Freedom Isn’t Free
Critics who portray MOAA’s recent legislative victories as overly generous forget servicemembers’ decades of sacrifice.
By Vice Adm. Norbert R. Ryan Jr., USN-Ret.

Naysayers, including some in DoD, claim that TRICARE For Life, TRICARE Senior Pharmacy, ending the “disability tax” on the most severely disabled retirees, and eliminating the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) “widows tax” imposed on surviving military spouses at age 62 divert funds that would be better used to support those currently serving.

MOAA is concerned about attempts to portray retirees, veterans, and survivors as the “bad guys” in the DoD budget process. First, these recent legislative victories were long-overdue corrections of long-standing inequities. Second, DoD doesn’t pay one dime for TRICARE For Life, TRICARE Senior Pharmacy, or concurrent receipt fixes. The Treasury Department now funds these programs.

In approving these changes, Congress wisely acknowledged our nation’s obligation to provide equitable support to those who gave their careers, and in some cases their lives, in its defense. To portray these changes as overly generous is to forget servicemembers’ decades of sacrifice. Yes, the costs of military personnel, health care, and weapons systems are going up—but the troops’ burden of sacrifice is increasing even faster. Some troops serving in Iraq or Afghanistan today will be tomorrow’s disabled retirees, and wartime is the least appropriate time to begrudge benefit fixes for surviving military spouses.

Similarly, after the nation has changed the rules on Guard and Reserve forces, called up tens of thousands of them to put their lives on the line, and told them to expect regular and repeated mobilizations for the rest of their uniformed careers, personnel budget-cutters balk at the idea that the government should amend health care and retirement rules to ease the disruption of Guard and Reserve families’ lives, careers, and future civilian retirement benefits.

According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the defense budget is only about 19 percent of federal spending (down from more than 25 percent in the 1980s) and the defense budget has dropped from 6 percent to 4 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product; both are projected to decline further.
 
MOAA will not waver in its conviction that our nation can afford fair treatment for active duty, Guard, Reserve, and retired members and their families. Fortunately, Congress and the president have recognized—better than others in the executive branch—that we can’t afford not to do so, as every headline reminds us military people are the bedrock of national defense.