Military Retirement - Is It Worth It?

[WK91]

I think it’s fair to say that the VA disability system is not perfect. For most, it works like it should. But there are a percentage of people on the fringes that get a rating when they shouldn’t and on the other end of the spectrum, don’t get a rating when they should. The ones that don’t get the rating they want, and the ones who see other people get a suspicious rating, are by far the most vocal and angry about it.

You should always be striving for improvement, so that’s all we can ask of the VA is that they keep trying to get better. Complaining that the “VA sucks!” does nothing.

In my experience, the VA has been great. I got a 10% rating after 23 years, and I feel that was very fair. This 10% allowed me to waive the VA funding fee when buying my first house. Again, great experience. Also, I fully utilized my entire GI Bill, gifting it to my daughter.

I knew a guy who was an 18 Bravo on the SF teams, did 20 years, seen a helluva a lot of combat, got a 100% rating then took a contractor job overseas doing close to the same thing he was doing for at least double his active salary. Fair? It’s not for me to say, I’m not him and I’m not a part of the SF world.

But man, this guy has been to Hell and back. Maybe throwing him a bone isn’t such a bad thing when we see all the other waste going on in government?

As far as the retirement, I can’t complain at all. 57.5% at E-7 until I die. I gave the US Military all I could. I brought it everyday, and now I’m a defense contractor and I still bring it everyday. Nothing I like more than teaching a young troop “how to fish” and setting him (or her) up for success.