Military Retirees
Americans are taught to respect and cherish our elders. And, we must especially cherish the men and women who served in our military. Current policy short-changes our veterans with regard to hard-earned pensions and much-needed health care. For example, if a service member has incurred a disability after 20 or more years of service current policy will not allow that service member to receive a disability pension in addition to retirement pay.
Take the case of a Marine Corps gunnery sergeant who retires after 21 years of service. He is now 42 and will rate a pension of about $20,000 per year. Since he’s a young man, he would like to supplement that pension and seek a new career. However, the physical demands of his military service left him with knee problems and shoulder problems.
Due to these service-related problems, many jobs are now unavailable to him and he cannot supplement his pension income as easily as he would like. However, our current policy will not allow him to collect an additional income of about $3,000 in disability payments unless he received that disability in combat. This policy is absurd. Every service member is a critical part of the team whether that person is shipping supplies from our bases or using those supplies on the front lines.