Budget Deal at Expense of Military Retirees

Monday, 16 December 2013

Congress has been trying to work on a budget deal that will pass so the government doesn't shut down again.  Rep Paul Ryan and Sen Patty Murray struck a bipartisan budget deal last week.

But this budget deal negatively impacts current and future military retirees. This part of the budget deal affects the COLA (cost of living allowance annual raises to keep up with inflation) for military retirees under the age of 62. As of right now, retirees receive a portion of their retirement pay in COLA; this deal will have those 62 and under receiving 1% less in COLA each year of retirement until age 62.

While 1% doesn't seem like much it ends up being almost 20% of retirement pay over 20 years. An enlisted military member who is, on average, age 40 and retires with 20+ years of service will stand to lose $83K over 20 years. A typical officer retiring at age 42 would lose $124K. How quickly that 1% adds up.

Military members depend on, and factor in, the full COLA as part of their retirement pay when they are planning for their future. Losing 20% of their retirement pay will negatively impact thousands of military families.

What makes this frustrating is Congress previously set up the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission last year. Promises were made that any changes to retirement would be 'grandfathered' in; current retirees and actively serving members were to be protected.

This budget deal allows no provisions for grandfathering in current retired and active military members.

As the spouse of a military member who just hit his 21-year anniversary and can retire at any time, I'm very concerned about how this deal is going to affect our future retirement savings. Joe has served honorably for 21 years and he, like all other military retirees, deserves his full pension.

Balancing the budget should not affect military retiree pay when there are other places that the budget could be trimmed. What about all the overseas spending support we give to other countries? What about the U.S. bomber planes coming in at $87 billion - 47% more than estimated?

You can read more in the following articles: Budget Deal Hits Military Retirees With Pension Cuts and Military Retirees: You Betrayed Us Congress.

According to this article, the $7 billion in savings over the next 10 years wouldn't even go to deficit reduction or paying down debt, but instead to finance increased government spending! You can read this article Fact vs Fiction on Military Personnel Costs and The Truth About Military Personnel Costs to refute the false claims about the military personnel spending accounts in relation to the budget/deficit.

A Legislative Action has been set up through the Military Officer's Association of America to easily contact your state reps and let them know you don't agree with cutting military retiree pay. This form is so easy to use; just put in your name and address and hit send - it will automatically send to your state reps and the form is pre-filled (although you can change it to write what you want as well).

If you are a Twitter user you can can tweet about this using #keepyourpromise to spread the word. There is also a "Twitter Town Hall" online event tonight, Mon Dec 16, at 9pm EST.

 

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Rite of Passage

Friday, 23 August 2013

If you grew up in the military you know that military brats have a 'rite of passage' that happens when they are 10 years old.

10 years old is that magical age when a military child can have their very own I.D. card. It's exciting! You feel more grown up with this I.D. card that you see adults showing everywhere they go on base.

I still remember the day my dad took me to get my first I.D. card. 

It was a big deal to be able to show my I.D. card when we went to the BX, or movie theater. I learned to never leave home without it!

Leading up to her 10th birthday I kept talking to Kayla about getting her own I.D. card after she turned 10. Shortly after her birthday we drove past the base and she said, "What about on base? What about my I.D. card?"

I don't think it'll mean the same to her as it did to me ... mainly because we don't live on base. When I was growing up we always lived on base. And when we lived at Hanscom AFB in MA it seemed everything was pretty much in walking distance. I walked to the Youth Center, Bowling Alley, BX, Commissary, movie theater, pool. Different place, different time.

I will have to make sure to take Kayla's card with me when we do go on base. I know she'll want to show the gate guard (even though she doesn't have to) because she sees me do it. I'll have to take her to the BX so she can buy something and show her card to the cashier.

So a rite of passage passed down from one generation to another:





And the picture of myself, at 10 years old, getting my first I.D. card...

 

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Kayla is More Than Down Syndrome

Sunday, 21 October 2012

I was honored to recently be asked to be a guest blogger for the Military Special Needs Network for Down Syndrome Awareness Month.

My post was about the abilities and individuality of people with Down syndrome, and of course Kayla in particular. It was about how having Kayla has not limited our family life.

