Military retirement reform gets Pentagon support

Voted neutral, with a caveat.

Is the current system sustainable? That's the real question. If yes, then why does it need to change? If not, then it does need to change.

That said, military retirement probably should be "more controlled" by the service member. That's just a personal responsibility issue.

On top of that, the 20 year vesting, is unnecessarily coercive. It means that "talent" has an all or nothing drop off at 20 or 30 years, instead of based on actual service needs, or needs of the individual. We can probably use some lessons learned from our civilian counterparts to come up with a system that matches the "returns for investment" without being as coercive in nature.

The system is in need of change. Congress should be no different than military for retirement and health care. The biggest disparity is pay, a congress member is paid on average $172,500.00 per annum (that's from the start). An E-7 with 27 or more years of service makes under 60,000 per annum (we are expected to be at work and productive)

I really like the benefit to Soldiers that only put in 10 years. Gives far more career flexibility than the current 20 or nothing system.

That said I think there is significant risk to our senior NCO ranks as they are paid pitifully compared to their skillset in the civilian world. Easily could see loosing a key pillar in our military.