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making drastic changes to the military benefits, compensation, and retirement system in the name of fiscal responsibility and without fully understanding the un- intended consequences of their actions, the immediate impact on morale, and subsequent effect on retention. Congress, the press, and the American people should not take for granted the sacrifice and service (and retention) of our all-volunteer force by equating it to civilian careers. Sustaining the all-volun- teer force cannot be done on “the cheap,” and equating the benefit package to those in the civilian workplace devalues and trivializes the very nature of career service in uniform. The men and women in uniform can-


not say “no” when presented with orders they don’t like. They, unlike civilians, are subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice. And in order to earn the retire- ment benefit, servicemembers must make it through an up-or-out personnel system or potentially face being sepa- rated or discharged. The entire military family makes tre- mendous sacrifices on the road to poten- tial retirement. Military spouses seldom establish their own careers because of frequent and involuntary separations and relocations, and because of frequent moves, rarely do military couples spend enough time in one place to gain any eq- uity in a home. Military children, on average, will at- tend six to eight schools during grades K-12. Their young lives also are peppered with extended separations from their mili- tary parent. Along the road to retirement, many will decide the personal sacrifice is too great.


And some critics are the first to point out military retirees leave service in their 40s or 50s and immediately find gainful employment. But not all military skills


36 MILITARY OFFICER MARCH 2014


translate well into civilian jobs, regardless of what some pundits say. And the reality is two incomes are necessary to reach the standard of living to maintain a household and send kids to college. But what is most disturbing is equat- ing military service to the private sector. We’ve seen the service and sacrifices our men and women in uniform and their families have had to endure over the past 12 years of war — and they are far from civilian-like.


Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff


Gen. Martin Dempsey, USA, said in a hearing before the House Armed Ser- vices Committee in October 2011 that the military retirement program “needs to be fundamentally different than anything you can find in the civilian sector.” The bottom line: Until you can adjust the conditions of service for those in uni- form to be more “civilian-like,” stop trying to compare the two.


Debt-Ceiling T


Deadline Nears Treasury urges action.


he federal government was set to run out of borrowing au- thority by late February if law-


makers did not raise the debt ceiling, according to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew. The administration originally pro- jected the borrowing authority would last until early March. In January, Senate Majority Leader


Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said the next debt- limit battle could be put off until May. In a letter to Congress, Lew said a pro- jected surge in February spending, mainly reflecting 2013 tax refunds, will leave the Treasury little room to maneuver after the official debt ceiling is reached Feb. 7.


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