillion dollars. Throw in the cost of the "supposedly free" wars, and you've got quite a mess on your hands.

It is just frustrating. It seems that everyone is being asked to "sacrifice", except for the top wealth holders in this country. It amazes me. Don't they realize that in order to buy goods and services they produce and makes them wealthy, people need to have money to spend?

How much more would I pump into the economy with an extra $3,000 in salary per year? I guess we'll never know.

And you're right. It won't affect me, or other folks that have served in the military for a while, but I see drastic changes coming in retirement and benefits. TSP is a great idea, but I see the day when that will replace the 20 year retirement the military has enjoyed.

When you get right down to it, our retirement is not "vested". We pay nothing into it, but like I've always said; it is an incentive to get people to serve and to keep expertise in the ranks. We as a society decided that offering this benefit was a reasonable price to pay to keep skilled people in the service. If we had been selfish, and only concerned with reducing government spending, military entitlements would be an attractive cut. Of course, we'd have a pretty shitty military, and since the last administration did its best to make everyone hate us, we probably need a pretty strong and effective military right now.

[tinymontgomery]

2. Article in the Navy times this week

about what is going on. Glad I retired in 03 in my paygrade. As a retired 04 I guess there are two parts to this: one they were selected, two your still getting raises (I'm not making light of this). I figured bush jr would have put a stop to them. I bailed because the idiot son took over for one reason. Good luck on your spouse's continued careers. Wonder if we crossed paths over the years?

[EFerrari]

3. The MASH episode where Radar gets promoted to 2nd Lt was on last night.

This sounds much more serious. :(

K&R

[littlewolf]

5. understand .... this has happened to me a couple of times .... they

promoted everyone at the very end....this has happened at transfer time ... got stuck at a couple of duty stations ....