Military Can Be VERY Rewarding

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I thought that I would post this to explain to some of you that were thinking about joining the military ... how financially rewarding it can be ... even in tough times.

I have been helping a friend who is retired and has a serious illness now ... he has ALS. A few facts below to help you understand:

My friend is now 73 y/o and joined the US Army as an enlisted man at 18 y/o and this is what has happened to him ....

(1) Joined Army at 18 y/o and did E-1 thru E-7 ... then O-1 thru O-5 and retired as an Intel Officer.

(2) Did 2 tours in RVN and saw no combat.

(3) He taught military science & etc. after Army retirement and had a total of 46 years in Army & civil service. Somehow (under the old rules) ... he had both retirements combined and gets about $8,000.00 per month (taxable) retirement.

(4) Retired at about 64 y/o.

(5) Has "tricare for life" medical.

(6) Has VA medical.

(7) Has Medicare medical.

(8) Was originally granted VA disability at about $3,000.00 (non-taxable) per month. Add minimum 25%+ because this is non-taxable = $3,800.00 per month.

(9) Add SSA at about $1,500.00 per month.

(10) So, at 65 y/o ... he had the equivalent $8,000.00 (DoD & civil service) + $3,800.00 (VA) + $1,500.00 (SSA) = $13,300.00 per month in retirement money.

(11) Plus he has 3 medical plans ... "TriCare for life", VA & Medicare.

(12) Now, he was diagnosed with ALS and that is a "predisposed service connected disease" from RVN and his VA rating and monthly amount has changed to a VA SMC R.2 rating of $7,800.00 (veteran & spouse rate) (non-taxable) per month.

(13) $7,800.00 (new VA R.2 rating) + a minimum of 25%+ (for being non-taxable) = VA compensation now at about $9,700.00 per month.

OK ... Now the guy is sick, but has these super bennies to take care of him & his family (many bennies continue even after he dies):

(14) $8,000.00 (DoD & civil service) per month + $1,500.00 per month SSA + equivalent of $9,700.00 (VA) per month + 3 medical plans for him & his wife).

(15) In round numbers ... he has the equivalent of about $19,200.00 per month to take care of him PLUS ... Tricare, VA & Medicare medical plans.

(16) He is getting a $62,000.00 - 2011 Honda Odyssey (wheelchair ramp) van for about $20,000.00 and can have 2 new vehicles every 24 months. With the math ... vehicle 2 and etc. are basiaclly free with previous vehicle used as a trade-in.

(17) VA is modifying his home at no cost ... total with ramps and etc is about $75,000.00. (aluminum ramps, chair lifts for steps and room & bath mods.

**** At today's interest rates .. this veteran would have to have over well over $10,000,000.00 ($10 Million) savings in the bank to get the "taxable interest" for this kind of compensation ... PLUS ... he has ALL of his medical paid for under 3 different medical plans and this does not include the extra vehicle and home modification bennies either. ****

(18) And he bought the annuity when he retired and his wife will get many of the bennies when he dies.

I may have made a few typos in this but my numbers are good and I wanted to show you all ... how this can work.

Would "Corporate America" do all these things for you or could you save this much on your own when you really need it when you get sick in your old age ??? ....

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He is the "exception to to the rule" as he has good documentation and has been very persistent in his career and the DoD, VA & SSA claims process.

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On he other end of the spectrum ... I was helping another RVN veteran (Agent Orange exposure) with a very rare "double lung transplant" due to service connected AO and he gets $3,000 per month VA ... but the VA will not consider him permanently disabled ... WTF ...

Morale of the story ... do the military service ... followed by civil service or whatever ... keep good records ... be persistent ... and you should do OK.

PS ... If I have made typos ... I will edit this as I see them ... but military service can be very rewarding in many ways ...

PPS ... Am I a recruiter ... ... LOL ... NOOOO ... ... I am just another veteran who got banged up in the military and tries to help other veterans when I can. And I must say (for the most part) the VA has done a very good job of taking care of me at this point in my life.
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damn, gotta love that paycheck, even when your a civi again!

 

Thanks for the thread, HeloPilot. Good information!

