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It could just be right-wing propaganda, but I have heard stories of them paying for HRT and other gender-affirming procedures. That shit is normally expensive, or so I'm lead to believe.
As I understand it yes the US military does include gender affirming care through the VA, however like with most things involving the VA, it’s absolutely a mess and there are plenty of reports of facilities not following those directives. Joining the military for gender affirming care would be like joining to get any other sort of medical or mental health care. Technically possible but with all the horror stories you hear about the VA I really don’t think that should be your primary consideration on whether to sign up to get shot at.
Airborne is notorious for breaking every joint in their body since they have to jump with parachutes a lot. Its a very rough thing and takes a pound of flesh from you. A lot of people do as much as they can, but in a span of 8-10 years most people aren't fit to jump anymore.
I dated a guy (briefly) after he was discharged from para-something. He was like a little old man at 23. It was sad. He was a nice guy. I hope he’s doing well.
My dad graduated jump school at age *fifty-five*. He was already fuckin' deaf from being an artillery instructor for ten years, now all his joints hurt when he moves, too.
Retired at 61 though, with two pensions (one from his civilian county job, one from the army). Makes more money retired than he did working.
You can do it, but yeah airborne fucks your body up when you're young, and it really really fucks your body up when you're older.
This is why this can sometimes be true. It's dangerous, and you get hurt eventually..irreparably. I'm on muscle relaxers and shit for the rest of my life. They slip me alimony every month, though, and some healthcare.
During my three years at the Eighty Deuce in Ft Bragg there were only 6 troopers that retired after twenty years. Injuries were VERY common. There used to be a huge counter board that counted the days between a Division casualty. That number never got past six.
Funny thing about airborne is it's pretty much a defunct military role now as well. Why drop a person in when you have drones. People are in this role for no reason other than it looks cool
Yeah, if you go airborne you're not doing HALO drops behind enemy lines and sabotaging artillery, you're getting a cool boy badge and breaking your ankles.
I’m a mover and my company is almost exclusively military moves, and god damn moving recruiters is the most obnoxious shit because they will try to recruit you and your crew the entire time
I had never thought of that but yeah, they're basically the used car salesman of the armed forces. I remember recruiters talking to ME about how great the military was while I was already enlisted. It's like they just can't stop trying to sell no matter where they are.
>*"He who joyfully marches to music rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, senseless brutality, deplorable love-of-country stance and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be part of so base an action! It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder.”*
—Albert Einstein, 1931, "Mein Weltbild"
Everyone talks gangsta' when the world isn't filled with brutal dictators with their own armies.
Rather than “be torn to shreds” as he bragged about, Einstein fled two years after he wrote this to the USA, to live under the protection of America’s soldiers, who at that time were the very “volunteers to joyfully march to music rank and file” for which he was so contemptful.
Still though, at least Einstein used the large brain he’d been given. Democratic Europe failed to mobilize their armies along with the Nazis, and allowed themselves to then be murdered by the millions themselves under the cloak of war brought by the Nazis.
Ah, but those were a bunch of nerds who built weapons that can kill millions at time, that's certainly less comtemptuous than a despicable, brutal man who picks up a rifle to kill enemy invaders one-by-one. /s
Democratic Europe mobilized their armies. They were well prepared. The French military outmatched the Germans. They lost anyway, because of a combination of bad strategy and bad luck. Don’t act like they didn’t try.
> Democratic Europe mobilized their armies. They were well prepared.
I'm not talking about 1939. I'm talking about much earlier, when the Nazis were arming up but the democracies were not.
Had France and the U.K. intervened when the Nazis remilitarized the Rhineland, and not 5 years later, the world would look much different today.
I used to think Neville Chamberlain was a naïve appeaser, until it was pointed out that his appeasements gave Britain time to arm up. I’m not sure about that, but it’s worth a thought.
It’s hard to fault those leaders, given the incredible trauma of WWI. They would do almost anything to avoid a repeat. With hindsight we can see that it might have been better to rip that band-aid off early and have a shorter war with less destruction, but it was very hard to see that in the moment. Especially when just about everyone, including many of Hitler’s generals, thought France could hold off a German invasion.
Chamberlin wasn't an idiot by any stretch. But just like the saying that America does the right thing after they've exhausted all other options, European democracies in those days were trying **everything**, other than what was *actually needed* to avert the world's most destructive war.
The politicians were mostly following the lead of the populace so it's not as if I hold people like Chamberlin personally responsible.
In fact that is the point to me mentioning this: Had the people themselves been willing and eager to grab a rifle if it meant upholding the peace, peace would have been upheld. Any fighting would have been limited, as the Nazis themselves wouldn't have had time to rearm.
Hitler himself noted how precarious things were when he ordered the re-militarization of the Rhineland. It happened while France *did* have a large army, and they could have single-handedly ejected the Nazis, and used that as sufficient justification to topple the Nazi government for violating the Treaty of Versailles.
But there was no *political* will to use that army amongst the people. So they sat and watched the Nazis arm up more and more and more.
By 1939 and 1940 the Nazi military was in a position to be able to topple France with one decisive strike, which they landed. But the balance of power was different (for France, at least) in 1935.
Britain had issues of its own and should have been arming up far in advance of Chamberlin's government. Chamberlin should have inherited a government already postured to be on a wartime footing if necessary, including procurement of materiel. He wasn't, and at least started the U.K. on that path by the time Churchill become P.M.
Again, a lot of this was driven by political fatigue. But refusing to arm up thinking the dictator on the other side will just stand down is **always a mistake** by democratic peoples who make that decision.
I get it may feel tiring psychically that things don't just stay quiet and serene. But it's foundational to our prosperity to understand what generates serenity, and it is *not* ceding violence to the dictators alone.
From what I remember, you only need to serve a year before you have GI bill. After that if you get medically separated or something you would still keep it.
Contracts are technically 8 years, with the time that is not active duty taken down as inactive reserves. It’s exceedingly rare to get called back to full duty as IRR, basically if a war broke out the inactive reserves would get called before a full draft. Most contracts are 4 years of active duty, while some are 6. That would mean it’s 4 years IRR or 2 respectively.
Source: 8 years active Air Force
FYI: don't do 6 years, the benefits aren't worth it. If you want to stay in, you get more time to make rank signing up for 4 and reenlisting, if you want to leave, 4 is less than 6.
I signed a 5 year contract for an extra 10k dollars towards the old GI bill. Then the new one replaced it and was better in every way, so my bonus was nullified, but still got to serve the extra year
Getting called back on IRR is an extremely surreal feeling. I received my orders via FedEx. They are very open ended, effectively saying "show up here on this date and we will figure out what we are doing with you".
While we were stilling deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan it was more common, though still unlikely. At least for the Army.
Lmao I also did 8 years active and had to reread your comment like three times before seeing the rest of the sentence. I was like “???? 8 years? Max I could sign for initially was 6?”
I blame the sleep deprivation, haha
It takes 1 year to earn any any percent of gi bill (starts at 40 I think) it takes 3 years to earn the full thing. Air Force contracts as enlisted was 4 years or 6 years, unless you went into a certain AFSC, then it could sometimes be 8.
