April 4, 2014

Despite public statements by senior DoD military and civilian leadership in public hearings and the press, recent studies and blog posts indicate military personnel do not support cuts to pay and benefits within the FY 2015 budget proposal.

Uniformed and civilian defense leaders hope Congress will accept their anecdotal stories citing troops and their families are in favor of making pay and benefit concessions in order to have appropriate training and equipment and accept their proposals to curb active duty pay, reduce the housing allowance, dramatically cut the commissary benefit, and foist more health care fees on retirees and currently serving families.

We are not questioning their anecdotal survey of troops; however, in stark contrast, the recent survey by the Washington Post and Kaiser Family Foundation found that 83 percent of post-9/11 servicemembers and veterans oppose cuts to pay and benefits.

Articles such as Military.com’s, “Generals say Troops Understand Need for Pay Cuts,” outline the Pentagon’s case, but the 1,800-plus comments below the article make it clear that their readers soundly reject the proposals.

MOAA understands the difficult predicament the Pentagon now faces, but the “quadruple whammy” of capping pay, increasing out-of-pocket housing expenses, slashing commissary benefits, and cutting health care benefits would be four giant steps toward repeating the short-sighted cuts which led to retention and readiness problems in the past.

The solution to funding training and equipment should not be on the backs of troops and their families who have already served and sacrifice so much for our nation. Nor should Congress undo the very fixes they put in place over the past decade to combat the severe recruiting and retention crisis experienced in the 90s.

Congress established the Military Retirement and Modernization Commission (MCRMC) to study the current compensation system and suggest reforms. Jumping the gun with piecemeal, budget-driven changes before the study concludes would be a rash decision.

Secretary Hagel stated before the FY 2015 budget release that, "Continuous piecemeal changes will only magnify uncertainty and doubts among our servicemembers about whether promised benefits will be there in the future."

We couldn’t agree more and we hope Congress shares our view.