 

Great info. Younger troops always complain about how much money they make and want to get out after their first enlistment. They tend to forget how much the benefits actually cost.

 

nice

I'd like to add that the military has also paid for both my Bachelors and Master's degree and I still have my G.I bill for future education of me or my dependents

 

Sky 6 thanks for your post and helping out other vets. Old or young the best of the USA. Jim

 

why are we bankrupt?

 

and corporations can't pay that much because they don't have taxpayer money to pull from.

 

it's great for him yeah.....

but bad on the rest of us.....

if it were me i wouldnt be complaining tho!!!!

 

THE ARMY PAID FOR MY DEGREES AA AND AS PAYS FOR MY MEDICAL SINCE I GOT HURT IN THE SERVICE (KNEE) I AM GREATFUL,BUT I TOO DID MY PART TWO CONFLICTS PANAMA AND GULF WAR IF THEY WOULD HAVE LET ME CHANGE MY MOS. I WOULD HAVE RETIRED FROM THE SERVICE.. BUT I AM GREATFUL THAT I SERVED AND OTHERS CONTINUE TO SERVE..... GOD BLESS THE USA!!!

 

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You guys brought up another good point ... the military (DoD and/or DVA) pays for your education and pays for your dependent's education too if you are injured.

Both of my step-daughters got Chapter 35 bennies (about $900.00 per month) and they used them wisely.

Yes .. all of these things are very expensive ... but I did not write that "rule book" ... and I just followed the rules set by others.
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Yeah and what has any corporation sacrificed to protect this country

 

X10

 

$hit man you make me wanna go back it.

Life is easy in the military compared to the civilian world;health benefits, steady paycheck, steady increase in said paycheck if you're not a DB, you move around from time to time, you get to see and do things most people will not get to do in their life time.

Out in the civilian world (from what I've seen so far) is much more challenging.

 

The military is great when it comes to that stuff, but it doesnt help or continue to make things good if we're not getting paid. Ive served for 5 years and continue to serve. I just want to know how we can fight 3 "wars", rebuild countries, and pay our gov't employees rediculous salaries, yet they are talking about cutting funding/pay for all military. I have the money to go a little while without getting a check,( i wouldnt be happy), but what about the people that have no choice to live paycheck to paycheck? I dont disagree with any of you, just throwing out my .02

 

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IMO ... "Today's Military" .... is very different from the military in the days of RVN ... circa 1960s and 1970s.

Military was tougher back then and civilian life was easier ... now, it is the opposite ...

Even though I was good in school and did very well in my military classes ... I probably would not make the initial grade to get into flight school today.

Back in the RVN days ... some people with minor crimes were given an option of ... "Jail or the Military" ...... and many picked jail instead of the military too. ... ...
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So what you're saying is that they're paying him twice for two separate retirements?

I suppose you can say its rewarding to have 10 years to spend your money before you're dying of a serious illness.

 

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He kinda has 4 retirements ... (1) Military (2) Civil Service (3) VA (4) SSA

According to his doctors ... he has from -- 2 months to 6 months -- to live now.

And perhaps 10 to 12 years was cut off of his life ... due to exposure to certain things in the military.
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btw, I totally plan on doing this... (if I'm still able too)

I'm going to retire at 20 from the Navy... probably be an O-5 (CDR)
then find a GS-15+ job in contracting... retire from that too

Unless I find some job as a private contractor for the military doing the same job as I was as a CDR... making REAL money

Hey, if its available I mine-as-well do it.

As for Civil Servants being over paid... some... sure the counter servant and the DMV yes, the E5 running around in Afghanistan... Hell no!

Besides, even if all the government employees took a 50% pay cut the deficit would only drop maybe 5%. The real culprits are obviously Medicare and Social Security, but thats for another thread...

 

The real culprits are now 3 needless wars, an industrial military complex that sucks the money out of the private sector, and yes a welfare state. but don't forget that every american is forced without choice to put money into both social security and medicare. it would be a shame if our government would stop paying out ss and medicare while continuing our wars of choice. both entitlements and defense spending have to be cut to fix our problems.