Less troops choosing Redux plan

[unhappycamper]

Less troops choosing Redux plan
By Bryan Mitchell and Mark D. Faram - Staff writers
Posted : Sunday Nov 30, 2008 10:57:17 EST

The good news: The percentage of eligible service members choosing the $30,000 Redux bonus — and the diminished lifetime retirement annuities that come with it — are a lot lower than in 2001, the first year that anyone could actually get the bonus.

The bad news: Even those lower figures, particularly for enlisted troops, are still robust enough to be worrisome.

Last fiscal year, 28 percent of eligible enlisted Marines chose the fast cash over the security of a healthier retirement. In the Navy, the figure was 24 percent.

At press time, the Army could not provide figures for the percentage of eligible enlisted soldiers and officers who chose the bonus, nor could it provide raw numbers of enlisted members who grabbed the money.

But its raw numbers on officers shows a rollercoaster effect — an increasing take rate from fiscal 2001 through fiscal 2004, when 401 officers chose the bonus, then a decline over the next two years, then a sharp spike to 449 in fiscal 2007, the highest number ever, followed by another steep drop to 342 in fiscal 2008.


Rest of article at: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2008/11/airforce_reduxtrends_113008/%2e