Blue Falcon: I make too much money as a vet
Tom Slear, a retired Army Reserve Lieutenant Colonel, complains in the pages of the Washington Post that he makes too much money.
Though I spent more than five years on active duty during the 1970s as an Army infantry officer and an additional 23 years in the Reserves, I never fired a weapon other than in training, and I spent no time in a combat zone. I returned to active duty for five months in 1991 during the Persian Gulf War, but I was assigned to the Pentagon. My hazardous duty consisted of a daily drive on New York Avenue before its upgrade.
I am hardly unique. Despite the extended operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, nearly half of the 4.5 million active-duty service members and reservists over the past decade were never deployed overseas. Among those who were, many never experienced combat.
So, because he was an office wienie pogue, he thinks that we should pay for him slacking off for 28 years. Can I mention that he retired in 2001?
Simply put, I’m getting more than I gave. Tricare for military retirees and their families is so underpriced that it’s more of a gift than a benefit. A fourfold increase in premiums would leave Tricare safely on the side of hearty largesse, yet the Pentagon’s attempts to raise premiums by as little as 10 percent have had shelf lives shorter than ice cubes.
The budget agreement last year included a trim of 1 percent in the cost-of-living increase in military retirement pay for those under 62. Predictably, the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Military Officers Association of America would have none of it. “Breaking faith” is how the MOAA’s chairman characterized the deal.
So, you know what, Tom? There’s a box that you can check on your income tax form that allows you to pay more every year to the government, if you think you should. How many times have you one that? I’m guessing the answer would be “never”.
But, just because you don’t think you earned your pension and think that you get too much, please don’t put that on the rest of us. Please don’t think that because you were a desk ape at the Pentagon, the rest of us should pay for your pension – many of us didn’t fly a desk and actually did the stuff that people think that soldiers and Marines do. I have never heard a retiree say that he made too much money.
Or maybe your intent was to set up a military class warfare argument where People Other than Grunts and People Who Were Grunts argue over who should get their benefits they earned and who shouldn’t. Maybe set up a point system based on the number of miles we walked and nights spent sleeping in the mud. That’s a losing position, too.
Forfeiting 1 percent of military retirement pay would not shortchange those wounded and disabled in combat, the ones most deserving of benefits.
Who, exactly do you think you are to tell me how my money should be spent and how much I can afford?
In this time of excessive expenditures for government pensions, wouldn’t a very small decrease in pay to military retirees be reasonable, particularly during the period of their lives when they are fully capable of civilian employment?
In this time of excessive expenditures, wouldn’t it be prudent to ask those who never worked a day in their lives to accept less? Wouldn’t it be prudent to ship illegal aliens back to where they came from before they get on the public teat? Wouldn’t it be prudent to stop tax breaks for illegal aliens?
Isn’t there a thousand other places that can be cut before you start telling veterans to dig deep? But, traditionally, it’s always veterans who are asked to sacrifice first, while the politicians refuse to do the hard work of actually cutting the largesse out of the budget. Largesse like in Congressional payrolls, retirements and staff, for example.
This time veterans are not going quietly.
Thanks to Chockblock for the link.
Category: Veterans Issues
Hey Tom – if you feel that you make too much, then return the money you get back to the Treasury and give up all your bennies while you’re at it.
Fucking assclown…
He could contribute his excess bucks to the USO, the Wounded Warrior Project, or any of many other efforts to support our troops.
Put you money where you mouth is, Blue Falcon Boy!
Will wager that he’s a liberal government employee that did his Reserve time whileon Federal leave and his bennies from thefederal job make his Reserve bennies seem extravagant. Double dippers!
Hey dipstick, if you don’t want the money there are plenty of deserving veterans’ organizations that would be happy to receive your “surplus”.
Hey jackass……if you feel you’re getting too much in retirement, donate your overage to charity but don’t dare presume that all retirees are like you or feel like we don’t deserve what we rate.
If you want to save the government money, how about you write a piece about welfare fraud and tax dollars paying for illegals……
Come out to Camp Pendleton and you can explain your fucked up version of reality to an entire MEF.
Bag, Douche. 1 ea. Size XL. He could always donate his pension to the DAV if it’s so painful to receive it.
Perhaps it should be the following:
Falcon, Blue, 1 EA
NSN: FUCK-00-YOU-0000
Just so there’s no confusion, the NSN message is directed to the azure avian that is the subject of this post, not you Open Channel.