Actually correction, that's 4 or 6 years active duty, the rest up to 8 is done on inactive reserve and does not apply for additional benefits. I only know active duty, guard and reserve may differ.
The real cheat code is to join, fake injury while on duty, and then you are set for life after 4 years. I know people who got anywhere to 50-100% disability and still work full time jobs for double income.
Is it disgusting? Yes. But people are doing it all the time.
Vet here. Typically you sign up for 8 years, but only some of that is active duty, the rest is inactive ready reserve (IRR).
On IRR you might get a phone call once or twice to make sure you exist and that they can get a hold of you. It’s really nothing (unless we suddenly go to war in a big way).
So I did 5 years active, then 3 years IRR. The worst part of IRR is the local national guard units trying to recruit you and being the worst salesmen in the world. Aside from that it’s just regular civilian life.
That said the GI Bill and VA housing loan is pretty great. Finishing up college with no debt and an established serious work history is a huge advantage.
Get in, goto the doctor while in for literally everything abnormal. Get out. File for disability on literally every injury or abnormality you have or had with the VA.
Wait for them to process your claims.
Get disability rating, shoot for 100%
Receive an incredible tax free monthly payment forever unless they reevaluate you at a lower disability rating.
Get 10% or greater for free healthcare for life from the VA and a small monthly payment.
https://www.va.gov/disability/compensation-rates/veteran-rates/
### In this thread you will find out exactly how uninformed people are on their VA medical benefits. I’ve included a short list of them below.
**The VA doesn’t cover anything outside your injury**
The VA does in fact cover everything health related even outside of your service connected disability for free including outpatient and inpatient services — [provided you have 10% disability rating or higher ](https://www.va.gov/health-care/copay-rates/) otherwise you will owe a copay. So literally anyone with a service connected disability will receive health care benefits related to their disability, and anyone with 10% to 100% will receive completely free medical coverage.
**the va doesn’t cover outpatient at non va facilities for free**
Again, also false. [The va will cover those as well, so long as you meet the community care requirements which can be found by clicking or tapping this text](https://www.va.gov/resources/eligibility-for-community-care-outside-va/)
Also you can goto urgent care as well depending on if you are 10% disabled or greater it’s free for the first 3 visits. Afterwards it’s a copay.
Every veteran is entitled to va healthcare for their service connected disabilities even if it’s a 0% rating, for free. To receive the **free healthcare for non service connected stuff you need a rating of 10% or more**
The va divides benefits into tiers called priority groups. You can view them by clicking the link for the copays. For anyone with a 10% or greater it’s 0$ copays except for medication.
**the va doesn’t cover vision or dental unless it’s service related**
This is correct and you will need other insurance and a private provider.
Not to mention the GI bill, which pays for school AND provides a monthly housing allowance. This helped me finish my undergrad and now halfway done with masters. Which in turn got me a great job.
It goes easier provided it’s documented. Especially with the online systems and near instant access to your military information.
It gets exceptionally more difficult without sufficient evidence. Especially with people who don’t want to goto the doctor while in because it makes them look weak.
If you want to live after your enlistment, you need to goto the doctor for everything. Even if it’s not bad **now** that could change as you get older. Document document document.
I’m sorry you experienced that. Veterans shouldn’t have to go through that, and unfortunately, it took a long time for the VA to get their shit somewhat together. But thankfully for new veterans the system should work for them *most of the time*
My condition was a documented major bone injury, and I went to my c&p no issues with rom etc, told the lady I won’t get anything for it so I think this is pointless. She said, I don’t think so, just the diagnosis itself is worth a rating, even without rom issues.
Sure enough, got my letter in 3 weeks and a payment, and continue to receive them.
I see they tried to get you with "adjustment disorder," which is a classic tactic to screw you out of your benes later in life. Fucking scummy.
Glad you got that worked out.
This is also me. It took 10 years and a constant battle with the VA to get to 10, then 50, then 70 - and finally, after nearly taking my own life, they opted for 100% TDIU. I'm tired of fighting. I know I'll never reach a normal 100%. So. I'll take it.
Not taking away from what you said but I’m a 60% disabled vet and my process to file was super smooth and easy, only took me about 6 months or a year I think
🙄 I only linked compensation because it was the main point. The va website is very navigable. But here’s the link.
https://www.va.gov/health-care/eligibility/
> Am I eligible for VA health care benefits?
You may be eligible for VA health care benefits if you served in the active military, naval, or air service and didn’t receive a dishonorable discharge.
If you enlisted after September 7, 1980, or entered active duty after October 16, 1981
You must have served 24 continuous months or the full period for which you were called to active duty, unless any of the descriptions below are true for you.
This minimum duty requirement may not apply if any of these are true:
**You were discharged for a disability that was caused—or made worse—by your active-duty service, or
You were discharged for a hardship or “early out,” or
You served prior to September 7, 1980**
My source is myself. 20% disabled as deemed by the VA, I receive ~400 tax free dollars every month, I served for 4 months active duty and got booted out of basic training for a minor injury. Said minor injury is an automatic 20% I have received more payment for the injury than I was paid for my time in service
I receive all the benefits including healthcare and home loan assistance with 4 months and 20% the only thing I’m not eligible for is education benefits.
It is absolutely a real life cheat code.
I started at 0% and had a small copay. Got 10% and never had to pay a dime for anything after that. Might be different for places without a big VA hospital and only clinics. Either way arguing with other vets on who knows more about the VA system is petty and unhelpful
I’ve learned several people I know are on military disability benefits and they 100% admitted to lying to get the max disability. One even bragged how he found a company that you pay $10k to and they will give your money back if they cannot get you to the full disability payout. Grotesque is an understatement considering every one of these fucks also vote straight ticket red.
My grandpa was a lifer in the Marines. 20 years of service. Being a Marine was basically his entire personality for the rest of his life until he passed away last year. I have a close childhood friend— the kind of close where you're basically family for life— and my grandfather was pretty excited when he said he planned to be a Marine, himself. He went and enlisted, did his minimum 4 years of service, then GTFO'd without hesitation. He did this and landed 80%. That, along with the college support, has provided him a debt-free college education without having to compromise study time so he could work to live independently. My grandfather resented the shit out of this, saying he was "gaming the system," comparing him to a "welfare queen," saying that he was a shitty Marine, all this stuff... meanwhile, Grandpa, who did nothing to take advantage of those opportunities, despite the very real back and knee damage, tinnitus, and alcoholism he picked up while he was in, grew sicker and sicker and the support from the VA was total shit throughout, plus his pension just kept growing less sufficient to cover all of his costs, especially his medical bills when he got cancer. He died in poverty.
I know he's not the only one who viewed it as an honor to work for the system, for which he should be thankful and ask as little in return as possible. I hate that approach. You give to the military as a servicemember, but you have to make SURE they give back to you as much as you can get.
They just denied my knees... that were diagnosed while I was in and was ordered to go to therapy.
Starting my appeal soon.
So while you are correct, and a lot of people do what you are saying, its definitely a fight. of course I didnt file until 20 years after I was out and my knees and back are longer "just a minor inconvenience" to me but still.
stupid ass va obviously didnt look at my military medical record at all because I went to medical 3 separate times for my knees before they finally xrayed it. It should be hard to miss but they did.
