Should there be added benefits to Soldiers who completed their full 8 year requirement and were discharged honorably?

To be honest I think so...I even think If u do more than 5 years you should be entitled to base privileges only if you have an honorable discharge..I mean if Congress can do four years and receive a pension of some kind of benefits then why can't the men and women who protected and served once upon a time do so...just my thought U.S.NAVY RETIRED

You do get VA benefits including VA home loans and GI Bill for what you did. I could see something like a Veterans ID card which would allow PX benefits (I think there have been some discussions on that). Otherwise, your contract is over, along with your service obligation.

NO! all personnel who serve should have the same benefits. My only alterations to this would be those who were injured in the line of duty. I would make a special exception for children of those we lost in battle. They should be able to have full use if the GI Bill. WE owe them that much for the loss of a parent.

No, the benefits you get are more than enough. If you actually figure out how to navigate the bureaucracy that is....or how to work the system like SOOO many do. You want a "thanks for your service" outside of that then go for broke and retire. I have never needed anyone to tell me thank you for doing what I did. I did what I did because it was what I wanted to do for me and mine. Whatever benefit others got/get from my service is paid for by them and needs no thanks.

I don't think so. We all know the breaks from the start. And serving less than 2 years doesn't entitle you to a damn thing.

Since you have completed your 8 years of service, and since we have 1 mandatory thing in the country to replace mandatory military service. I believe the ONE thing that should be afforded to servicemembers who have completed their full 8 year commitment is.......

Permanent exemption from Jury Duty! (if desired)

Yes if those who are disability and full career retired get even more benefits.

First of all, you have my humble thanks for serving. 1 term , 2 terms, whatever. It all counts. And I understand that this is just a topic of discussion.
However, I am going to jump on the Post 9-11 GI Bill benefit bandwagon. It doesn't take much to qualify for at least partial BAH. Online course count. In most cases this will cover housing expenses for several years. If you are able to work full time, you could (and should) use the BAH stipend as a means to pay extra to knock down the principal of your VA guaranteed home loan for 4 years and reduce the terms of your loan by half. I think this would suffice as an adequate thank you for your service. I bet not one single company in this country offers anything that would compare.

While I agree with the vast majority out here, that a yearly stipend is not the way to go, I would like to see a reform of the retirement program. Ideally, for me anyway, military retirement would look a lot more like civilian retirement planning.

As it stands now, less than 20% of service members receive any retirement benefits, because they have to serve 20 years to earn them. A 401(K) type plan, with a relatively generous government match of service member input, would allow those who serve less than 20 to have some retirement savings when they leave. It would also allow those who serve 20 or more to have the same or better monetary benefits than they currently receive (depending, of course, on their commitment to saving over their career).

That would, I think SGT Del Lavature, address the concern you raise and perhaps some other issues with the military's retirement/veteran benefits programs.

I did my full 8 years on Active Duty. Got my honorable discharge and moved on. No, I don't those that complete the 8 years should get anything extra. You have a lot of benefits laid out before, it is just up to you to go after them. A simple thank you, a free meal on November 11th and maybe a free drink every now and then is just fine by me.