It’s not new to see DoD resist retiree and survivor benefit fixes. No administration ever supported concurrent receipt. The Clinton administration opposed TRICARE For Life (TFL), and the current Bush administration opposed any Survivor Benefit Plan fix. But this past year, Pentagon leaders raised a new contention that such initiatives actually rob money from active duty programs.

It’s a bogus argument. Most of the concern was about trust fund deposits—which are only accounting measures, not real outlays. Congress has been willing to address any real funding issues, if the Pentagon will ask.

The FY 2005 Defense Authorization Act moved the Pentagon’s TFL trust fund deposit responsibility to the Treasury Department. In FY 2004, Congress did the same for concurrent receipt. So it’s not a real issue.

The Pentagon has an employer’s responsibility to retirees and survivors, too. Hopefully, we can drop the divisive budget rhetoric and get on with needed fixes.

Col. Steve Strobridge, USAF-Ret., director of MOAA government relations