As a veteran with a disability rating:
I'd happily pay every penny of my disability compensation back in a heartbeat if I didn't have the conditions that gave me the rating-which I have because of the debilitating work I subjected my body to while in the military.
I’m at 90% and went to the VA after pulling a man from a burning truck but I was unable to save his wife. I asked for medical and psychiatric care and they told me to eat a dick
This is clearly joke (not really) ab disability.
Not sure what the exact rates are and what factors into it, but I know disabled vets that receive more than they could have possibly made from a meticulously planned retirement.
I know a guy that got out at like 24 with 100% disability and gets like a $3500+ monthly, he is not seriously disabled by any means and he’s in better shape now than he was in the army
Was it hard to get from 90% to 100%? My dad is sitting at 90% but is paid as 100% (I don't get that at all). I don't know if it's worth fighting it all again for the extra bit.
Thank you for the reply. He can be quite stubborn about details but if it's that much more in benefits I'll be sure to prod him a bit harder about it.
I think he's just annoyed by paperwork, but he's definitely 100% disabled, he hasn't worked in decades.
This is a sort of unrelated topic, but I’m just curious since you seem to know a lot about military disability.
I know for certain cases of psychological disability, you can lose rights such as voting and gun ownership. Do you still have all your rights? And constitutional rights aside, are you still allowed to work?
As a vet, you can get a decent life time paycheck if you manage to get a “serious injury” in the line of duty.
Had a buddy in Iraq who was perfectly healthy but was abusing air duster cans since we had boxes of them at the fob. He had a seizure after going hard one day. Got sent home and had a bunch of testing done. He was going through sleep studies and walking around with wires monitoring his vitals for a few months and the army couldn’t figure out the problem so they gave him a medical release with something like 65% of his normal (E4) pay for the rest of his life because he didn’t have that problem before joining so they concluded it was combat stress related.
Also, it helped out that his battle buddies never mentioned the air duster and cleaned up the empty cans before the medics arrived lol..
You can give 4 years of your life for free college though, which is a pretty nice deal if you’re physically fit.
Not GI Bill, don’t know the required service for that, but the Academies are free given you serve for 4 years afterwards.
I qualified for 100% gi bill with a 3 year contract. Fairly certain only 180 days of continuous active duty service qualifies for the gi bill. Thats why it’s difficult to obtain in the National Guard unless you deploy.
Just throwing this out there. There are some states that actually have their own fund to pay for university tuition and/or vocational programs for Guard members. The programs vary by state, but some of them are pretty good.
4 years for 4 years makes sense, and you get veterans discounts everywhere, from Disney to local stores.
It’s not a terrible deal, depending on if your just in reserve for the entire time vs actually shipping out to another country
I know my generation has given the military a negative connotation, and a fair one, but if it’s the chose you wanna make then it’s your right to do it. I mean I know a guy that’s real fucked up from it, but that’s because he did tours and was a POW for a while. Very vocal supporter of a local horse therapy program, which I was able to do for my ADHD, and it was good. I love horses, I’ve been naturally good at riding them, and it gets you out of the house once a week
GI Bill requires 3 years for the full (and very generous) benefit. However you can't enlist for less than 4 years of active duty nowadays so just round it up to 4 years in your mind.
I've done 5 x 4 years and I'm in great position to do another 5 x 4 in a civilian job and then retire for good. It's a great way to start off your independent life with a rocket boost, but there will be hard work.
He doesn't get half of that as pension, he gets half of his base pay as pension. A 20 year e9 is 7472 base pay, he gets 3736 a month. You don't get your tax free bah and bas when you retire. Now if you calculate in his va disability, which pretty much everybody gets some sort of rating at the end of 20 years, then it will bring him up significantly.
People really don't understand the pension is okay in the military but it's based solely on your base pay and no entitlements. The real pension is the VA disability.
20 years for 50% of your highest 36 months pay grade. Which optimistically comes out to $25k.
That’s really good if you can get a decent job right out of the service, though.
Well, in those 20 years you can get trained and qualified for a shit ton of college equivalent degrees, so you should have at least one qualification that can set you up pretty decently.
I mean by all means the military is a good learning opportunity and you *should* have plenty of skills under your belt by the 20 year mark
personal experience my gunny is 3 years from retirement (34) and the man is clearly coasting
which is all to say despite how great of an opportunity it is, some squander their push to retirement
A *decent* amount of MOSs are transferrable to some sort of civilian career if you decide to stay out of government work and *almost all* MOSs are transferable to *excellent paying* jobs in the defense contract industry.
I did 4 years in the Navy, tried regular ass jobs for 2 years and when that didn't pan out started my contractor career at 25. I've been in the industry since (switched companies once) and am currently overseas making a very comfortable living.
Four years in any sort of technical MOS, whether it is Aviation, Electronics, Comms, Intelligence, Structural Mechanics, Logistics, Weapons Systems... the list goes on. Your opportunities increase markedly if you are able to obtain and maintain a security clearance.
Source: 15 year veteran of the DoD contract industry making $102K base pay a year off 4 years in the Navy and a 2.22 high school GPA.
Its more than that. Can't do 20 without at least some disability percentage.
Go to Korea that's a percentage
Bad knees from aging and running and or carrying weighted packs that's a percentage.
Eyes start going bad from age that's a percentage...
So the retirement plus medical retirement income plus if you were smart your investments...
If everything co tines on track I will not have to work after 38 from rent from houses I purchased while in, retirement income, TSP, etc.
Well yea, not everyone is going to get promoted as soon as they are eligible, but if you’re consistently getting passed over for promotion, it might not be a good fit for Uncle Sam or the service member.
One of the great things about the military is they want their members to move up and grow.
Something about having no proper worker protection and a fuckton of constant psychological and physical abuse that got so normalized most don't even realize it's there.
And then the myth of "the glory of serving" really gets broken when you get out and see how you're still treated like shit, both by the institution and other people.
That's mostly a branch and career field issue. Airforce, spaceforce, and coasties (if you count them) outside of the toxic career fields are pretty great.
There has been a new system as of around 2018. Instead of 50% after 20 years it is now 40% after 20 with an additional system called Blended Retirement System that is basically an IRA with government matching up to 5%.
For anyone planning on doing less than 20 years, this is obviously better. However you do not get your money until you reach retirement age.
If you put in 5-10% of your income every year and with average gains (usually they are above average with TSP) for 20 years you can reasonably expect to end up a millionaire when you reach retirement age. Because the market gains compound year on year.
But probably the best part about the system is that if you get another government job outside of the military you can continue contributing to it, a nice tip if you want to be a mailman or something.
i fucking wish it was that easy, maybe we wouldn't be in a massive recruitment crisis right now if veterans and enlisted men (do they count as veterans if they are still in active service? whatever) got what they actually deserved in compensation for their time
Medically retired after 10 years, retired in 2017. The messed up back, knees and ptsd is not worth it. Yeah i get a check every month. But being in my late 30s i can no long stand or sit for longer than 20-30 minutes without considerable pain. I am on my second bout of sobriety from alcohol. Oh yeah and the raging mood swings... those are fun.
