Leading While Blindfolded: Examining the Defense Business Board's Recommendations to Reform the Military Retirement System
Abstract
Months after the Defense Business Board's (DBB) proposal to modernize the military's voluntary retirement system, it was very difficult to find any real measurement of how the current and future service members felt about the proposed changes and how the proposal would affect their intentions to join or stay in the military. Lacking sufficient data sources, the author developed and fielded an online survey to gather the necessary data. The survey sought to answer how current and future military members felt about the DBB's proposal and how they might alter their military tenure intentions under various retirement reform scenarios. Survey responses show that the DBB's proposal would have a negative effect on personnel retention, especially among those members who are currently eligible to retire. Other retirement reform options presented in the survey drew varied responses, none of them overly positive. The author also investigated how changes to the military retirement system that delay or reduce the pension payments of current or future retirees will produce increased societal costs. For example, since the minimum salary of Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) instructors is tied to their military retirement pay, changes that increase the cost to high schools hosting JROTC programs may force schools to abandon their programs due to fiscal constraints in lean economic times. If this happens, many of the at-risk youth targeted by the JROTC programs could lose the mentorship and personal development opportunities the programs provide. Data show that by simply graduating from high school, they have a much better opportunity to break the chains of poverty and reduce the drain on social welfare programs. The thesis provides recommendations in the following three areas: the DBB proposal, any future effort to collect and evaluate the attitudes of service members regarding military retirement reform, and alternative retirement plan options.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 04, 2012
- Accession Number
- ADA562348
Entities
People
- Brent D. Ruhlen
Organizations
- National Defense University