Our top story this week: Active and Reserve soldiers who are selected for involuntary separation can choose the 15-year retirement option, which will be offered again this year. But it’s only open to certain soldiers. Find out who qualifies, and what happens to your retirement pay, in this week’s Army Times.
Also on the cover, for service members, veterans and retirees the threat of delayed paychecks in November is looming as Congress returns Sept. 9 from a summer break, with strong odds of another round of sequestration. If lawmakers and the White House fail to reach an agreement on spending for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, sequestration would be used to control spending. That will affect military salaries, retirement pay and veteran benefits.
Finally, if you are struggling with PT (or you need the exercise for stress relief) read one expert’s tips for becoming a PT stud. After failing his first PT test as a cadet at Augusta State University, Capt. Lee Kind put together a new training plan, and three months later, he not only passed the test, but maxed it out with a perfect score. He turned his plan into a book to help transform thousands of PT failures into PT studs.
For more on these stories and others, pick up the Sept. 9 issue of Army Times, on newsstands now. If you don’t want to wait, you can subscribe to our digital edition or purchase a $1 day pass.
12 Comments
Why don’t we take half if not all of Congress and the presidents pay, then I can almost guarantee they will come to a agreement. Stop coming after the military, go after all those fat cats you guys are protecting
It’s amazing that they will go after the military first, while we are not authorized to speak on political matters while serving, we have to take the scraps in which they give us, and hope for seconds.. maybe this year will be the year that the government goes bankrupt.. what happens to those who have to feed their families..?
@Kris, nobody is “going after the military first”. All federal employees, which includes the military, are impacted by the across-the-board budget cuts known as sequestration. Actually, pay for military members still serving will be exempt from sequestration. Google “military pay exempt from sequestration in 2014” if you don’t believe it.
@Neil, yes they do always go after the Military first. Granted this tme they are including other federal workers, every time this nation finds itself in a financial burden that our elected officials have created, they go after the defense Dept. A much more sustainable solution is to lift environmental constraints, ease corporate taxes, and bring industry back. Cut welfare, which by the way was never meant to be a retirement program. ten years of war only to have benefits cut is no way to thank the Vetrans.
Any retirement is better than not retirement at all. Take the early out and run.
Does anyone remember 2011 Budget Problems. Who’d they hit first….dod, we had a “No-Pay-Due” that was supposed to happen for one month. Soldiers had families to feed and bills to pay. What was the standard response about it.. “We’ll you should have money saved up for a rainy day” while that applied to me, it doesn’t apply to the PV1 & PV2 that live paycheck to paycheck supporting their families and themselves. Luckily it only lasted for a few days. If they do it again this year and I get a “No-Pay-Due” I will give them a “No-Work-Due” hahaha
Does anyone know why Active (AGR) National Guard Soldiers are not eligible for the T.E.R.A?
If only I would have known ten years ago when I started to get my act together and take care of my career so I WOULDN”T get passed over, that all I needed to do was NOT get selected for promotion2 times and I would be guaranteed a retirement. Instead, because I worked my butt off, completing ILE, my Bachelors and Masters degrees and getting deployed, and I did get promoted, I don’t qualify for TERA and since my MRD is in 3 years and won’t have enough time for an regular retirement, I’ll have to wait until I’m 59 and can get my USAR TPU retirement 6 years AFTER my MRD.
I don’t know, but I’m guessing that since the NG is a STATE program and not federal, that it’s up to each state to fund their AGR’s retirements.
Passing a balanced budget (not just any budget) is one of Congress’ primary responsibilities. That hasn’t been done in a very long time, yet the people not doing their jobs continue to get reelected. I’m sick of being threatened with benefit cuts, BAH cuts, delayed paychecks, and all the BS that comes with the inability of Congress to do what they are supposed to do. I’m doing what I’m supposed to do, every day. What is your excuse? Enough of this partisanship – compromise and get it done.
Here’s a proposal: let’s eliminate everything that’s not related to warfighting. DoDDS schools, CYS programs, MWR intramural football, reenlistment mugs with unit insignia, etc. Once we cut all of that crap that isn’t mission related, then we can start talking about firing people who have deployed 2 or 3 times.
We cant afford a big military any more, its just that simple.