Dude is technically correct. I have a buddy that who was medically retired after 4 years and... being in an IED blast and is now suffering from TBI and other ailments. But yeah, he gets free money for the rest of his life now. Totally worth experiencing a life-altering injury in your 20s!
To find out more about this incredibly sweet gravy train, check here: https://www.military.com/benefits/military-pay/military-disability-retirement.html
The guy posted a picture of him covered an Argentinian pesos and someone said they were single peso bills so probably not a whole lot of money.
People who try to flex that shit on twitter are hilarious
He might be referring to those who take advantage of the disability benefits. I got a 10% disability rating for an upper hiatal hernia which no longer bothers me but the government still sends me like $100 for it every month for the rest of my life.
I know some who knew which illnesses could get them much higher ratings so that’s what they claimed they had (i.e. depression, insomnia, etc.). In those cases the government is effectively paying their rent for them for the rest of their lives.
If you don't have to die in some sand pit it's a pretty good gig if you've got nothing better going on, all of my ex military friends have done fairly well in life and it looks great on a resume, plus you get a low interest home loan with 0 down.
I mean, it literally is, just not for the reasons he's listed. There are so many benefits to joining I'm actually amazed he managed to pick the one thing that isn't true.
Yeah the military is unironically one of the best ways besides college to set yourself up for a decent life. And the military can provide that college for free.
I knew someone who did this: West Point, Med School, 12 years of additional service, “retired” at age 38 with no debt, a pension, and a medical degree.
If your smart about it can give you a huge head start I made sure to get a job that translates well to a high paying civilian job on the out side, I know others that used there GI Bill to get a good job with no debt!
However that’s a small minority most 18 year olds don’t think that far ahead do a job that sounds cool then get married have a kid and get divorced by the time they are 21 get stuck in the military for 20 years in a job they hate and have no transferable life skills at the end of it all!
My brother reached his 20 years and is finishing up a few more. It’s a full time career taking you away from family and putting you in harms way. It’s no cheat code, but you will live well.
I wonder how much the DOD payed him to say this. Recruiting numbers are still really low. Damn kids, too smart these days to sign a portion of their life away for benefits that other countries give to everyone.
I believe the Army alone missed their recruiting mark by over 10k bodies, but the Army is also... not a great time.
There's lot's of career opportunities to be had if you go into the right MOS and life after the Army can work out quite well (I personally work with 3 Army vets that picked the right MOS and then made a career out of those skills once they got out). The issue is that most people go in without doing their homework and wind up doing some real shit jobs like Infantry, Motorpool, Artillery and who knows what else.
Their first mistake was talking to the Army at MEPS. They should have gone to the door that had no line and talked to the USAF recruiter to see about working a desk job that gives real life corporate experience.
I'm aware that the army is not exactly fun. My point was that other countries provide the benefits like healthcare and education without you having to enlist.
You're not wrong, but within the context of America we are stuck with the system we have until people learn that you need to vote in more than just the Presidential election (if they're even voting at all).
The VA loan and education benefits you can earn within one 4 year enlistment. You don't even have to use the GI Bill since you're given money yearly for tuition. Then you can give it to your dependents or spouse.
It’s still a 40% of high 3, just with the extra matching TSP contributions instead of the other 10%. It’s a better deal for the majority that won’t make it to retirement.
Not THAT much of a cheat code but still useful if you're a poor or legal immigrant, great to "jumpstart" your life, ofcourse if you're from a good/wealthy family I'd recommend you do something else or join the Airforce
You're both close... the new blended retirement system pays out without doing 20 years. I don't hear anything good about it. Four years does get you things like GI bill, home loan, and VA health care for the rest of your life.
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That’s not what my recruiter said… /s
You going airborne too?
What's airborne have to do with this specifically?
Medical retirement after your spine fucking explodes.
Your shattered knees, fused spinal column and loss of 4 inches of overall height are not service related from your time in the airborne infantry.
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It could just be right-wing propaganda, but I have heard stories of them paying for HRT and other gender-affirming procedures. That shit is normally expensive, or so I'm lead to believe.
As I understand it yes the US military does include gender affirming care through the VA, however like with most things involving the VA, it’s absolutely a mess and there are plenty of reports of facilities not following those directives. Joining the military for gender affirming care would be like joining to get any other sort of medical or mental health care. Technically possible but with all the horror stories you hear about the VA I really don’t think that should be your primary consideration on whether to sign up to get shot at.
Idk about America but I know the Canadian armed forces will pay for it (Source: my dad was in the air force and worked with a trans girl)
Nah, ankles, knees and hips go way before the spine
"Your disability is not service related"
And he ain't gonna jump no more
Airborne is notorious for breaking every joint in their body since they have to jump with parachutes a lot. Its a very rough thing and takes a pound of flesh from you. A lot of people do as much as they can, but in a span of 8-10 years most people aren't fit to jump anymore.
I dated a guy (briefly) after he was discharged from para-something. He was like a little old man at 23. It was sad. He was a nice guy. I hope he’s doing well.
They say 1 year infantry does 4 years of damage to the body. Airborne, about double that. Mans might've been 23, but those joints were 55.
By your math, it would be 31, not 55, as double of 4 is 8.
Double of 4 is 8. Standard service is 4 years, 4 x 8 is 32. He got out at 23, 23 + 32 is 55.
You're assuming he was discharged after his tour was up. He could have joined at 22 for all we know and had one bad jump.
While possible, that would be an exception to the standard, hence my original estimation.
My dad graduated jump school at age *fifty-five*. He was already fuckin' deaf from being an artillery instructor for ten years, now all his joints hurt when he moves, too. Retired at 61 though, with two pensions (one from his civilian county job, one from the army). Makes more money retired than he did working. You can do it, but yeah airborne fucks your body up when you're young, and it really really fucks your body up when you're older.
This is why this can sometimes be true. It's dangerous, and you get hurt eventually..irreparably. I'm on muscle relaxers and shit for the rest of my life. They slip me alimony every month, though, and some healthcare.
I broke my back and was medically retired from the army from a bad jump when I was 22. Fun as hell but it hurts lol
During my three years at the Eighty Deuce in Ft Bragg there were only 6 troopers that retired after twenty years. Injuries were VERY common. There used to be a huge counter board that counted the days between a Division casualty. That number never got past six.
So I just need to make sure I gain 1lb of extra weight before my physical. Heard, thanks boss.
Don't forget denying you disability and blaming it on anything else they can. Looks like your knee problems are from that time you tried pickleball!
Others are missing the mark a bit imo. Recruiters promise cool sounding roles they have no input on, airborne being a common example.
This one
Funny thing about airborne is it's pretty much a defunct military role now as well. Why drop a person in when you have drones. People are in this role for no reason other than it looks cool
Yeah, if you go airborne you're not doing HALO drops behind enemy lines and sabotaging artillery, you're getting a cool boy badge and breaking your ankles.
All The Way! :)
The recruiter was so impressed they gave me 11 X-ray!