Dammit I meant SFC D. It’s been a long couple of days.
No worries!
I’m willing to bet he doesnt live off his pension alone.
“In this time of excessive expenditures, wouldn’t it be prudent to ask those who never worked a day in their lives to accept less? Wouldn’t it be prudent to ship illegal aliens back to where they came from before they get on the public teat? Wouldn’t it be prudent to stop tax breaks for illegal aliens?” Exactly, that makes much more sense than taking from those who deserve what they get.
They can’t ship the illegal aliens home. What are you thinking? If not for illegal aliens, who would vote for Democrats in DC?
Blue falcon case study…
I would suggest to Slear that he return his pension to the government if he thinks it’s too much. Somehow I doubt he will. He lacks the courage of his convictions, like most leftists.
This is the second time I’ve seen an argument like this from a veteran. Each time was from a reserve component O-5. I would not argue that those guys are overpaid, but I guess they’re just senior enough to feel that way. It’s easier to say when your pension didn’t come from your primary livelihood as well. You’ll never see this crap from an active duty retiree or an enlisted guy (except the senior enlisted guy in the USMC, apparently). We all know the sacrifices made by active duty troops and their families. I know plenty of reservists who totally screwed their civilian careers be mobilizing too, so I respect the sacrifices many of them have made. And none of that even touches on the men and women of all components who have seen combat and suffered the consequences. This guy deserves a special place in the Order of the Blue Falcon.
So poor LTC Slapnuts makes too much? Since it’s reserve retirement he didn’t start collecting it until he turned 60. So here’s a solution. Don’t take any Social Security when you hit 65, donate whatever amount you think is “too much” to the feds for debt reduction (like that would really happen) or to a veteran related charity. But don’t presume to tell me that my retirement is “too much”.
1. I’m not going to collect a dime of it for another 11 years (if at all) and
2. I’ve earned every damn cent of it.
in conclusion LTC Slapnuts go have a big heaping cup of STFU
I’ve got a great idea. He can donate 20% of his pay to me. I’ll set myself up as a 501(3c) or something, so he can use it as a tax deduction. We’ll call it the “Feed Me and My Cat Fund” and if 20% of his cash doesn’t alleviate his guilt trip about money, then we’ll up it to 30%.
Oh, and he can donate a new car to me every year, also.
Sounds like a marriage–actually more like a divorce!
Why am I hearing “She Got the Gold Mine, I Got the Shaft” by Jerry Reed as I read these two posts?
😉
Dick
I wonder how that LTC living in his car feels about this.
Just a reminder for LTC Slear, a lot of reserves did make it to the Gulf for DS/DS. It ain’t only the grunts that bleed, either, something I already knew from Viet Nam.
http://www.qmfound.com/14th_Quartermaster_Detachment.htm
Yeah, I’m betting he is comparing his Drill pay to what he is getting on his retirement. It looks a lot bigger for many.
Right now I am in the Reserves and a MUTA 4 (weekend drill) brings home about $750. If I retired tomorrow at 60 I would start bringing home $1,022 (if the calculator is right) I’ll get more each month for “doing nothing” than I get now for showing up at BA (and planing meetings, BN Planning calls, Annual Training planing sessions, stopping in twice a month to sign documents, give PT tests to kids going to schools, etc)
I bet he complains about Tri-care because he is not able to get it being a federal employee. I’ll be 100% honest, if it was not for Tri-care Reserve Select, we would not have insurance at all. My employer plan only covers me with a $5,000 deductible and $40 co-pays for the same price as the family plan with Tri-care.
Yeah, he is correct that if they doubled the price it would still be less than my employers family plan, even with the $100 surcharge for having access to alternative insurance. Don’t make it right. There are a lot of Soldiers who have never been shot at, some because they served in peace time (like my uncle 1974 to 1995 and was in Korea for the Gulf War), Others were in the reserves, got mobilized into state side missions (many in my unit have spent over five years mobilized to support OIF/OEF but as support). Some have been in units that just never get picked. That does not mean they don’t deserve the same treatment in retirement as a combat vet. They could have been called up. They were willing to go if called.
This man is a jerk if he can’t seen this.
*$1,022 (if the calculator is right)
Might want to check that Top.
I just did a quick check of my Reserve Retirement pay if I started drawing right now. (gotta wait another 15.5 years)
I came up with $1134 for an E-6 @20 with an almost even split of 10 active and 10 reserve years.
