Reserve retirement plan is not retroactive

[unhappycamper]

Reserve retirement plan is not retroactive
By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Dec 7, 2007 16:05:24 EST

A more generous reserve retirement formula approved yesterday by congressional negotiators to reward National Guard and reserve members for being called to active duty will not apply to the 600,000 who have been mobilized since the 2001 terrorist attacks.

The plan included in the compromise 2008 defense authorization bill would allow National Guard and reserve members, who now must wait until age 60 to receive a military retirement check, to receive their retired pay earlier if they have extended mobilization. For every 90 days of continuous mobilization in support of a contingency operation, they could receive retired pay 90 days earlier.

Lawmakers adopted the plan, over Pentagon objections, as a way to recognize the greater demands on reservists and their families, particularly those who have had extended and multiple deployments.

However, the specific sacrifices that led lawmakers to act are not going to be rewarded by the bill. The new formula applies only to service after the date the bill becomes law, which probably will fall between Christmas and New Year’s Day. It won’t cover any previous mobilization.

Virginia Army National Guard Maj. Patrick Swan, a member of the 29th Infantry Division, initially was happy to learn the provision had passed, calculating that after 26 years of service he would now be eligible to receive military retired pay at age 58. But once he was told his previous deployments wouldn’t count, Swan complained about Congress giving “empty handouts, again.”


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/12/military_reserveretirement_071207w/

[fasttense]

1. I noticed the same thing for the poor saps who got college loans under

the old system. They still get screwed. It's just the bush way with the support of the democrats to screw as many middle class people as they can.

[MADem]

2. Oh, that's just WRONG. They pulled this same type of shit when Reagan was in office, with that

shitty REDUX plan or whatever it was.