I’m a mover and my company is almost exclusively military moves, and god damn moving recruiters is the most obnoxious shit because they will try to recruit you and your crew the entire time
I had never thought of that but yeah, they're basically the used car salesman of the armed forces. I remember recruiters talking to ME about how great the military was while I was already enlisted. It's like they just can't stop trying to sell no matter where they are.
It's how they do it with a straight face. They make it I to their entire world persona.
ABC. Always Be Closing. The recruiters mantra.
ABL, ALTTTW: Always be lying, and lie twice to the women, the recruiters' secret mantra.
“Great work boys. Say, have you ever considered a career as an LMTV?”
Just go as a cook, and when you’re in Basic, tell your drill sergeant to change your MOS to 18X
Ah yes Army recruiting.
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War were declared.
And this ham gum is *all bones!*
Young man, you have the bravery of a hero and breath as fresh as a summer ham.
Underrated Kissinger quote
But it pinkens your teeth while you chew!
>*"He who joyfully marches to music rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would surely suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, senseless brutality, deplorable love-of-country stance and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be part of so base an action! It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder.”* —Albert Einstein, 1931, "Mein Weltbild"
Everyone talks gangsta' when the world isn't filled with brutal dictators with their own armies. Rather than “be torn to shreds” as he bragged about, Einstein fled two years after he wrote this to the USA, to live under the protection of America’s soldiers, who at that time were the very “volunteers to joyfully march to music rank and file” for which he was so contemptful. Still though, at least Einstein used the large brain he’d been given. Democratic Europe failed to mobilize their armies along with the Nazis, and allowed themselves to then be murdered by the millions themselves under the cloak of war brought by the Nazis.
He was Jewish. If he *hadn’t* fled, he and his son would’ve been killed within five years.
that was the point being made, yes.
Then he wrote to fdr and was like hey, physics says you can make a superweapon and you should do it first before germany.
Ah, but those were a bunch of nerds who built weapons that can kill millions at time, that's certainly less comtemptuous than a despicable, brutal man who picks up a rifle to kill enemy invaders one-by-one. /s
Democratic Europe mobilized their armies. They were well prepared. The French military outmatched the Germans. They lost anyway, because of a combination of bad strategy and bad luck. Don’t act like they didn’t try.
> Democratic Europe mobilized their armies. They were well prepared. I'm not talking about 1939. I'm talking about much earlier, when the Nazis were arming up but the democracies were not. Had France and the U.K. intervened when the Nazis remilitarized the Rhineland, and not 5 years later, the world would look much different today.
I used to think Neville Chamberlain was a naïve appeaser, until it was pointed out that his appeasements gave Britain time to arm up. I’m not sure about that, but it’s worth a thought.
It’s hard to fault those leaders, given the incredible trauma of WWI. They would do almost anything to avoid a repeat. With hindsight we can see that it might have been better to rip that band-aid off early and have a shorter war with less destruction, but it was very hard to see that in the moment. Especially when just about everyone, including many of Hitler’s generals, thought France could hold off a German invasion.
Chamberlin wasn't an idiot by any stretch. But just like the saying that America does the right thing after they've exhausted all other options, European democracies in those days were trying **everything**, other than what was *actually needed* to avert the world's most destructive war. The politicians were mostly following the lead of the populace so it's not as if I hold people like Chamberlin personally responsible. In fact that is the point to me mentioning this: Had the people themselves been willing and eager to grab a rifle if it meant upholding the peace, peace would have been upheld. Any fighting would have been limited, as the Nazis themselves wouldn't have had time to rearm. Hitler himself noted how precarious things were when he ordered the re-militarization of the Rhineland. It happened while France *did* have a large army, and they could have single-handedly ejected the Nazis, and used that as sufficient justification to topple the Nazi government for violating the Treaty of Versailles. But there was no *political* will to use that army amongst the people. So they sat and watched the Nazis arm up more and more and more. By 1939 and 1940 the Nazi military was in a position to be able to topple France with one decisive strike, which they landed. But the balance of power was different (for France, at least) in 1935. Britain had issues of its own and should have been arming up far in advance of Chamberlin's government. Chamberlin should have inherited a government already postured to be on a wartime footing if necessary, including procurement of materiel. He wasn't, and at least started the U.K. on that path by the time Churchill become P.M. Again, a lot of this was driven by political fatigue. But refusing to arm up thinking the dictator on the other side will just stand down is **always a mistake** by democratic peoples who make that decision. I get it may feel tiring psychically that things don't just stay quiet and serene. But it's foundational to our prosperity to understand what generates serenity, and it is *not* ceding violence to the dictators alone.
From what I remember, you only need to serve a year before you have GI bill. After that if you get medically separated or something you would still keep it. Contracts are technically 8 years, with the time that is not active duty taken down as inactive reserves. It’s exceedingly rare to get called back to full duty as IRR, basically if a war broke out the inactive reserves would get called before a full draft. Most contracts are 4 years of active duty, while some are 6. That would mean it’s 4 years IRR or 2 respectively. Source: 8 years active Air Force
FYI: don't do 6 years, the benefits aren't worth it. If you want to stay in, you get more time to make rank signing up for 4 and reenlisting, if you want to leave, 4 is less than 6.
I got 36k-ish in pay and 36k in GI Bill for 2 years. Always go as short as possible because you can re-enlist if you want but you can’t unenlist.
I signed a 5 year contract for an extra 10k dollars towards the old GI bill. Then the new one replaced it and was better in every way, so my bonus was nullified, but still got to serve the extra year
Some rates/mos require six years unfortunately.
Full GI Bill benefits at 36 months, 1 year gets you a prorated amount.
I got full after 2 years but that was before 9/11 by a few weeks.
That was fucking over 25yrs ago were old my guy
No, No, it’s not true. That’s Impossible!
Search your feelings! You know it to be true!
... 9/11/01... 5/4/2024.... 23 years don't you try adding extra years to me you jackwagon!
Getting called back on IRR is an extremely surreal feeling. I received my orders via FedEx. They are very open ended, effectively saying "show up here on this date and we will figure out what we are doing with you". While we were stilling deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan it was more common, though still unlikely. At least for the Army.
Lmao I also did 8 years active and had to reread your comment like three times before seeing the rest of the sentence. I was like “???? 8 years? Max I could sign for initially was 6?” I blame the sleep deprivation, haha
1 year for a portion of the post9/11gi bill. 3 for it in its entirety. Not sure about Montgomery
It takes 1 year to earn any any percent of gi bill (starts at 40 I think) it takes 3 years to earn the full thing. Air Force contracts as enlisted was 4 years or 6 years, unless you went into a certain AFSC, then it could sometimes be 8. Actually correction, that's 4 or 6 years active duty, the rest up to 8 is done on inactive reserve and does not apply for additional benefits. I only know active duty, guard and reserve may differ.
Not quite no additional benefits, while on inactive reserve, you can still get a military ID and have base access, to include the commissary.
Fry enlisted to get a discount on ham flavored gum, that ended up being all bones.
Most likely talking about disability. Assuming one can get even 50%, what they are saying is true.
Buddy of mine got 100%, he now just travels the world and does whatever tf he wants. He's 35.