*note it was quick and dirty, did some rounding.
You’re forgetting that the ten years of AD time is going to push up your retirement a lot more than the average TPU.
I’ve got just over six years of AD time (like LTC Whinny-Britches), and when I ran the numbers I was using my last retirement point report that did not count my last mobilization.
Remember an Active year counts as 365 points, the average TPU will get around 77 points (48 for BA, 14 for AT, and 15 for existing). So a twenty year TPU doing the minimum is going to have 1,590 points. Ten years of AD time is 3,650. Over the last twelve years, it is not uncommon for Reservist to have two or three AD years on top of the transfer from AD to Reserves.
I’m sure it will be more in 15 years when I can draw (14 and 1/3rd). -Assuming I make the QMB cuts for the next five seven years. (no, not for APFT, or BF, but for not making E-9)
I thought that might be the case, I think I used 75 points per non active year in my estimate. Though I know most years I earned more through extra IDT’s and courses.
Any way you slice it though, I would not call our pensions extravagant. Not by a long shot.
I made the mistake of suggesting something like this, once…….
Queef with silver oak leaves! TURD! GFY and then GFY some more, before you GF the veterans. Real veterans that is, not the dipshits like you. So you have a little guilt trip going on eh? Well keep it the fuck to yourself!
You know why you never see cops, civil servants, or teachers complaining they don’t deserve their retirement? Because their unions would FUCKING CRUSH THEM. My daughter’s kindergarten teacher retired at 52 with a $77K pension, then went back to work as a sub, teaching 4 days a week for $170/day plus $14 for lunch. My neighbor is a Fairfax County Sheriff’s deputy and he’s about to retire in August with 23 years and his retired pay will be over $122K a year. Dollars to donuts, LTC Slapnuts is either a retired GS-14/15 or a blood-sucking contractor (or both). Fuck him. I got 30+ years of active duty and earned my pay every fucking day. Eat a bag of dicks Tom. Can I call you Tom? Or do you prefer fuckstick? Pretty nice home you got there in Annapolis. I doubt if you paid for that with your reserve pay.
Open Channel D…Here-Here. Thank you for serving sir and yes, you deserve EVERY penny you get and THEN SOME! As do all of you military retirees.
I agree about Tom here with you. A nice big bag of dicks is what he sounds like he was munching on every day of his entire worthless, military career so yes another big bag of dicks would be in order…with a side of balls.
So, why isn’t this retired LTC donating all of his extra money to the retired CSM Theresa King’s legal defense fund? Seems they both know how to work the system when it comes to avoiding combat deployments.
Nah, scratch that. She doesn’t deserve any help. Instead, donate your extra money to something worthwhile like the Farm Bureau of America’s Bacon Seed Foundation.
Heh.
As a retied Reserve Component O-4 (via OCS), I worked pretty hard for 24 years to earn my pension. I also have a Retired Teacher pension, and a Federal Civil Service annuity (that I paid for and have yet to draw). Fifteen years as a Readiness Technician and 15 as a public school teacher and I earned every penny.
I’ve nothing to apologize for. Our Blue Falcon O-5 pisses on all of us who did our absolute best to lead and support the troops for whom we were responsible. I’ll keep my pensions and he can kiss my straight leg ass.
LTC Cockslobber is another piece of living proof that Diarrhea of the Mouth is a symptom of having SHIT FOR BRAINS!!
HEY LTC COCKSLOBBER, if you feel you’re getting too much, why not give it away to the welfare flunkies and illegal aliens that suck at the Government teat every chance they get?!
Proud…there you go. Hey Tom, go down to the welfare office when there giving away Obamaphones and give every one of them a fifty to go with it. Maybe it will relieve your dipshit misplaced guilt. By the way Tom, guilt, is something you should keep to yourself to resolve. Not use it to cut REAL MILITARY RETIREES off at the knees!
We don’t give away “Obamaphones” at the welfare office…at least in Oregon. I do sometimes give out food boxes though if they are legitimately hungry and in need.
Tim…Here in my state, just across the river from you, where my wife works, T-Mobile shows up once a month with a tent and hands out the phones at the welfare office.
And Tim, I applaud your good work in helping those truly in need.
What is the old saying?
Don’t call me Sir. I work for a living.
