Military careerists have been spun up this month, unnecessarily in our view, by sensational headlines and news bulletins about a plan to "slash" their retirement, citing a "Pentagon study."
The study, described here in more muted tones in a late July, was done by the Defense Business Board, a group of independent business executives that advises the secretary of defense from time to time on ways to streamline department organizations and programs.
For example, five years ago it urged consolidation of the Army, Navy and Air Force medical commands into a single joint command. That hasn't happened. In recent years the business board also has pressed for substantial TRICARE fee increases. That hasn't happened either.
The retirement report, still a draft, proposes replacing the current 20-year defined retirement plan with a 401k-like pension that would grow though annual government contributions equal to as much as 16.5 percent of military basic pay. The idea is that more service members would leave after only a tour or two with portable retirement benefits, and yet the total cost to the government would fall sharply, along with lifetime benefits for careerists.
Despite overheated headlines, no Department of Defense leader, civilian or military, has embraced this alternative pension system. Before he left office in July, then Defense Secretary Robert Gates did call for retirement reform. But Gates said any changes are likely to "grandfather," or protect, the current force. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, seconded that view last week, saying retirement changes have to be implemented with care and should not break faith with current members.