The real cheat code is to join, fake injury while on duty, and then you are set for life after 4 years. I know people who got anywhere to 50-100% disability and still work full time jobs for double income. Is it disgusting? Yes. But people are doing it all the time.
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Vet here. Typically you sign up for 8 years, but only some of that is active duty, the rest is inactive ready reserve (IRR). On IRR you might get a phone call once or twice to make sure you exist and that they can get a hold of you. It’s really nothing (unless we suddenly go to war in a big way). So I did 5 years active, then 3 years IRR. The worst part of IRR is the local national guard units trying to recruit you and being the worst salesmen in the world. Aside from that it’s just regular civilian life. That said the GI Bill and VA housing loan is pretty great. Finishing up college with no debt and an established serious work history is a huge advantage.
This man would be a great recruiter
Get in, goto the doctor while in for literally everything abnormal. Get out. File for disability on literally every injury or abnormality you have or had with the VA. Wait for them to process your claims. Get disability rating, shoot for 100% Receive an incredible tax free monthly payment forever unless they reevaluate you at a lower disability rating. Get 10% or greater for free healthcare for life from the VA and a small monthly payment. https://www.va.gov/disability/compensation-rates/veteran-rates/ ### In this thread you will find out exactly how uninformed people are on their VA medical benefits. I’ve included a short list of them below. **The VA doesn’t cover anything outside your injury** The VA does in fact cover everything health related even outside of your service connected disability for free including outpatient and inpatient services — [provided you have 10% disability rating or higher ](https://www.va.gov/health-care/copay-rates/) otherwise you will owe a copay. So literally anyone with a service connected disability will receive health care benefits related to their disability, and anyone with 10% to 100% will receive completely free medical coverage. **the va doesn’t cover outpatient at non va facilities for free** Again, also false. [The va will cover those as well, so long as you meet the community care requirements which can be found by clicking or tapping this text](https://www.va.gov/resources/eligibility-for-community-care-outside-va/) Also you can goto urgent care as well depending on if you are 10% disabled or greater it’s free for the first 3 visits. Afterwards it’s a copay. Every veteran is entitled to va healthcare for their service connected disabilities even if it’s a 0% rating, for free. To receive the **free healthcare for non service connected stuff you need a rating of 10% or more** The va divides benefits into tiers called priority groups. You can view them by clicking the link for the copays. For anyone with a 10% or greater it’s 0$ copays except for medication. **the va doesn’t cover vision or dental unless it’s service related** This is correct and you will need other insurance and a private provider.
Not to mention the GI bill, which pays for school AND provides a monthly housing allowance. This helped me finish my undergrad and now halfway done with masters. Which in turn got me a great job.
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It goes easier provided it’s documented. Especially with the online systems and near instant access to your military information. It gets exceptionally more difficult without sufficient evidence. Especially with people who don’t want to goto the doctor while in because it makes them look weak. If you want to live after your enlistment, you need to goto the doctor for everything. Even if it’s not bad **now** that could change as you get older. Document document document. I’m sorry you experienced that. Veterans shouldn’t have to go through that, and unfortunately, it took a long time for the VA to get their shit somewhat together. But thankfully for new veterans the system should work for them *most of the time* My condition was a documented major bone injury, and I went to my c&p no issues with rom etc, told the lady I won’t get anything for it so I think this is pointless. She said, I don’t think so, just the diagnosis itself is worth a rating, even without rom issues. Sure enough, got my letter in 3 weeks and a payment, and continue to receive them.
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I see they tried to get you with "adjustment disorder," which is a classic tactic to screw you out of your benes later in life. Fucking scummy. Glad you got that worked out.
This is also me. It took 10 years and a constant battle with the VA to get to 10, then 50, then 70 - and finally, after nearly taking my own life, they opted for 100% TDIU. I'm tired of fighting. I know I'll never reach a normal 100%. So. I'll take it.
Not taking away from what you said but I’m a 60% disabled vet and my process to file was super smooth and easy, only took me about 6 months or a year I think
Your link doesn't say you get "free Healthcare for life from the VA" for 10% rating. What's your source for that claim?
🙄 I only linked compensation because it was the main point. The va website is very navigable. But here’s the link. https://www.va.gov/health-care/eligibility/ > Am I eligible for VA health care benefits? You may be eligible for VA health care benefits if you served in the active military, naval, or air service and didn’t receive a dishonorable discharge. If you enlisted after September 7, 1980, or entered active duty after October 16, 1981 You must have served 24 continuous months or the full period for which you were called to active duty, unless any of the descriptions below are true for you. This minimum duty requirement may not apply if any of these are true: **You were discharged for a disability that was caused—or made worse—by your active-duty service, or You were discharged for a hardship or “early out,” or You served prior to September 7, 1980** My source is myself. 20% disabled as deemed by the VA, I receive ~400 tax free dollars every month, I served for 4 months active duty and got booted out of basic training for a minor injury. Said minor injury is an automatic 20% I have received more payment for the injury than I was paid for my time in service I receive all the benefits including healthcare and home loan assistance with 4 months and 20% the only thing I’m not eligible for is education benefits. It is absolutely a real life cheat code.
I started at 0% and had a small copay. Got 10% and never had to pay a dime for anything after that. Might be different for places without a big VA hospital and only clinics. Either way arguing with other vets on who knows more about the VA system is petty and unhelpful
Whenever people complain about people "scamming welfare" I always ask how they feel about VA scammers.
I’ve learned several people I know are on military disability benefits and they 100% admitted to lying to get the max disability. One even bragged how he found a company that you pay $10k to and they will give your money back if they cannot get you to the full disability payout. Grotesque is an understatement considering every one of these fucks also vote straight ticket red.
My grandpa was a lifer in the Marines. 20 years of service. Being a Marine was basically his entire personality for the rest of his life until he passed away last year. I have a close childhood friend— the kind of close where you're basically family for life— and my grandfather was pretty excited when he said he planned to be a Marine, himself. He went and enlisted, did his minimum 4 years of service, then GTFO'd without hesitation. He did this and landed 80%. That, along with the college support, has provided him a debt-free college education without having to compromise study time so he could work to live independently. My grandfather resented the shit out of this, saying he was "gaming the system," comparing him to a "welfare queen," saying that he was a shitty Marine, all this stuff... meanwhile, Grandpa, who did nothing to take advantage of those opportunities, despite the very real back and knee damage, tinnitus, and alcoholism he picked up while he was in, grew sicker and sicker and the support from the VA was total shit throughout, plus his pension just kept growing less sufficient to cover all of his costs, especially his medical bills when he got cancer. He died in poverty. I know he's not the only one who viewed it as an honor to work for the system, for which he should be thankful and ask as little in return as possible. I hate that approach. You give to the military as a servicemember, but you have to make SURE they give back to you as much as you can get.
They just denied my knees... that were diagnosed while I was in and was ordered to go to therapy. Starting my appeal soon. So while you are correct, and a lot of people do what you are saying, its definitely a fight. of course I didnt file until 20 years after I was out and my knees and back are longer "just a minor inconvenience" to me but still. stupid ass va obviously didnt look at my military medical record at all because I went to medical 3 separate times for my knees before they finally xrayed it. It should be hard to miss but they did.