FatCircles0311…He’s one of those officers I did everything possible to keep from calling sir. I used their rank as often as possible and only Sir to direct unavoidable, questions. Even then, as often as I could get away with it I used, “Yes Colonel or No Colonel”.
Sparks, one of the signs that I was doing ok as an officer when when my soldiers started calling me ‘Sir’ versus using my rank. I could always tell. Plus, it’s axiomatic that if you take care of your guys, they’ll take care of you a thousandfold. I don’t know how many meals I missed because I was busy making sure stuff was set up, and that they were all fed squared away and by the time I got there the food was gone and they’d saved me some. I don’t get officers like this LTC.
ANCCPT…Then you Sir, were an Officer I would have been proud to call “Sir”, with all the respect due you as an Officer and a man. We need more like you in a big way and in a hurry.
Amen
Tom Slear needs to be corrected, everyone on this site should spread the word about this POS and hound him until this is achieved. The obamunist’s at the Washington post have nothing but hatred for veterans and are clearly stating that by running a hit piece against the meager benefits we receive. I wonder if they would ever consider doing the same in regards to federal employee benefits. The progressives will continue to diminish our service and make us out to be the enemy if we do not respond swiftly and loudly.
He’s so POG that he’s still trying to figure out what a Blue Falcon is.
I’d be happy to take his O-5 retirement since he doesn’t seem to want it.
FWIW: the guy likely didn’t have a choice in retiring in 2001. If he was a LTC in the USAR in 2001, 28 years of commissioned service was the max he could serve per Federal law. That is consistent with being his commissioned in 1973, which fits the rest of his story.
If he was in a augmentee slot at the Pentagon in 1990 (the time of Desert Shield/Storm), he’d not have had much chance to deploy then. Ditto Grenada or Panama.
Not trying to justify this fool’s actions or his rant above. Simply wanted to clarify facts concerning his lack of combat service. If you’re at the wrong place at the wrong time for a relatively short crisis (like DS/DS), it’s easy to end up with zero chance to deploy to combat. Finding a suitable opportunity can literally take multiple tries and years.
I personally think his rant above is simply the proverbial “tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” But as Jonn said above: if he doesn’t feel he earned his retirement pay, he can certainly waive it or return it to the Treasury vice spending it.
He makes waaaaaay too much money. Good for him. After a long 25 year career, I get the perfect amount. I get enough to pay bills and put something away every month!!! All from my military retirement. Tricare covers all my medical bills too. No wait, now I remember, I still have to work to do all of that. Oh yeah, Tricare doesn’t cover shit for me. Fortunately my job has better medical than Tricare can ever try to match. If this guy really wants to give back, by all means give to WTU or USO as mentioned earlier. I only deployed twice in 25 years, but have two blown disc’s in by back, bad knees, ankles, and God only knows what else is lurking around the corner. I earned my retirement, and I’ll be dammed if I give ANY of it up before some welfare cheat (not every one) or illegal alien
gets to keep their money. What a douche!!!
Do you think that this piece would be published by the Washington Post if it was not reflective of elite neocon opinion?
Like Sally Satel trying to minimize PTSD at AEI, they want a military and want wars but don’t want to pay taxes for it. Perhaps they can outsource the military – hire South Americans, Filipinos and Africans to fight at a low wage and no benefits. Something like that worked out for Rome, didn’t it?
Yeah, the Washington Post is so Neo-conservative.
This blue falcon is a liberal’s wet dream. Remember, the left loves vets who trash the military. I suspect he’s battlespace prep for the next round of budget cuts.
If we don’t push back, there will be more “veterans” calling for cuts to pay, bennies and gear.
