Panetta emphasized that “the most fundamental element of our strategy” is “our people” and that “they, far more than any weapons system, far more than any technology, are the great strength of our United States military.”
That said, US military personnel costs are skyrocketing: When taken together, military pay, health care, and retirement benefits have grown nearly 90 percent since 2001.
The Pentagon’s budget allows for “full pay raises” for troops in 2013 and 2014 that will “keep pace with increases in private-sector pay.” After that, though, “We will achieve some cost savings by providing more limited pay raises beginning in 2015,” Panetta said. “This will give troops and their families fair notice and lead time before these proposed changes take effect.”
Panetta emphasized that “nobody’s pay will be cut.” But there will be more costs to troops in the area of, say, health care. “We decided that to help control the growth of health-care costs, we are recommending increases in health-care fees, co-pays, and deductibles.” This involves only current retirees, since senior military officials have emphasized the need to “keep faith” with the soldiers who have fought two wars in the past decade and have been promised certain benefits.
Current US forces will be grandfathered in, but future troops may be looking at reduced benefits as they begin to enter the US military. Panetta told reporters that he will ask Congress to establish a commission with authority to conduct a comprehensive review of military retirement benefits. It is a review that former Defense Secretary Robert Gates championed as well, as he warned that the current military retirement system – with generous benefits for troops who have served 20 years, for example – all but encourages service members to leave the military after that time.