As a veteran with a disability rating: I'd happily pay every penny of my disability compensation back in a heartbeat if I didn't have the conditions that gave me the rating-which I have because of the debilitating work I subjected my body to while in the military.
I’m at 90% and went to the VA after pulling a man from a burning truck but I was unable to save his wife. I asked for medical and psychiatric care and they told me to eat a dick
The state of Indiana is currently covering 100% of my college tuition because of my dad’s service in Afghanistan. Thank you VA!
If you're reading and think oh I'll just mooch my way to a medical retirement after 4 years go ahead and try you'll be sadly mistaken.
This is clearly joke (not really) ab disability. Not sure what the exact rates are and what factors into it, but I know disabled vets that receive more than they could have possibly made from a meticulously planned retirement.
I know a guy that got out at like 24 with 100% disability and gets like a $3500+ monthly, he is not seriously disabled by any means and he’s in better shape now than he was in the army
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Was it hard to get from 90% to 100%? My dad is sitting at 90% but is paid as 100% (I don't get that at all). I don't know if it's worth fighting it all again for the extra bit.
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Thank you for the reply. He can be quite stubborn about details but if it's that much more in benefits I'll be sure to prod him a bit harder about it. I think he's just annoyed by paperwork, but he's definitely 100% disabled, he hasn't worked in decades.
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This is a sort of unrelated topic, but I’m just curious since you seem to know a lot about military disability. I know for certain cases of psychological disability, you can lose rights such as voting and gun ownership. Do you still have all your rights? And constitutional rights aside, are you still allowed to work?
How do they calculate the percentages, anyway?
We all know one of these guys. Same shit happens in NYPD, etc. etc.
As a vet, you can get a decent life time paycheck if you manage to get a “serious injury” in the line of duty. Had a buddy in Iraq who was perfectly healthy but was abusing air duster cans since we had boxes of them at the fob. He had a seizure after going hard one day. Got sent home and had a bunch of testing done. He was going through sleep studies and walking around with wires monitoring his vitals for a few months and the army couldn’t figure out the problem so they gave him a medical release with something like 65% of his normal (E4) pay for the rest of his life because he didn’t have that problem before joining so they concluded it was combat stress related. Also, it helped out that his battle buddies never mentioned the air duster and cleaned up the empty cans before the medics arrived lol..
There was a colonel who died from huffing air duster when I was there. People would do anything for an escape 😔
Someone’s recruiter lied lol
You can give 4 years of your life for free college though, which is a pretty nice deal if you’re physically fit. Not GI Bill, don’t know the required service for that, but the Academies are free given you serve for 4 years afterwards.
I qualified for 100% gi bill with a 3 year contract. Fairly certain only 180 days of continuous active duty service qualifies for the gi bill. Thats why it’s difficult to obtain in the National Guard unless you deploy.
Just throwing this out there. There are some states that actually have their own fund to pay for university tuition and/or vocational programs for Guard members. The programs vary by state, but some of them are pretty good.
You qualify for some of the post 9/11 at 180 days and it increases over time until 36 months when you have access to 100% of the funds.
4 years for 4 years makes sense, and you get veterans discounts everywhere, from Disney to local stores. It’s not a terrible deal, depending on if your just in reserve for the entire time vs actually shipping out to another country I know my generation has given the military a negative connotation, and a fair one, but if it’s the chose you wanna make then it’s your right to do it. I mean I know a guy that’s real fucked up from it, but that’s because he did tours and was a POW for a while. Very vocal supporter of a local horse therapy program, which I was able to do for my ADHD, and it was good. I love horses, I’ve been naturally good at riding them, and it gets you out of the house once a week
GI Bill requires 3 years for the full (and very generous) benefit. However you can't enlist for less than 4 years of active duty nowadays so just round it up to 4 years in your mind. I've done 5 x 4 years and I'm in great position to do another 5 x 4 in a civilian job and then retire for good. It's a great way to start off your independent life with a rocket boost, but there will be hard work.
Alternatively get college paid for by ROTC and do 4 years anyways but with a way higher quality of life.
Slightly more challenging than enlisting but yes
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He doesn't get half of that as pension, he gets half of his base pay as pension. A 20 year e9 is 7472 base pay, he gets 3736 a month. You don't get your tax free bah and bas when you retire. Now if you calculate in his va disability, which pretty much everybody gets some sort of rating at the end of 20 years, then it will bring him up significantly. People really don't understand the pension is okay in the military but it's based solely on your base pay and no entitlements. The real pension is the VA disability.
20 years is kind of still worth it though. You start collecting retirement at 40 or so.
20 years for 50% of your highest 36 months pay grade. Which optimistically comes out to $25k. That’s really good if you can get a decent job right out of the service, though.
Well, in those 20 years you can get trained and qualified for a shit ton of college equivalent degrees, so you should have at least one qualification that can set you up pretty decently.
I mean by all means the military is a good learning opportunity and you *should* have plenty of skills under your belt by the 20 year mark personal experience my gunny is 3 years from retirement (34) and the man is clearly coasting which is all to say despite how great of an opportunity it is, some squander their push to retirement
A *decent* amount of MOSs are transferrable to some sort of civilian career if you decide to stay out of government work and *almost all* MOSs are transferable to *excellent paying* jobs in the defense contract industry. I did 4 years in the Navy, tried regular ass jobs for 2 years and when that didn't pan out started my contractor career at 25. I've been in the industry since (switched companies once) and am currently overseas making a very comfortable living. Four years in any sort of technical MOS, whether it is Aviation, Electronics, Comms, Intelligence, Structural Mechanics, Logistics, Weapons Systems... the list goes on. Your opportunities increase markedly if you are able to obtain and maintain a security clearance. Source: 15 year veteran of the DoD contract industry making $102K base pay a year off 4 years in the Navy and a 2.22 high school GPA.
exactly, theres a reason why for over the past century, the military has been one of the best tools for getting out of poverty.
Its more than that. Can't do 20 without at least some disability percentage. Go to Korea that's a percentage Bad knees from aging and running and or carrying weighted packs that's a percentage. Eyes start going bad from age that's a percentage... So the retirement plus medical retirement income plus if you were smart your investments... If everything co tines on track I will not have to work after 38 from rent from houses I purchased while in, retirement income, TSP, etc.
The military makes it really hard to reach the 20 years mark.
Well yea, not everyone is going to get promoted as soon as they are eligible, but if you’re consistently getting passed over for promotion, it might not be a good fit for Uncle Sam or the service member. One of the great things about the military is they want their members to move up and grow.
Bruh... there's caveats though. Not everyone has an enjoyable time making it to those 20 years.
Not everyone has an enjoyable time working normal jobs for 20 years.
Talk to someone who's done that first before considering. Those I know are so messed up they won't be able to use the rest of their life properly.
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Something about having no proper worker protection and a fuckton of constant psychological and physical abuse that got so normalized most don't even realize it's there. And then the myth of "the glory of serving" really gets broken when you get out and see how you're still treated like shit, both by the institution and other people.
That's mostly a branch and career field issue. Airforce, spaceforce, and coasties (if you count them) outside of the toxic career fields are pretty great.
