Debt Commission recommendations

[cbr600]

deleted

[maverick2076]

Remember too that military pay is beyond dismal. When I retired in 1994, an E-4, married with 2 kids, qualified for food stamps. Obviously, it was even worse for E-1 thru E-3. These are the people who are most at risk in any armed conflict.

Combined with already declining benefits, the way this country treats it's military personnel is a disgrace. I was active duty from 1972 to 1994. During that period, the only time we saw real gains in pay & benefits was during the Reagan administration. The rest of the time, we were repeatedly used as the "budget cut" scapegoats.

Not to be disrespectful to your age or service, but that really is not the case anymore. The wage disparity is not what it was during your time in service. If you look at base pay only, military pay seems low. However, factor in BAH, BAS, no-cost health care, 30 days of leave annually, and the fact that the only taxable portion of your income is your base pay, and it really isn't bad.

Are E-1 - E-3 low-paying jobs. Yeah, they are. However, those ranks are generally held during Basic Training and AIT. A lot of people enlist as E-3's to start off with. By the time you make E-4, you are making an easily liveable raise.

Just so you know I'm not talking out of my hind end, I'm a married E-6 with 12 years of service (7 Active) serving on Active Status with the National Guard. I bring home $5000 a month. Not bad for a guy with a lot of college but no degree, and I have a ton of upward mobility. That's a damn sight better than a lot of people I know with their bachelor's degree. Is it really enough money to compensate for deploying every couple of years? Probably not, but no one does this job just for the money.

That being said, I'd be OK with a freeze on my pay, BAH and BAS increases...if every other government position or program that paid a wage or monetary benefit to an individual was frozen for the same amount of time. Good luck seeing that one happen.

[RPB]

I personally got deep in debt twice (slow learner) BUT now, I'm free.
SO, I'll just offer some superb advice given to me by my dad before he passed away, which worked for me.

Dad simply said:

If your OUTGO
exceeds your INCOME
then your UPKEEP
becomes your DOWNFALL.

Since I know that remembering that works for individuals, it would be well for governments to learn too IMHO.

The hardest part is getting out of debt in the first place, (but, no pain, no gain) the second hardest is remembering what got you into it.

[Pawpaw]

Thanks for that info. It's good to know the pay situation has improved.

When I retired as an E-7, over 20, my take home pay was about $1400 each payday ($2800/mo).

[MeMelYup]

There are still a lot of older retired out there. I'm one of those that the recruiter told "If you re-enlist and stay in till retirement the Military will take care of your medical for the rest of your life at no cost to you". I was drafted in 67, I retired in 89. This is still a sore spot with me and a lot of other older retirees in that they lied to us, then the lawyers stated "We cannot find this statement in writing anywhere, so no one ever promised this". Not a pun at the lawyers on this site.

Maverick2076 if you are making over 5000 per as an E6 you are making over twice what I was making as an E7 when I retired in 89. After 20 years you get 50%, at 30 years you get 75%. I know a lot of retirees here in Central Texas who were between $600 to $1000 when they retired. Their cost of living increase has been zero to 1.2%over the last 3 years. What has the House and Senates increase been? I believe a retired Represenative/Senator pay is the same as a currently sitting Represenative/Senator. So freezing older retirees pay for 3 years is going to create quite a hardship on a lot of veterans.

Paragraph "52. Modernizing Tricare, DOD Health Care", is going to cramp or cause a hurt for a lot of older people also. I wonder what they will try on VA.