I have to disagree. In my experience, the officers and NCOs that were asked to leave early weren't great performers. They were usually sub-standard.
That is just my experience, YMMV.
US Army Reductions
- Thread starter nywrit62
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I have to disagree. In my experience, the officers and NCOs that were asked to leave early weren't great performers. They were usually sub-standard.
That is just my experience, YMMV.
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Just remember, not everyone can retire. Many will make it to O-4 (so they WILL be able to retire), but what some are seeing now are some blood bath promotion boards. For the officers caught up in those blood baths, it isn't always about being "standard" or "sub-standard." There isn't that much flux from a 85% promotion rate one year to a 75% promotion rate the next year. It's the same kind of officer, just 10% will be promoted one year than another (and put two blood bath years in a row, MANY are out).
The problem here is the military IS too big, so yes, people will HAVE to be fired, and I'd rather them be fired BEFORE we're stuck contributing to a life-long retirement.
The problem here is the military IS too big, so yes, people will HAVE to be fired, and I'd rather them be fired BEFORE we're stuck contributing to a life-long retirement.
Understand your background is law enforcement, so do LEOs think once hired the agency needs to keep them until they qualify for retirement?
Is LEO/Military guaranteed employment until qualifying for retirement?
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I'm pretty sure that's why they have a union. And that assumption (and those pensions) have started to destroy towns.
As far as the military is concerned, WE ALL know that anyone in uniform ASSUME they're safe until they're ready to get out. That's what retirees whine about COLA and people get angry they don't have step increases (for civilians). It's ASSUMED.... make O-2 in X years, make O-3 in X years, make O-4 in XX years... and once you hit that O-4.... you WILL retire.... then the question is just "at what pay grade?"
US Army proposed cuts
Yes, law enforcement pretty much are guaranteed their pensions unless they do something stupid and get fired (e.g do drugs, shoot someone bad shooting, etc.)
Line in the Sand-I have a friend who had a daughter as a Lt in the Coast Guard that was let go after just a few years because of cuts. She had wanted to do an entire career.
Here is my take on retirements and law enforcement. Because of civil service you get some that work their butts off, many do above average and many are just marginal but you are stuck with them.
Regarding cities going broke: In 1983 when I entered law enforcement in NYC city and state actuaries had all the math planned on how much it would cost. I had a choice to go to work on Wall St and make 5 times my police salary. Because cities can't pay what the private sector pays, they make a deal to give a pension of half pay after 20 or 25 yrs of service. Throughout my career my Wall St friends with no education made 250k up while I struggled to pay the bills. After 2008 many lost their jobs and are regretting they never did the defined benefit cop/firefighter/teacher pensions.
The problem with cities is they failed to put the money away as contracted and that is why we are in the mess.
Detroit which is now broke is cutting retired cops pensions by half.
As for the military I think if the person does a good job he should get his pension but I understand the pressure to get people out.
I do understand cutting bloated forces. A few years ago when I was a Lieutenant Narcotics Squad Commander there were 40,0000 police officers. We had 4 female police officers, 1 Sgt and a Lt doing Domestic Violence home visits. Totally ridiculous. In NYC many of us that looked to their retirement are now ill from 9/11 exposure and thousands are sick and dying from cancers.
In my opinion, I do not want to see the greatest military in the world get gutted over politics. It will take years to rebuild. I think it is terrible that health care for military retirees is being cut and I feel terrible for the wounded warriors and their plight.
Military-Thank you for all you do.
Yes, law enforcement pretty much are guaranteed their pensions unless they do something stupid and get fired (e.g do drugs, shoot someone bad shooting, etc.)
Line in the Sand-I have a friend who had a daughter as a Lt in the Coast Guard that was let go after just a few years because of cuts. She had wanted to do an entire career.
Here is my take on retirements and law enforcement. Because of civil service you get some that work their butts off, many do above average and many are just marginal but you are stuck with them.
Regarding cities going broke: In 1983 when I entered law enforcement in NYC city and state actuaries had all the math planned on how much it would cost. I had a choice to go to work on Wall St and make 5 times my police salary. Because cities can't pay what the private sector pays, they make a deal to give a pension of half pay after 20 or 25 yrs of service. Throughout my career my Wall St friends with no education made 250k up while I struggled to pay the bills. After 2008 many lost their jobs and are regretting they never did the defined benefit cop/firefighter/teacher pensions.
The problem with cities is they failed to put the money away as contracted and that is why we are in the mess.
Detroit which is now broke is cutting retired cops pensions by half.
As for the military I think if the person does a good job he should get his pension but I understand the pressure to get people out.
I do understand cutting bloated forces. A few years ago when I was a Lieutenant Narcotics Squad Commander there were 40,0000 police officers. We had 4 female police officers, 1 Sgt and a Lt doing Domestic Violence home visits. Totally ridiculous. In NYC many of us that looked to their retirement are now ill from 9/11 exposure and thousands are sick and dying from cancers.
In my opinion, I do not want to see the greatest military in the world get gutted over politics. It will take years to rebuild. I think it is terrible that health care for military retirees is being cut and I feel terrible for the wounded warriors and their plight.
Military-Thank you for all you do.
The situation with the pension cuts for cops in Detroit is because it can declare bankruptcy. States, being sovereign (in the sense of financial matters) cannot declare bankruptcy under federal law and State LEOs as mentioned above are pretty much guaranteed their pension unless they screw up enough to get fired. RIFs are infrequent and generally based upon seniority within rank, demotions coming in lieu of layoff for everyone above the bottom rank.
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I'm seeing the bloodbath in the AMEDD and to be honest, it really scares me...
I was speaking to the 1LT PA at the aid station in Bagram. Of his classmates, only 30% were selected to CPT. I'm sure they'll get picked up for CPT above zone, but that's still scary. Certain AMEDD branches are reasonably protected (MC, VC, DC), but others are starting to feel the pain (MOSTLY SP, MS, AN). Its one thing to see the drawdown and prepare for the worse, its another to see the drawdown, laugh and say "It doesn't affect me" and get slapped with the harsh reality of life.