Although I resent the remark that LtCol is the most useless rank, I won’t take it personally. I have many parallel circumstances to the author of the article, Tom, and he is an idiot. I initially joined the USMC in 1980 as a 180 day reservist and after a couple of years in the reserve and college, was commissioned and spent 6 years flying 53’s on active duty. After separating I was talked into the joining the active reserve and spent 11+ years there serving as the Motor T OIC, LogO for one unit and XO for 4th LSB. Upon promotion to O-5, I had to leave LSB (CO was also O-5, don’t ask…) and took the position of the CO of the local, what amounted to, family rep, unit. As it turned out, I always seemed to be in places or situation that kept me out of comat. Not that as a pilot I wasn’t in harms way over the years, but just never in a combat zone. 4th LSB deployed to Iraq in 2002-3 just after I transferred out. In the end, I served 22 qualifying years at my retirement in 2005. As a grey area retiree, I have no regrets about my service nor what I expect to receive in benefits when I reach retirement age. At one point about 11 years in I had a choice to make about continuing on in the reserves. Part of the calculus was the reserve benefits. In fact, we were given a brief on the benefits of staying in that was being given Corps wide to entice people to stay, particularly junior NCO’s. Part of the brief highlighted how the benefits at retirement were very good comparing time spent with civilian retirement. I have based my decisions regarding my career post service on my future benefits. I have been able to be self employed with fewer worries about retirement that I otherwise would have been able to. I will not apologize for taking my retirement as offered. I count on it. Just because Tom does not, does not mean the… Read more »
There ya go! Applying logic and reason to the discussion. 😉
Perhaps the rank of LtCol IS useless in the Army, but it not in the USAF either. And I do know a few LtCol Army types who had very honorable careers. Oh, well.
Meanwhile, the subject of this topic sounds pretty much useless without regard to his current rank. Just because he doesn’t feel he earn his retirement gives him no right to suggest that the rest of us did not and should give up a dime of what we earned. Most of us did not do anything particularly heroic. But we were prepared to do whatever was necessary to complete our assigned missions. We earned our pensions precisely because of what we were prepared to do, not because of what we didn’t have to do.
For those who gave much more than I gave it was because they faced dangers I never faced or acted heroically when given the opportunity to do so. They did what had to be done, as did most of us.
This clown is welcome to refuse his retirement, accept it, enjoy it, or give it away. Entirely up to him. What he is NOT entitled to is telling any of us that his opinion is more relevant than ours.
Gary Proctor…You have all my respect Sir. You did your service as called upon to do it. If it had been combat, you were ready and willing to go and serve. Not all in the military can choose the paths of their careers. But to be willing and have an honorable attitude, as you did, about it, speaks volumes. You have my respect Sir. The LTC in question on this thread, on the other hand, seems to have some personal issues with his service and subsequently a guilt issue about his retirement pay, which he chooses to vomit emotionally all over every other retiree. To their detriment. Without regard to their attitudes towards their service. I’ve met men like him and my answer to them is “take a seat and keep your personal guilt, displeasure and inadequacies to yourself”. Gary you are an honorable man and have my respect and tribute for answering the call to duty for your service to our country and I DO NOT lump you in with the likes of this guy. In my opinion, you EARNED your retirement as much as any and every retiree and I as a taxpayer, am happy to know that part of what I pay goes to support good veterans like you. So take heart Sir and take no crap from anyone about what you deserve to receive.
My father is a retired AF LTCol. He went to Vietnam and flew KC-135s. His hearing is shot (Courtesy of working with noisy engines) and he spent long stretches of time away from his family. He earned his retirement and his medical care.
So cut me a check if it’ll make you feel better or STFU, you backstabbing cum-chugger.
I understand the vitriolic jihad that is going on over this article, but personal bias aside there is some validity to his commentary. Just for purposes of credibility, I am a US Army Officer CURRENTLY serving in Afghanistan, and have served an additional 17 months in Iraq from 2003-2005. I enlisted in the Army under Reagan. The military has traditionally been insulated from economic regress typically via patriotic fervor which (like Mr. Slear notices) can be often misapplied by the population at large. Our pay and benefits ARE extremely opulent when compared to the vast majority of civilian occupations and it is magnified significantly in the entry level, otherwise unskilled labor sector. Is that bad? Perhaps not. Like Tom, I have also benefited by it personally. After 26 years in the military the angry rhetoric won’t fool me into the reality that the military establishment is full of employees both both extremely high and extremely low caliber. Some of the greatest people I have ever had the pleasure to know are in the military, and some of the poorest excuses for lazy, incompetent oxygen thieves have also been in the military. It’s like being in prison where “No one is guilty”. EVERYONE has “earned” it. Just ask them. They ALL were hard charging, ass kicking, no nonsense Soldiers. Oh, except the huge blubbering swaths of them that couldn’t keep a job at fucking Dairy Queen for half an hour. I love this military, and I am proud to have made this much of my life’s work…but to hide behind rabid nationalistic patriotism to avoid scrutiny which will elucidate the fact that we are chock full of people who are only a hairbreadth of an inch above the motivation of a welfare junkie is disingenuous. We have a good deal. Anyone who thinks we don’t hasn’t tried working in the private sector.
