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Show HILL TOP TIMES . Friday, March 2. 1984 editorials Military retirement assistant talks compensation . Editor's note: Th following is part one of serlas on straight talk about the military retirement compensation system. two-pa- rt , By Tidal W. McCoy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force Manpower, Reserve Affairs and Installations In recent months, Air Force members trying to keep up with what is happening to their pay and citizens trying to follow the complex debate about cuthave been presented with ting federal expenditures a fog of conflicting claims, facts, studies and recom- mendations. Because Air Force members have a direct and immediate stake in how much they are paid and when and because all citizens and how are concerned about how their tax dollar is spent and what kind of national defense those dollars buy, the time has come, for some straight talk about the military retirement compensation system. We should start with a clear understanding of how the military retirement system currently works. I am talking here about active duty retirement; that is, what follows does not include persons who retire from the Air National Guard or Air Force Reserve, and it does not include those persons who retire for physical disability. What follows addresses only those persons who retire for years of service. Some claims misleading Perhaps you have seen some of the claims about to military retirement that it permits retire at "half pay," for example. Currently, military members may retire when they have completed 20 years of active duty and draw 50 percent of their basic pay. Military compensation is made up of several elements, of which base pay represents about 70 percent. So the retired military member draws closer to 35 percent of his active duty pay rather than "half - 37-year-o- lds pay." While theoretically, there can be some the average retired member is a master (E-with 22 years service who is 43 years sergeant old. He has moved seven times in those 22 years and served at least one remote tour overseas separated from his family The chances are high that he has, at some time in his career, drawn hostile fire pay. That means that he has been assigned in an area where someone was actively trying to kill him. If he remains on active duty, he will increase the 37-year--" old retirees, 7) amount Of his retired pay until, if he is able to remain on active duty for 30 years, he will retire at 75 percent of basic pay which, as we noted earlier, is something less than "three quarters' pay." While 75 percent sounds very good, that impression becomes less clear when we attach some numbers to it. For of Air Force retirees are example, three-fourtof enlisted. The annual retired pay for those retirees is below poverty level for an urban family of four ($9,860). Unfortunately, you seldom read about these people as most writers tend to concentrate on colonels and generals who draw more, yet who represent only , five percent of Air Force hs two-thir- retirees. ds . Compensation not enough You have probably read that many of these retirees get second jobs and may wind up drawing retirement benefits from both the military and from their second careers. That is true. From the amounts of money in the preceding paragraph, it is clear that second jobs are required; military retirement compensation is, for the majority of retirees, simply not enough to "retire." But what you may not know is that over a lifetime, the total amounts of money received by a retired military member will be less than his civilian counterpart. This is caused in large part by the fact that civilian compensation is higher than military compensation. For example, over a full career, a civilian airline mechanic will earn 22 percent more than an Air Force maintenance specialist. A civilian airline pilot who retires after 30 years of service will have earned 33 percent more than an Air Force colonel pilot or navigator with 30 years of service. It is clear mat military retirement pay is not lavish. But does it cost the nation too much? A figure often quoted is that military retirement will cost $60 billion by the year 2000, The leading cause of increasing retirement costs Js inflation. If we use the same economic assumptions that underlie the statement about military retirement costing $60 billion in the year 2000, we would see these comparisons: the hourly minimum wage of $3.35 would be approximately $13; the Bureau of Labor Statistics' budget for a "lower standard of living" for an urban retired couple-woul- d increase from $7,226 to more than $28, 000; a medium-size-d American car that now costs $9,500 would then cost almost $37,000. Without inflation, the average annual cost of military retirement by the year 2005 would actually be $18.2 billion, less, than 14 percent higher than today's $16 billion cost. The GNP, based on past experience, would be substantially higher. The key cause of this increase in the inflation adjusted cost is the growth of the military retired population, stemming from from the size of the military force needed during WWII, Korea and Vietnam and from the large standing peacetime force. The military retiree population will level off soon after the turn of the century. The military million than smaller is about one force that of the 1960s. It is inequitable for todas military people to be penalized by costs associated with previous national security imperatives. In short, retirement costs for all rnilitary members represents less than one half of one percent (.04 percent) of the gross national product and will continue at that range for the forseeable post-Vietna- m future. ' . , - v ' - You may have read that 20-ye- ar ' - retirement is an example of "Pentagon waste," foisted on the nation by a powerful military lobby. No: It is a recognition, snared by many "paramilitary'' organizations such as police and fire departments, that military service is, in the main, a young person's activity. The special nature of military service has already been noted. Between WWI and WWII, an officer might serve as long as 17 years as a captain. A 1931 Army study found the average age for promotion to captain was 39; it was 47 to major; 58 to colonel. Senior officers were often too old to meet physical standards for command and to withstand the rigors of battlefield conditions. General MacArthur said the promotion system "sapped ambition, destroyed initiative, and encouraged routine and perfunctory performance.'' Real problems surfaced in the early days of WWII problems that were subsequently resolved by Conretirement program. gressional adoption of a The program provided experience for the officer force at an early age; it kept promotion opportunity at acceptable levels; and it maintained a vigorous force. 20-ye- ar Manpower management system It may be argued that much of the basis for the military retirement system was designed to deal with this problem. One authority describes the origin of military retirement systems in the United States this way: The first law authorizing the retirement of military personnel was enacted on Aug. 3. 1 86 1 , shortly after the outbreak of the Civil War. Congress provided this grant of authority in order to retire officers of the Army, Navy and Marine Corps who were either too old or other-wis- e too incapacitated for the rigors of wartime service. It also served to facilitate the advancement of younger officers. In other words, we learned a lesson about the relationship between retirement systems and readiness in the Civil War, learned it again in World War II and, if we are not careful, we may have to learn it yet again. ;;"y As is clear from this section, military retirement compensation is not an old age pension. It is a system for managing the size and nature of the force and for providing a small but skilled manpower mobilization base . The primary purpose of military retirement is force readiness, through attracting and then retaining the right numbers of skilled, dedicated people to serve in the defense of our country. The retirement system fosters readiness in several ways. As a key element in personnel management, it encourages the flow of people through the military and provides an incentive to encourage sufficient numbers to pursue a military career. The legislation governing the retirement system also contains provisions which permit retirees to be recalled in national emergencies. And lastly, the system recognizes the many personal sacrifices made by service members during their careers. Without an adequate retirement system, the Air Force would lose its ability to perform its mission. - Plan for. the Future -- i::iltc3 times Published by MorMedia Sales, 1152 West River-dal- e Road, Ogden, Utah 84405, telephone 394-965- 5. . Deadlines: Editorial, 4 p.m. Monday before publication date; Announcements for "Where the Action Is," " 10 a.m. Monday before publication date; Classified ads, 5 p.m. Wednesday before publication date. . Articles may be turned in at Room 1 1 8, Bldg. 1 1 02, between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. The Hill Top Times receives Air Force News Ser- vice (AFNS), AF Logistics Command News Service (LOGNEWS), Tactical Air Command News Service (TACNS), and American Forces Press Service (AFPS). . , -- . 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