"Down syndrome is a condition Kayla has. It is something she was born with; an extra chromosome. It isn’t the whole of who she is, it is just something that is part of her. She is her own person with her own personality. She is this incredible little girl with bright, sparkling eyes and a smile that lights up her face. She is a military brat – going with the flow and adjusting with relative ease to transitions to new homes and new schools. She is a big sister who adores, and sometimes fights with, her brother. She is strong-willed, energetic, empathetic, and full of love and friendship. She is so much more than Down syndrome. We are raising her to be a confident, independent self-advocate."

The rest of my post is at Fridays with Friends: Down Syndrome Awareness.

 

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Running for Down Syndrome Research

Wednesday, 5 September 2012

I'm not a runner, but my husband is becoming one. He ran the Cooper River Run earlier this year and is already signed up for next year.

He's currently preparing for his first marathon. He'll be participating, (appropriately enough since he is active duty Air Force thankyouverymuch!) in the Air Force Marathon.

Running and Down syndrome research have come together in the form of the Research Down Syndrome Organization. RDS is a non-profit organization supporting Down syndrome cognition research.

One of the ways they raise money is through running - Research Down Syndrome Runners/Race for the Extraordinary.

There are RDS Runners teams participating in races all across the country.

One of these races is the above-mentioned Air Force marathon that Joe is already signed up for. It was easy to connect the two and have Joe join the RDS Runners for his first marathon.... what could be better than running to raise awareness, support, and funding for Down syndrome cognition research?


There is also a team running in the Disney Marathon in January - he's planning on signing up for that too -quick family vacation to Orlando!

Here is Joe's Crowdrise Fundraiser page for RDS Team in the Air Force Marathon.

Good luck Joe!

 

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Military Funeral

Wednesday, 25 July 2012

Writing can be cathartic and I need cathartic right now.

While I don't mean to over-post on my father's death I do want to write about his funeral. I feel like this is the final chapter in my journey of saying goodbye to him. I need to finish this chapter before I get back to life blogging about our vacation to Denmark (no I still haven't finished those posts!), and the NDSC convention and whatever else comes our way.

I have been a part of the military since the day I was born. My dad served 20 years in the Air Force and I knew a military funeral, steeped in tradition and ceremony, would be so very emotional. As if a funeral for your parent isn't emotional enough on it's own accord. I knew there would be an honor guard, a flag-draped coffin, the folding and presenting of the flag to the next of kin, the volley salute, and the playing of Taps.

I saw my father take his last breaths. I saw him in the casket at the viewing the day before the funeral. I was numb. It was, and really still is, surreal.

Seeing his flag-draped coffin being taken out of the hearse by the military honor guard somehow made it that more real.

Even though it was the same casket in front of me during the funeral service, when I saw it at the cemetery it hit me harder and I kept thinking, "That's my father. That's my father in that casket. This is really happening."

I wasn't prepared for those emotions. And I most certainly wasn't prepared for the emotions I felt when I glanced over at my brother. My brother, who was enlisted in the Air Force and then the Reserves, and who, a couple of years ago, commissioned in to the Army...my brother in his Army Dress Blues. He was standing on the path the honor guards were walking with the casket and he was saluting. (As was Joe, in his Air Force Service Dress). It wasn't that they did anything unusual, because of course they would be saluting a flag-draped coffin of a veteran; standing at attention and rendering respect and honor for the deceased. But this was my brother, and he was saluting our father's casket and it hurt my heart to see that, because I know that he was struggling with composure just as much as I was. The unbelievable-ness that we were burying our father much sooner than we ever thought we would be.

After the somberness of the flag-folding and presenting to his wife I prepared myself for the volleys they were going to fire.

Each of the three shots made me cry harder than the last. Each of the shots made it more final. I wanted to scream out "no!" with each of the shots. I just wanted my father back.

When the playing of Taps started I thought my knees were going to buckle. I wanted nothing more than to crumble to the ground and sob until I had nothing left. I didn't want to be standing there, having my father honored with the playing of Taps. I wanted to be back at his house talking about the Red Sox. This description of Taps couldn't be more accurate, "There is something singularly beautiful and appropriate in the music of this wonderful call. Its strains are melancholy, yet full of rest and peace. Its echoes linger in the heart long after its tones have ceased to vibrate in the air.        
                      - from an article by Master Sergeant Jari A Villanueva, USAF

I described the witnessing of a military funeral for one's own father as "poignantly beautiful, knee-buckling, and heart-breaking all at once."

 

 

May you rest in peace now Dad, your body free from the pain of cancer, and knowing that you gave it one helluva fight for nearly 3 years. Goodbye, Dad, I love you.

 

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