Originally Posted by
airforcedude
The only real reason I would stay in the air force would be for the pension/bonus/medical, which all seem to be in question with the recent congressional proposals and lack of money in the government.
Regarding that, I doubt there will be major retroactive changes affecting those who are already in the military, especially those with > ten years. Long term there may be erosions in medical benefits (increased co-pay most likely) and loss of incidentals which most of us don't use (commissaries), but I think the 20-year retirement pay system will likely remain at reasonable levels and the core medical benefit (comprehensive coverage with a low annual out-pocket cap) will be retained...at least for those who are already in.
While we do not have a fixed, binding contract rather whatever congress choses to give us, the historical precedent has been that significant changes to military retirement pay take affect only to those who join the service after the legislation is passed.
I think if it gets really bad, military retirements will be the last to go after federal civil service retirements. They CANNOT cut our retirements and leave the civil servants whole, and there are HUGE political hurdles protecting the servants.
But now might be a good time to join one of the military officer associations which lobbies Washington on behalf of our compensation package...