Posted on Dec 3, 2013

If the government ceases pensions for retirement would most of the people in the military stay in?

CW2 (Join to see)

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Posted >1 y ago

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Responses: 30

1SG Johnny Carter

Posted >1 y ago

I'd get out! I mean trust me I love my job and serving but when you look forward to retirement as another means to live after this It is hard. Kind of a reward for all the sacrifices we endure.

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CMC Robert Young

Posted >1 y ago

Some of our more short sighted people probably will continue to serve, but for those planning our future lives, loss of a dependable guaranteed retirement will definitely impact the decision to serve as a career. We may see a boost in people who serve one tour for the training and experience and then get out. It may depend on what if any alternative is offered. Thoughtful question given all of the attention military benefits are attracting on Capital Hill right now.

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TSgt (Join to see)

>1 y

Hell no, I love the service...but thats the only thing keeping me in at this point, my civilian counterparts make 3-5 times what I make. I'd get out and get into politics. Someones got to fix this FUBAR situation.

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CPO (Join to see)

>1 y

Amen to that brother!

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CPT (Join to see)

>1 y

So very right Senior Chief!

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Capt (Join to see)

>1 y

I'll take this a step further and say that most of us aren't independently wealthy. We aren't going to retire on our trust funds or families' money. We need to plan for the futures of our families and ourselves. When that pension goes away, no matter how much we want to kick down doors, put warheads on foreheads, and generally support our nation's efforts to wreak death and mayhem among those who would harm our national interests, we're going to have to walk away if we can't secure the futures of our spouses and children. It's as simple as that.

Retention issues aside, there is life after the military, and that pension allows us to stop focusing on that aspect of the future so we can focus on our jobs in the present. The pension system is psychological lynchpin in the professional military, and every smart soldier, sailor, airman, and marine will lose some of the available brain bandwidth currently used to get the mission done if it goes away.

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