Who here suggested that scrutiny should be avoided?
You lost me at “The military has traditionally been insulated from economic regress typically via patriotic fervor which (like Mr. Slear notices) can be often misapplied by the population at large.” Whatever the fuck that is supposed to mean. I’m stupider for reading that sentence. Thanks man, now I can’t remember my locker combination.
Try again, without letting the intellect you think you have take control over the one you actually do.
Dan: I’ll support a cut in military benefits and/or a pay freeze if and when I see the same thing happen to Social Security and other mandatory spending programs across the board (i.e., no increases for Social Security and VA compensation recipients, matching cuts in Medicare/Medicaid/SNAP and other USDA nutrition assistance programs, etc . . . ) for which people qualify simply because they’re in the USA and breathing. However, until then I won’t support cutting military benefits while leaving most or all the mandatory “entitlements” untouched.
Congress created this mess because they wanted to be Santa Claus and p!ss away money on feelgood programs vice be responsible adults and plan for the future. They can unFUBAR it across the board any time they so desire. But if they choose not to do that, they might as well leave well enough alone – because military personnel costs are today far less than 4% of Federal spending (approx $150B out of approx $4T). Screwing troops and retirees while leaving the everyone else untouched doesn’t do anything meaningful to fix the problem.
Hondo…While I agree with Dan’s assessment of current troops in the military. That being, some are worthy of the name Soldier and some are worthless. I also agree more with your comment that before we even consider cutting military benefits, (which by the way, are not done on a case by case basis, which would remedy Dan’s (and my) experience of fellow soldiers) we need to cut benefits to those on the public dole. From welfare, housing, SNAP, to support of illegal aliens who come across the border 5 minutes before giving birth to a now, brand new, U.S citizen in a clinic in San Diego or somewhere. When that is reviewed and cut back to the bare bones, as is now wanted by the left for the military, then I will say okay you’ve done right there for the taxpayers and now let’s look at the reality of military benefits. I still harbor fears though. Even now the cuts in the military bother me. To let the government have free reign to break the bonds of decades long “contracts” with the military is a scary proposition to me. Once they do whatever they do there will be no going back. It would be nice if as Dan implied we could look at a soldier’s career on a case by case basis and impose an addition factor into their retirement pay, based on performance. For those who served say 20 years as a stand up, professional Officer or NCO and served well, the highest benefit in that factoring is applied. For those (and I hate them and the term) “Lifers”, who went in and saw a gravy train to hide from life and duck, cover and ass kiss their way to 20, then they get the lowest benefit in that factoring. Please don’t ask me how such a program could be implemented and carried out. I am not that smart. Maybe this is just my experience and disdain for the lifers I knew and had to serve with and pick up after that bothers me. So understand there is a… Read more »
Caveat: As an addition, most of my experiences with “Lifers” came during my service in the Air Force and not the Army. While I realize they exist in the Army as well, my short stint in the Army only exposed me to a small sliver of overall Army personnel. So I cannot speak in knowledge to the issues Dan expressed or those of you who are Army career folks.
Well as a recent retiree, I’ll have to agree in part and disagree in part. It has only been in the recent decades where enlisted pay (wasn’t an officer so I won’t speak to their pay) has risen to the point where they were a little sheltered. We’ve had this conversation here before. In recent years however, with the rise in gas, food, and other prices, this insulation has been cut more and more. Also the unskilled labor thing is a misnomer. Yes many enlisted may come in to the military as unskilled but for the most part many if not all after a 4 year enlistment would have the equivelent of an Associates (granted they may not have credits for things making them well rounded), or Journeyman level for most trades. Now fast forward 19/20 years, worth of un-compensated. 10-11+ hr days, missed holidays/birthdays/anniverseries, deployments, and the little thing called the unlimited liability clause (i.e. we are willing to die to defend our country). I would say AD pay is less than what it should be (at least at the enlisted level) and retirment pay even less so.
Did a little research and he’s a ring knocker from West Point. Looks like he comes from money, enjoys writing about racquetball (really?) and coached the youth swim team associated with the Naval Academy. Liberal and idle rich, great combo.
Inherited family money, eh?
Yeah, that gives his complaint about “not earning his pension” pretty much the same credibility as a sex manual written by a virgin celibate Priest or Nun.