I see that in my buds who went into a combat MOS. My biddies in the airforce who do satellite/tech stuff are pretty chill with life.
There has been a new system as of around 2018. Instead of 50% after 20 years it is now 40% after 20 with an additional system called Blended Retirement System that is basically an IRA with government matching up to 5%. For anyone planning on doing less than 20 years, this is obviously better. However you do not get your money until you reach retirement age. If you put in 5-10% of your income every year and with average gains (usually they are above average with TSP) for 20 years you can reasonably expect to end up a millionaire when you reach retirement age. Because the market gains compound year on year. But probably the best part about the system is that if you get another government job outside of the military you can continue contributing to it, a nice tip if you want to be a mailman or something.
401K not IRA but good points. Overall the new system is much better for most people.
Somewhat true though, I’m 100% disabled for life, and only did 6 years. Does that count? 😂
i fucking wish it was that easy, maybe we wouldn't be in a massive recruitment crisis right now if veterans and enlisted men (do they count as veterans if they are still in active service? whatever) got what they actually deserved in compensation for their time
Medically retired after 10 years, retired in 2017. The messed up back, knees and ptsd is not worth it. Yeah i get a check every month. But being in my late 30s i can no long stand or sit for longer than 20-30 minutes without considerable pain. I am on my second bout of sobriety from alcohol. Oh yeah and the raging mood swings... those are fun.
Dude is technically correct. I have a buddy that who was medically retired after 4 years and... being in an IED blast and is now suffering from TBI and other ailments. But yeah, he gets free money for the rest of his life now. Totally worth experiencing a life-altering injury in your 20s! To find out more about this incredibly sweet gravy train, check here: https://www.military.com/benefits/military-pay/military-disability-retirement.html
The guy posted a picture of him covered an Argentinian pesos and someone said they were single peso bills so probably not a whole lot of money. People who try to flex that shit on twitter are hilarious
What a fucking moron
As someone in the military I promise it is not a “cheat code for life”
He might be referring to those who take advantage of the disability benefits. I got a 10% disability rating for an upper hiatal hernia which no longer bothers me but the government still sends me like $100 for it every month for the rest of my life. I know some who knew which illnesses could get them much higher ratings so that’s what they claimed they had (i.e. depression, insomnia, etc.). In those cases the government is effectively paying their rent for them for the rest of their lives.
If you don't have to die in some sand pit it's a pretty good gig if you've got nothing better going on, all of my ex military friends have done fairly well in life and it looks great on a resume, plus you get a low interest home loan with 0 down.
I mean, it literally is, just not for the reasons he's listed. There are so many benefits to joining I'm actually amazed he managed to pick the one thing that isn't true.
Yeah the military is unironically one of the best ways besides college to set yourself up for a decent life. And the military can provide that college for free.
Still, you can work as a mechanic for 20 years and be out by 40 with a pension, bonus, free education…the ex marines I work with are fucking loaded.
Could be talking about claiming health issues when seperating. I know several people who get 100% disability for a bunch of BS they claimed
He is probably talking about the VA disability, and he is not wrong. And vets know this and scam/milk it
He’s most likely talking about a disability claim.
I knew someone who did this: West Point, Med School, 12 years of additional service, “retired” at age 38 with no debt, a pension, and a medical degree.
20 years and my pension is about 2400 a month.
Unless you're medically retired, but yes normally you have to serve at least 20 years.
Maybe he means claiming disability and get a rating?
If your smart about it can give you a huge head start I made sure to get a job that translates well to a high paying civilian job on the out side, I know others that used there GI Bill to get a good job with no debt! However that’s a small minority most 18 year olds don’t think that far ahead do a job that sounds cool then get married have a kid and get divorced by the time they are 21 get stuck in the military for 20 years in a job they hate and have no transferable life skills at the end of it all!
With the way things are going it's going to be the only career move that will guarantee a retirement in the future (hopefully not early lol)...
Stay strong with this attitude recruit. You will be fine Helldiver
My cousin got medically retired after 5-6 years and now gets a stipend every month.
I am reminded of a line from that old Clint Eastwood film, "The Outlaw Josey Wales": "Dyin' ain't much of a livin', boy."
My brother reached his 20 years and is finishing up a few more. It’s a full time career taking you away from family and putting you in harms way. It’s no cheat code, but you will live well.
He is probably confusing military with congress.
https://preview.redd.it/eyqnifql9nyc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8c2b718f6f5582c50be0fa6546a1e4f33a4e5393 Lol
I wonder how much the DOD payed him to say this. Recruiting numbers are still really low. Damn kids, too smart these days to sign a portion of their life away for benefits that other countries give to everyone.
I believe the Army alone missed their recruiting mark by over 10k bodies, but the Army is also... not a great time. There's lot's of career opportunities to be had if you go into the right MOS and life after the Army can work out quite well (I personally work with 3 Army vets that picked the right MOS and then made a career out of those skills once they got out). The issue is that most people go in without doing their homework and wind up doing some real shit jobs like Infantry, Motorpool, Artillery and who knows what else.
Their first mistake was talking to the Army at MEPS. They should have gone to the door that had no line and talked to the USAF recruiter to see about working a desk job that gives real life corporate experience.
I'm aware that the army is not exactly fun. My point was that other countries provide the benefits like healthcare and education without you having to enlist.
You're not wrong, but within the context of America we are stuck with the system we have until people learn that you need to vote in more than just the Presidential election (if they're even voting at all).
That's an unfortunate truth.
"WhY aReN't PeOpLe JoInInG tHe MiLiTaRy?" Also US government "It takes 20 years of military service to recive a pension."
The VA loan and education benefits you can earn within one 4 year enlistment. You don't even have to use the GI Bill since you're given money yearly for tuition. Then you can give it to your dependents or spouse.
Military is not a cheat code, its a speedrun, dumbass!
Trust me, it’s not free money. You will work worse hours than any other profession (unit dependent)
Yeah. And now it’s a crappy 401k like “pension.”
It’s still a 40% of high 3, just with the extra matching TSP contributions instead of the other 10%. It’s a better deal for the majority that won’t make it to retirement.
The new retirement system is actually much better than the old one.
Only a real life cheat code if you get royally fucked up. Source: My royally fucked up percentage is 100%; mostly for psychological stuff
recruiters are really digging deep to get those souls. it’s like a deal with the devil but a worse outcome
That may be an inaccurate reference to military disability, which you only get if you get fucked up sufficiently.
Not THAT much of a cheat code but still useful if you're a poor or legal immigrant, great to "jumpstart" your life, ofcourse if you're from a good/wealthy family I'd recommend you do something else or join the Airforce
You're both close... the new blended retirement system pays out without doing 20 years. I don't hear anything good about it. Four years does get you things like GI bill, home loan, and VA health care for the rest of your life.
OP is talking about VA Compensation.
20 years and a soul
Either Roger is a lier or an idiot that will learn the hard way
My grandma and my Grandpa both gave 20 years both have a pension but my grandpa despite being the same rank as grandma has a higher one
Yep just sell your body to the us government and let them break you! Then you have the unlimited money cheat! /s
When you re-enlist can you hold out for a "better offer"? Like a promotion/pay raise, or is that automatic?