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.