Remember Hondo…Anything the Pope knows about sex…he shouldn’t.
Another thought about LTC Slapnuts/BlueFalcon.
When you retire from the Reserves/National Guard you are not eligible to receive retirement pay until age 60. In addition, you have to APPLY to receive your retirement pay. So LTC Slapnuts submitted paperwork affirming that he wished to receive retirement pay. If he thought the benefits were so extravagant, why did he apply for them? And I’m pretty sure Tri-Care isn’t automatic enrollment, it requires an affirmative enrollment from the individual entitled to receive the benefit.
As I said before, LTC Slapnuts needs a nice super size cup of STFU
Nice catch! As a grey-area retiree myself, I should have caught that. He most certainly had to apply for both pay and medical. Hell, I’m not even sure what the procedure is, but since I still have a 15 year wait anyway, it hasn’t been real high on my list of shit to do.
I’ve had a total of 24 years, 6 months and 3 days serving in various components of the Army. 4 years drilling National Guard; 15 years active duty; 6 months drilling (again) and the rest on IRR (my civilian job sent me overseas). 24 years, 6 months, 3 days – how much retirement or other benefits am I getting? None. Zero. Nada. I even fought the Med Board to stay in after breaking my back in a helicopter crash. Have I mentioned yet that I’m drawing no retirement, no medical, no amything for dressing like a tree (or at least having a tree suit hanging in the closet) for over 24 yesrs? What this poor overpaid ltc (little letters) needs to realize is that many, many Servicemembers do put in a lot of time and effort but a very few actually end up receiving retirement or some other sort of benefits after they’re done. If he feels guilty about getting too much, many suggestions have already been made as far as what he can do with his windfall (although not all are anotomically possible). Maybe he can donate his time and go on a speaking tour with the outgoing USMC SgtMaj and tell the nation how our military is so overpaid and we need to reduce their pay to be able to feed more illegal aliens. Whatever his issue is, we don’t need his help. Folks who have VOLUNTEERED to wear the uniform of the US Military don’t always get to pick the day and time or circumstances for when the shit hits the fan. On 10 Sep 2001, I promise you that no one guessed that they would be spending the next Christmas picking sand out of their asses. Those Sailors at Pearl Harbor downing drinks with umbrellas in Waikiki on Saturday night, 6 Dec 1941 had no idea how bad that hang-over was going to hurt the next morning. The bottom line is that when we signed up, for whatever reason, we all knew that we might or might not be called to actually perform our MOS against… Read more »
nbcguy54…Here-Here.
Late reply, but did you fall into the situation where you couldn’t get the 8 sat years in the reserves post active duty to qualify for a reserve retirement? I don’t the facts in your case, but it really seems FUBAR that all your time in doesn’t rate at least a reserve retirement.
It never ceases to amaze me how many people purport to speak for others when looking to take money away from someone.
How come we never see CEOs talking about how their subsidized business is getting more than they give? Only idiots like this who carry some internal guilt over 25 years of jacking off on the taxpayer’s dime. Most soldier I know who lasted 20 or more years are hard working focused responsible citizens. Why is he not advocating a 3% decrease for Senators and Congressmen for not actually getting anything done other than create gridlock in DC? Why not advocate for a simple 10% reduction in foreign aid to some of our more questionable “allies”? Why not advocate for a reduction in the subsidies used to prop up the piss poor investment practices of a bunch of corrupt bankers who screwed the pooch but received a trillion dollar bail out on our nickel?
Why can’t folks accept that it is not at all unreasonable that the fraction of a percent who put in the time to retire have risked all for 20 years expect their government to honor its’ bond just as honorably as those who gave 20 or more years of honorable service to the nation?
Another officer looking to stick it up the ass of the troops because he was a no go slacker with guilt issues, fuck this guy.
23 years in the Reserves.
Get lost, clown.
is he butt-buddies with Bateman? Sounds like it.
Late comment…..Unbelievable! Why ever apply for it if you don’t need it Slear? GIve EVERY PENNY of what you do not want/need to the WOUNDED WARRIORS or PARALYZED VETERANS Program fund and post every penny you pledge on social media. As a retired LTC myself, that’s the only way to save face with me. Never insinuate that service members did not earn their retirement pay, or even worse, that they get too much for risking their lives for this great nation because you have always apparently been a well off guy. No matter what their MOS or combat status may be! You bring disgust as an officer. Unbelievable!