When they start taking benifits away from soldiers who already retired doe this sit well with Active Soldiers?

SFC Charles S. — Thu, 07 Nov 2013 14:17:07 -0500

<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Tahoma, sans-serif; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Most active duty soldiers don't care about the
retirees or the benefits, until it is too late and they become one themselves.
One Benefit that I have used a lot is the army.mil e-mail account.  It is
a huge benefit because it's not a stupid gmail or aol account and it's
federally recognized so it can be used to verify and activate other accounts that most civilian
e-mails can't.</span><o:p></o:p></p>

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 7 at 2013 4:37 PM

MAJ Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 07 Nov 2013 16:37:00 -0500

Personally, I look forward to retiring so that I never have to deal with AKO ever again.  They can keep my .mil email address, its 1 GB storage, and its inability to synch with my iPhone.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 7 at 2013 4:53 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 07 Nov 2013 16:53:24 -0500

I think it's unfortunate that it's happening, but frankly, I've never really looked at the .mil email as a "benefit," per se. I think that you certainly have a different perspective than I do, and I'm interested to see how other retirees as well as dependents react to this change.

Response by MAJ Joseph Parker made Nov 7 at 2013 6:50 PM

MAJ Joseph Parker — Thu, 07 Nov 2013 18:50:44 -0500

SFC Staley: Having been retired for 20 years and being an AKO subscriber, I can tell you with great authority that a *.mil address is of use but definitely not a "huge" benefit. Your "huge" benefits will be: (1) Tricare, the value of which will easily exceed the value of your retirement pay as you age and start to feel military life catch up. (2) Your retirement pay. (3) Commissary - and PX sometimes. (4) VA Disability if you get any. (5) GI Bill (or whatever you have now) and VA home loans. (6) MWR and other privileges. (7) Networking in the veteran community for jobs. It's okay that active duty personnel don't dwell on retirees and their benefits that much. Active duty service members have missions to accomplish! HOWEVER, you will soon find that many retirees dwell quite a bit on active duty benefits and knowledge. That is part of OUR mission! Hopefully you are already gleaning a great deal of knowledge and job networking information right here on RP from us older combatants. RP is the brainchild of a couple of vets. Active duty can't fight battles with Congress; but retirees, veterans and their organizations can and they are quite powerful. In short: if DA wants to strip away an email address to save a few bucks, fine. If anybody tries to fool around with retirement, Tricare, VA, Commissary (and they always do every few years); then we have your six! And SFC Staley: please make it to retirement with as many of your people as possible, intact. Thank you!

Response by SFC Charles S. made Nov 8 at 2013 1:20 AM

SFC Charles S. — Fri, 08 Nov 2013 01:20:59 -0500

The AKO accounts are just the tip of the iceberg.<br><br><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;">Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel warned Tuesday that troops and their families will be asked to sacrifice on pay and benefits to preserve readiness in an era of tighter budgets.</span><br><br><a href="http://www.military.com/daily-news/2013/11/05/hagel-says-cuts-to-pay-and-benefits-are-needed.html">http://www.military.com/daily-news/2013/11/05/hagel-says-cuts-to-pay-and-benefits-are-needed.html</a><div class="pta-link-card"><div class="pta-link-card-picture"><img src="http://images.military.com/media/news/people/csis-hagel-428x285-ts412.jpg"></div><div class="pta-link-card-content"><div class="pta-link-card-title"><a target="_blank" href="http://www.military.com/daily-news/2013/11/05/hagel-says-cuts-to-pay-and-benefits-are-needed.html"> Hagel Says Cuts to Pay and Benefits are Needed | Military.com</a></div><div class="pta-link-card-description">Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel warned Tuesday that troops and their families will be asked to sacrifice on pay and benefits to preserve readiness in an era of tighter budgets.
Hagel listed politic...</div></div><div style="clear:both"></div><div class="pta-box-hide"><i class="icon-remove"></i></div></div>

Response by Cpl Ray Fernandez made Nov 8 at 2013 2:05 AM

Cpl Ray Fernandez — Fri, 08 Nov 2013 02:05:13 -0500

Taking away benefits from retirees does affect the view of active duty. While I was in I followed what benefits were for retiree, and what they would be if I stayed in until retirement. Sadly after doing some calculations I felt that what I would receive for doing my 20 wasn't worth it. The average person regardless of occupation and education typically doesn't plan nor save enough for retirement which is part of many problems we face.<br>

Response by SSG (ret) William Martin made Nov 9 at 2013 10:01 AM

SSG (ret) William Martin — Sat, 09 Nov 2013 10:01:55 -0500

SFC (r) Stanley, When you refer to benefits, are you asking about health benefits?  By the way, I care a lot and I try to educate my soldiers on the situations that are happening now and what it will hurt in the future.

Response by SFC Charles S. made Jan 8 at 2014 11:44 AM

SFC Charles S. — Wed, 08 Jan 2014 11:44:26 -0500

You know when I initially posted this question... The Budget Bill had not even been discussed yet... This action by the Army to cut the AKO accounts was a foretelling of the real cuts that ended up coming later. Now after the Budget bill has passed and we are staring at defense spending cuts and Reduced Retirement, Do you still think that our benefits are safe?

When the Military starts to lose anything it is only the first of a long stream of things to be taken away unless you get with your representation in Washington DC and protest through political channels what they are doing.

Our votes do count and there are enough of us to actually make a difference. We just need to let them know this.

Join me in writing your political representation in Washington D.C. to fight the Military Cost of Living Attack Click the link below to Find a letter that can be e-mailed to your Congress and Senate representatives automatically based on your address.

http://capwiz.com/vfw/issues/alert/?alertid=63034211

Response by SSG Mike Angelo made Mar 15 at 2014 4:23 AM

SSG Mike Angelo — Sat, 15 Mar 2014 04:23:07 -0400

I live in one of the 14 States that taxes military retirement. 

Response by SSG Mike Angelo made Mar 17 at 2014 1:05 AM

SSG Mike Angelo — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 01:05:10 -0400

I dont have AKO or my dot mil addy anymore. This was cut out this year. I had a lot of email contacts on my AKO account. I wish they would have kept us retirees on AKO. Now what? 