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How does a military retirement work? If someone enters at 18 and retires 22 years later not a higher up a Sargent let's say do they get their retirement or do they have to wait till 60/65?
Retirement pay from active duty in a straightforward situation (not involving, for instance, Civil Service or Reserve situations) begins the very next month after release from active duty.
Remember that war is a "young man's game," so by default the military actually forces people out of active duty at just past prime combat-capable ages. Truth is, even most non-combat fields can be hard to handle at wartime tempo. I was an intel troop, essentially desk work, but the 20/7 wartime tempo in a fighter squadron was a heck of a lot easier when I was in my twenties than they were when I was in my forties. For the maintenance guys turning planes around at that tempo, being the "old man" was going to take a real toll.
So the military divorces aging troops the way some men divorce aging wives. Starting retirement pay immediately is rather like paying alimony. Nobody would make the military a career if they would be forced to retire in their 40s--when their income needs are at their peak, and the ability to roll immediately into a civilian job with equivalent compensation is slim. People who have given the military their best years are at a disadvantage rolling newly into the civilian job market, even if they were in military occupations that ought to translate into civilian jobs.
Military retirement pay at 20 years is seldom enough for complete retirement, but it's usually enough to bridge the disadvantage.
People who have given the military their best years are at a disadvantage rolling newly into the civilian job market, even if they were in military occupations that ought to translate into civilian jobs.
I respectfully disagree. I retired from the Navy when I was in my early forties and began a career in law enforcement that I ultimately retired from two decades later. After I left the Navy I took the summer off and began applying for law enforcement positions. All four of the agencies I applied to ultimately offered me officer positions. When I attended the police academy I was the second oldest recruit in my class but I finished in the top of my class academically and the top 10% during our final physical assessment. I was no one special but while I was in the Navy I maintained a high level of physical fitness and completed a university degree and graduate school. Now I'm in my sixties and I still get offers from companies recruiting former military and law enforcement personnel to do contract work overseas. I have ZERO interest in overseas contract work at this stage of my life but it's nice to be wanted.
In my opinion, the problem that many senior enlisted personnel and officers have when they leave the service isn't so much their age it's their attitude. Most civilian employers don't care what your rank was or how many awards that you received or even what you did. The want to know what you can do for them now. That includes government agencies. Retirement from the military is culture shock for many former career military personnel. They're no longer "Senior Chief, "Sergeant Major" or "Colonel", they're "Bob", "Linda" or just "Smith" or "Jones". I began my second career as a forty something rookie working for people that were much younger than me. I sucked it up and never let that get under my skin. In the long run it was worth it because I liked the job and the money was better than what I made on active duty.
My situation is hardly unique. I have friends that retired from the military and have been quite successful. After the military they got civilian positions in medicine, logistics, aviation, law enforcement, education, academia, journalism, state and federal government. Several have started their own businesses. The opportunities are out there for military retirees. They just have to make the most of them.
Last edited by irishcopper; 03-23-2022 at 10:56 AM..
I respectfully disagree. I retired from the Navy when I was in my early forties and began a career in law enforcement that I ultimately retired from two decades later. After I left the Navy I took the summer off and began applying for law enforcement positions. All four of the agencies I applied to ultimately offered me officer positions. When I attended the police academy I was the second oldest recruit in my class but I finished in the top of my class academically and the top 10% during our final physical assessment. I was no one special but while I was in the Navy I maintained a high level of physical fitness and completed a university degree and graduate school. Now I'm in my sixties and I still get offers from companies recruiting former military and law enforcement personnel to do contract work overseas. I have ZERO interest in overseas contract work at this stage of my life but it's nice to be wanted.
In my opinion, the problem that many senior enlisted personnel and officers have when they leave the service isn't so much their age it's their attitude. Most civilian employers don't care what your rank was or how many awards that you received or even what you did. The want to know what you can do for them now. That includes government agencies. Retirement from the military is culture shock for many former career military personnel. They're no longer "Senior Chief, "Sergeant Major" or "Colonel", they're "Bob", "Linda" or just "Smith" or "Jones". I began my second career as a forty something rookie working for people that were much younger than me. I sucked it up and never let that get under my skin. In the long run it was worth it because I liked the job and the money was better than what I made on active duty.
My situation is hardly unique. I have friends that retired from the military and have been quite successful. After the military they got civilian positions in medicine, logistics, aviation, law enforcement, education, academia, journalism, state and federal government. Several have started their own businesses. The opportunities are out there for military retirees. They just have to make the most of them.
I personally got into IT in my last years of service and also did well at State Farm Insurance Hq for 20 years.
But even then, I was not where I would have been at age 40 if I had started at State Farm right out of college or right after my first military term. By age 40, I would have been senior management, rather than the new kid on the block.
