The push to reform military pay and benefits picked up steam Monday when the White House signaled support for the slate of controversial proposals that call for changing the military retirement and health care systems.
But President Obama stopped short of endorsing the 15 specific recommendations that the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission sent to Capitol Hill in January.
The recommendations would shrink the size of military pensions by 20 percent and create new investment accounts for all troops. They also call for ending Tricare in its current form and instead offering military families insurance policies similar to those available to civilians.
"I believe the recommendations are an important step forward in protecting the long-term viability of the all-volunteer force, improving quality-of-life for service members and their families, and ensuring the fiscal sustainability of the military compensation and retirement systems," Obama wrote wrote in a letter to the compensation commission.
The White House backs the "underlying objectives" of the recommendations, but will continue to review the details and "to adopt or refine the specific proposals in as many instances as possible," according to the letter.
White House and Pentagon support for the proposed changes will be an important political factor on Capitol Hill, where any changes would need approval from lawmakers.
The White House will offer more details by April 30 about whether Obama supports the details of the recommendations or will seek to revise them, the letter said.
The changes to military retirement would for the first time offer a retirement benefit to troops who serve less than 20 years. The Defense Department would offer to match troops' own retirement savings up to 5 percent of basic pay. Troops would own that investment account regardless of when they leave the military.
The proposal would also give troops who reach 12 years of service a lump-sum retention bonus in exchange for a new four-year service commitment. The amount would likely vary by service and career field.
Andrew Tilghman is the executive editor for Military Times. He is a former Military Times Pentagon reporter and served as a Middle East correspondent for the Stars and Stripes. Before covering the military, he worked as a reporter for the Houston Chronicle in Texas, the Albany Times Union in New York and The Associated Press in Milwaukee.
