Most recently the Koreas began their hostilities once again. Did you know that the Korean war never really ended; they're still technically at war with each other, technically there has been a "cease fire" since 1953. Click here to read CNN's coverage.
Hubs: Holy expletive!
Me: Huh, what's going on?
Hubs: We're going to War with Korea.
Me: (saying nothing out loud, think to myself: O.... how wonderful........... I'm sure they'll work it out on their own.. HA.... unlikely.)
True story, which took place less than 30 mins ago.
Have you been following the recent recommendations on Military benefits, concerning retirement, pay-freezes (for three years including BAH, Base Pay and COLA) and raising Tricare out-of-pocket costs? Well I hope you have. It's completely asinine. I mean need we really get into the strain the military has been under or the past 9 (almost 10) years? Beyond that can we all just agree up until now folks joined the military under the assumption that they'd serve but be rewarded with GI Bill Bene's and a pretty rockin' awesome pension plan. I love how this "Presidential "Blue Ribbon" Debt Panel, aka Debt Reduction Panel is co-chaired by Former Republican Sen, Pete Domenici (funny, I thought those Repub's were "usually pro-military"... allegedly) couldn't find any other way to reconcile our national debt than to tell our hardworking military to yet again- PAY UP! As if the military community haven't done enough. I suppose we haven't according to them. Some changes include possible retirement after 10 years of service- yet not collecting retirement checks until the age 60. After 20+ years of service checks wouldn't be available until age 57 (vs. the current way of doing things, retirement checks are available immediately upon separation). Also, retirement is currently computed based on the active duty members most recent 3 years of pay, the committee recommends changing it to the most recent 5 years of pay. Which in theory you've attainted a higher rank between years 15, 18 and 20 (at that) so the average would now be lower. Great. Additional recommendations can be found here, and here.
If you do nothing else please click here, to contact your local reps and tell them how you feel about these changes. It's the beauty of our country you have the ability to speak up and voice your opinion but doing nothing will likely get you an outcome your aren't in favor of.
A big thank you to Military.com for keep our community informed and making it easy to contact our representatives in Washington.
Click here to read more from Military.com.
7 comments:
It sucks and I will be writing a line or two to peeps...
The only beef I have is the above slam on Republicans. We must remember that it's sponsored by the Bipartisan Policy Center (Alice Rivlin/co-chair= appointed to comm. on fisc. responsibility by President Obama). So let's just say it like it is--they're all suckin' these days.
I had a friend that spoke with Mrs. Casey (General Casey's wife) about this very topic. She assured my friend that this proposal has the attention of military lobby groups, high ranking military officials, and others. Basically, this was proposed to make people aware of just how severe the national deficit is...the chances of it being passed in its entirety are slim.
Just wanted to pass along that info... =)
HMB: I think I read someplace that Alice was in the Clinton Administration as well.... And I'll slam if I wanna! ;) lol you know I'm playing. Just makes me laugh and giggle that ppl claim the Republicans are the military party when there's been quite a bit proving otherwise.
In the end I agree with you... they're all eff'ed up! =) love love..
We've been hearing about all this stuff out here in Guam too and the Korea thing certainly doesn't sit well with us either. I'm all for cutting back on things here & there but not to this degree. Until Congress & Mr Obama HIMSELF decide to cutback on their paychecks, benefits and apply their laws (ahem Obamacare...) to themselves, I think all this crap is pretty ridiculous too. Thanks for putting your voice out there Samantha!
We've been hearing about all of this too. Like things aren't tough enough for us already. I was so upset when we got a 2% pay raise, which was the lowest pay raise given to the military since the 60's or 70's... But now all of this stuff?
My husband always says he doesn't serve for the money or the benefits, but what would we do without all of that?
I will never understand how so many people, civilians and politicians alike, take military service for granted. It's voluntary, I know, but shouldn't we be rewarding these brave men and women for their sacrifices? Oh, and never mind the fact that often their lives are on the line. No big deal.
I sure hope that I'm hearing correctly that most of this stuff is gonna get shot down.... It would be just what my husband and I (and every other military family) need, a new war and decreased benefits to see us through it.
Thanks for helping keep everyone updated on what's going on!
Hey. Were going to the medieval xmas market near baumholder. Its @ litchenburg. We went to a few fests there this summer. I have tons of pics on facebook.
This is making me so freaking angry!!
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