That's going to be the case with most retirees. I'm not saying a retiree can't get out and get a good job, I'm saying a retiree is starting that game late and won't be as far along at that point in life--when life's financial requirements are at their peak--as they would have been had they started that career twenty years earlier.
Retirement pay from the first month of retirement makes up for that deficit.
I did that at first. If you live within a 50-mile radius of an Active Duty base then you have to go on-base for your medical treatment.
I much prefer to get away from military bases. They have NOTHING to offer a retiree.
The last time, I went on-base for medical care, I was told that as a retiree I was not allowed to get a medical appointment. I had to sit and wait for a cancelation, along with all the other retirees. I sat on a bench from 8am until 5pm. The night shift finally had an opening to stitch up my wound.
I prefer to go to civilian hospitals and to be treated by MD doctors.
No more HM Corpsmen / Medics for me, No sir.
I want MD doctors in my healthcare from now on.
It all went away. So stop telling people that it could be good, or at best is acrap shoot, when it all went away.
I am not old enough yet for medicare. I have only been retired for 20 years.
In this region, there is a private health insurance called Martins Point. They have automated all the funding from Tricare, they are local-ish and they integrate well with all hospitals in this region.
I say again it's a crap shoot. Individual anecdotal stories mean nothing, including mine. I'm not telling anybody to do anything. No one in this thread has asked for advice about military retiree healthcare. The topic is about whether the military is underpaid or not, and each of us has expressed our opinions. At some point military healthcare was brought into the discussion, and I expressed my opinion and personal experiences. My statement is not authoritative, and perhaps you should stop insinuating that it is.
Other than Dutch's overbearing and whiny wife "Strategic Air Command" is a great Cold War aviation film. However, under no circumstances could I envision preferring to be a T.V. repairman versus being an aircrewman on a B-36. Each to their own. As a side, in the Navy Cold War classic "The Last Detail" SM1 Billy "Bad Ass" Budduski (Jack Nicholson) is reflecting on his break in service. "She wanted me to go to trade school and become a TV repair man. Driving around in all that smog and s@*$, fixing TVs out of the back of a VW bus." Budduski soon returned to the fleet. Sometimes it's not all about the money.
The character in Strategic Air Command wasn't just a repairman. He owned a TV sales and repair business. In 1955, this was a lucrative business to be in. Given the military pay at the time, B-36 aside, I could understand his grief.
The Last Detail is an accurate portrayal of a portion of the military population, but these characters were not role models or something to aspire to in a military career. The movie is of the anti-military motif typical of films from that era. If one wants to enjoy it as a comedy, so be it, but it wasn't a positive reflection on the military and had a deeper societal intent.
The character in Strategic Air Command wasn't just a repairman. He owned a TV sales and repair business. In 1955, this was a lucrative business to be in. Given the military pay at the time, B-36 aside, I could understand his grief.
The Last Detail is an accurate portrayal of a portion of the military population, but these characters were not role models or something to aspire to in a military career. The movie is of the anti-military motif typical of films from that era. If one wants to enjoy it as a comedy, so be it, but it wasn't a positive reflection on the military and had a deeper societal intent.
Baseball Hall of Famer Ted Williams lost five years of his baseball career serving in the Marine Corps as an aviator in both WW2 and Korea. In the Korean War he flew combat missions as John Glenn's wingman. Many other baseball players lost productive years off of their careers including Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, Bob Feller, Hank Greenberg, Warren Spahn and others. That was reality during the era of the draft and it still is when reservists and national guard personnel are involuntarily called up for mobilization. During the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars over 300K reserve and guard personnel were recalled for active duty. I know many that made financial and professional sacrifices during their military service.
For the record in spite of the five years he lost in baseball Ted Williams often reflected that his service in the Marine Corps was the proudest accomplishment of his life.
I was being quite sarcastic about Billy Budduski's quote in the "Last Detail" but thank you for your unsolicited intellectual critique of the film. I'm well aware of it's anti-military overtones. I saw the movie when it was released and enlisted in the Navy about a year later. During my twenty-two career I knew many Billy Budduski's. While most weren't necessarily role models or something to aspire to be they were men you could count on to do an essential and often dangerous job that Americans should be grateful for rather than looking down on them as pariahs. Like it or not Navy ships wouldn't be able to get underway without men like Budduski and Mulhall. Positive refection or not the "Last Detail" is a much more accurate portrayal of the Navy than wretched films like "Top Gun', "Crimson Tide", "G.I. Jane" and other lame attempts by Hollywood to portray the U.S. Navy. In fairness to Hollywood, sometimes they do get it right "Behind Enemy Lines" and "Lone Survivor" are but two examples of contemporary Navy films that nailed it. Navy films of the past like "The Caine Mutiny", "The Bridges of Toko Ri", "Mister Roberts" and the "Enemy Below" captured the essence of the Navy much better than Hollywood does today.
Last edited by irishcopper; 03-24-2022 at 10:16 AM..
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