Quote:
Originally Posted by Marc Vaughan
The idea behind 'pensions' for veterans is that they have spent 'x' years training in areas which while vital for the military might be next to useless in a civilian role - I mean how many jobs require you to be able to assassinate someone from a mile away for instance 
As such the pension is a compensation for the earning power they have sacrificed by being in the military (ie. if they hadn't signed up they might be 20 years into a career with far more current earning power presently).
This is why I think pensions for veterans are fair - its the size of the US military machine which is causing them to be a larger cost than is incurred by most western countries who have been winding down the size of their militaries for decades now.
PS - As with Jon and others I believe if a promise has been made to people on Pensions then it should be upheld, to do otherwise is frankly conning people and should be illegal. |
You won't find a bigger supporter of ending a lot of the United States overseas adventures than myself. That said I have to agree with the typical hawk response to the third paragraph. Most western countries don't have a huge military because the United States does all their dirty work for them.