My Military Retirement Benefits

Let me start by saying that I am proud of what I have done in the military. I have spent my adult life serving my country. It has been my choice. I have had the opportunity to leave, and I have been really close to leaving. Yet, I have stayed and served even when things were less than perfect.

When I joined it was not for the retirement benefits. It was to better myself and who I am. At a certain point in every soldier’s career they have to decide whether they are going to serve or get out. I choose to stay for a lot of reasons, and one of the reasons was the benefits now and when I retire. And now some tie wearing, pin head wants to decide whether or not to change our retirement system. I have a lot to say about this and so do many of my brothers and sisters in-arms.

There is an idea floating around out there that the military retirement plan should be more like a corporations. When I joined the military it was not to be some office weenie. I didn’t want to be some suit that is a yes man. I don’t wanna fill out a TPS report. I am not the type to stand around the water cooler and gossip. I wanted more adventure in my life.

When I was young, I thought soldiers were bad asses. I love a lot of things about the military. There is nothing like firing a machine gun, blowing stuff up, and causing chaos. Where in corporate America is it alright to have a gun at work? In the military we live with our gun. Sometimes we have a gun with us so much that after supper at home I reach down and try to pick mine up. We walk, talk, and act different than our civilian counter parts.

We live by a different standard. We are put under a microscope. One wrong decision on the battlefield and we can land in jail. The parade leading the push for us to go to jail, is probably some bleeding heart celebrity. Of course, those celebrities know about war because they went through a 20 minute session explaining the military to them for an upcoming war movie.

The government is looking to save money in it’s budget. So, one of the proposed plans is to take away the benefits of those who have earned them through blood, sweat, and tears. I don’t get overtime for working over 40 hours a week. I can’t even remember the last time I worked a 40 hour week. I sometime work over 24 hours. When was the last time a suit went to work, and stayed at the office for 48 days. Not just 48 days, but 48 days where they depended on their life line to be dropped out of the sky. Praying today that there are no issues and the water needed doesn’t hit the ground like a 2,000 pound bomb. No showers for 48 days, and being happy that they had baby wipes to get by. If there was a bomb threat at the office work would be called off. For us, we go look for them. Sometimes we find the bomb the hard way, and we are thankful to be alive. We are proud that it was us instead of another crew getting hit by the bomb.

We bear the scars of our work, some not always seen. I know people get hurt in the work place in corporate America. There are injuries like carpel tunnel syndrome, stress, and other injuries. We come home missing limbs, burns, PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury, and a whole host other injuries. Keep that in mind.

We have a different type of education. We are counselors, mentors, inventors, and killers if we need to be. We are adaptable. We get the mission and execute. You won’t hear that’s not my job. We don’t look for excuses not to do a job. It just gets done with what we have or can scrounge up. It may not look pretty, but it works.

This doesn’t even scratch the surface of the difference between the military and corporate America. I see it like this women have been asking for equal pay for equal work. That still is not a true statement in our country. So when the pencil necked geek sitting in a cubical does the same thing a Soldier does, then we can talk about the military retirement system being the same as a corporate 401k. I have heard of a tax called the luxury tax. Maybe we should tax the fat asses that sit in cubicles and have cushy job a luxury tax. We don’t have the luxury of going home every night. We don’t have the luxury of crawling in to a nice warm bed with our spouse every night. We don’t have the luxury of seeing our kids grow up. When I get those luxuries, I will endorse a 401k for the military. Until then don’t break a promise that has been made to those serving in the military. Maybe you two face lying bureaucrats should take a pay cut!

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The Monster in your mailbox……….

When I was a kid my mom read me a book called “THE MONSTER AT THE END OF THIS BOOK”. The book is about Grover a Sesame Street character. As you turn the pages through the book, Grover warns that there is a monster at the end of the book. With every turn of the page he adds more “obstacles” to get through before you can turn the page. When you finally make it to the end of the book, you find out that the monster is none other Grover himself. He is a loveable, nice monster so it is OK that you meet the monster at the end of the book.

So, I know you are asking yourself what does this have to do with a monster in my mailbox? The monster in your mail box is an invitation to start a new line of credit with one of the many credit card companies that are out there lurking in the shadows. Think about the last time you were short or really tight on money. Like magic an invitation shows up in your mailbox giving you the opportunity to be in debt to one of these companies. Thoughts run through our head of if we accepted how much easier thing will become, and we promise ourselves we will just use it for this emergency and pay it off and never use it again. Yet it never works that way. We decide we NEED this, and we NEED that, and soon our savior from tight times are adding to our burden. Now, instead of helping us, it has become the monster. That seemingly innocent invitation has now showed it’s true colors.

When we meet this little monster it seems like a tool to help us through a rough patch, but it isn’t. The bills were already tight and now we have added another hungry mouth to feed with our hard earned cash. It only serves to make things tighter on our budgets. The card company starts to show it’s ugly head through fees and high interest rates. If you do get behind in payments then it starts to bear its teeth with phone calls. This is what happens if things go wrong.

You could be able to manage your debt for a long period of time, and have no problems. Even as a “loyal” customer you may hit a speed bump and not be able to pay one month. The monster does not care that you have made one hundred payments on time. It just knows that it has not been feed that month. Now your payments and interest rates go up, it doesn’t matter that you have been a good customer.

The worst credit monster for the military in terms of credit cards is AAFES. They will give almost any servicemen a STAR card. I didn’t have any credit when I joined the military.I was told that it was a good tool to build credit. My leader was even nice enough to show me where to sign up. I took the bait, and signed up. As I am paying down my debt it was my most favorite to cross off the list. AAFES does not play on the same level as other credit card companies. AAFES does not have to call you and ask you for a payment. Once you are late they just send a friendly letter to you commander letting them know you have not made the necessary payment. No other company can do this to a service member. Once the commander gets this letter more often than not the service member is required to pay it no if, ands, or buts about it. I have had to counsel soldiers because they missed a payment of three bucks. Even if it is a large payment very few commander ask if there is an under lying problem. If they do the service member does not ask for help because they are embarrassed. I would venture to say that AAFES makes more money off of the STAR card interest than they do in sales of products every month.

So next time a monster shows up in your mailbox, feed it to the the shredder. I would like you to keep track over the next few months how much credit is offered to you through the mail. You maybe surprised at how much is offered to you.