If you haven’t been paying attention to the cuts being proposed to slash the federal deficit, now is a good time to tune in.

Benefits for military retirees are on the cutting block and they will affect all retirees, including currently retired folks, not just those who retire in future years.

The Army Times reported last week that the Congressional Budget Office has proposed 103 points to reduce the deficit. Among those are controversial cuts to the military. While the office puts together this report every two years, and usually the suggestions are pushed aside, this year, money has to be cut. These options, while highly unpopular among constituents, would slice huge chunks of spending off the federal budget.

Their suggestions:

• Cap military raises at 0.5 percent less than average private-sector increases beginning January 2015. The cap would remain in effect through 2023, saving the government $24.9 billion.
• Current retirement pay is calculated, in part, on the averageh basic pay over a service member’s three highest earning years in uniform. The CBO suggests calculating it based on five years of pay would save the government $2.1 billion and lower the lifetime value of military retired pay by 3 percent. That effect is suggested to take place with military members who retire on Jan. 1, 2015 and after.
• The CBO also suggested taking away concurrent pay from all current veterans. The pay allows disabled military retirees to receive full military retired pay and veterans’ disability. The move would slash monthly income for 420,000 veterans and save the government $108 billion over 10 years.
• The government could save another $15.3 billion over ten years if veterans were labeled as ineligible for unemployment pay from Social Security because of combat injuries. Currently veterans whose disabilities are rated between 60 and 90 percent may be eligible for unemployment benefits. CBO suggests making them ineligible for this benefit until they reach age 65.
• Finally, CBO suggests making retirees under age 65, and their families, ineligible for Tricare Prime healthcare coverage until they are age 65, a move that would save the government $75.4 billion over 10 years. The department also suggests raising Tricare for Life fees for older veterans (age 65 and above) which will save $21 billion over 10 years.

There is no doubt that our government deficit is out of control. Every dollar spent is being scrutinized. But some of the suggestions above are about more than cutting the bottom line, they will affect the quality of life for our nation’s injured veterans.

Many of these moves will leave veterans and their families without health insurance or income. The most injured veterans, those who have lost limbs in combat or suffered other serious injuries, will have their monthly incomes cut by more than half. If they cannot work, what will happen to them and their families?

Now is the time to let Washington know that these types of sweeping cuts are unacceptable. We as a nation cannot turn our backs on veterans and leave them without the healthcare or stipends they were promised when they enlisted and gave their lives over to the service of the nation.

Call your congressman. Let them know service members and their families are paying attention and we don’t like the negotiations we are seeing.

It is the end of my husband's career and I feel more like a historian than a spouse.

For 15 years I have carefully labeled, organized and preserved hundreds of documents that he has been issued over his career. Overkill? Maybe. But necessary, absolutely.

Last week my close friend's husband visited the on-base transition office to begin the process of leaving the Army (before retiring). He was told that, unless he provided them a copy of his original enlistment contract, which he was issued 13 years earlier, he would forfeit all entitlements and benefits. That document was lost to a house flood five years ago. She knows this for a fact.

When she asked the Army to check his digital file, it turns out that somewhere along the line an office worker had scanned a common set of orders and labeled them as his enlistment contract. The Army didn't have the correct copy either.

Now, at this point in the story, it is also important to note that you should know your policies. My friend and her husband are fighting the ruling based on the language of the policy requirement in the document. But that is another column for another day.

The important point for today: keep, organize and hold your official documents close. You will need them, you will need to produce them. It is about knowing what to keep and what to toss that is the key.

Here is a quick reference list for the most common documents:

Awards - Keep. Always. This is proof that you earned that accolade. Keep both the fancy document presented in the snazzy binder and the official order that show how and when you earned it.

Orders - Keep at least one copy. They are a paper trail of your career and, frankly, a cool keepsake for future generations.

Promotion orders - Keep. Again, proof, proof, proof.

Security clearance updates - Keep.

Sick Call Slips - Toss after a month. If you are issued a narcotic keep those specific slip call slips for proof that the medications were issued. Pain medication abuse is a huge issue in the military now and it is good to have proof that you were issued these medications when commands perform random drug testing and they can see it in your test results.

Hand receipts - Opinion differs on these sheets but I always keep my husband's because he has, at times, been issued upwards of $1 million in equipment. That's a lot to payback if that equipment suddenly goes missing. A hand receipt proves that he returned it in working order and you don't owe a dime.

TDY forms - Not necessary, but we keep these just in case there are questions later about the reimbursement amount. If you have the receipts and forms still on hand, you can prove that the amount you received is justified.

Tax returns - Keep for the basic seven years as advised by the IRS.

PT test forms - We keep for a month or two and toss. If you really want to be prepared, keep the latest results before a PCS so you can deliver them to the next unit. Otherwise, toss.

Family documents  - For example, marriage certificate, birth certificates, baptismal certificates, etc. Always keep these. In the military, the finance office will ask for many of these items to pay you for certain entitlements. In the civilian world, will need these to apply for loans, enroll in schools and many other activities. 

Medical documents - The military keeps a file that you can access. However, if you have a spouse who has been severely injured and plans to file for VA benefits, it may be beneficial to keep your own copies and organize them in a way where you can find what you are looking for. It is better to be able to cross-reference the military's files than search blindly. Medical documentation from military doctors is also what is used to award veterans the monetary amount they receive for injuries. Without the documentation showing that it is a military-related injury, you cannot make a case to receive the monthly medical payments.

Keeping track of a military career can be a job in itself. Even the most attentive spouses run into road blocks. For my friend, a flash flood ruined many of her husband's most important papers.

"You can't expect after 13 years and six moves for someone still to have all that paperwork," she said.

And even though the military is moving toward making these documents available in digital format, the system, as she discovered, isn't perfect yet.

So if you haven't started, pull out that cardboard box of folded, creased and smooshed documents. Lay them out in a binder and put it up on a shelf. You never know when a single piece of paper might save you weeks of hassle.

Effective Aug. 1, all service members must serve four more years before they are eligible to transfer benefits of the Post-9/11 G.I. Bill to their spouse or children.

Currently, most service members must serve four years before they can transfer the benefits. However, in 2009 when the transfer was offered as an incentive for recruiting and retention, troops near retirement age were allowed to transfer the benefits based on their retirement eligibility date. Some service members served no additional time in uniform before making the transfer while others served up to an additional three years.

That waiver officially expires at the end of July.

For service members who are considering retiring in the coming months, or even years, the change may put a dent in their plans. Anyone retiring before the 2014 graduations, just in time to use the benefit for their newly minted college freshman, will be out of luck. Stars and Stripes covered the topic with Keith Davis, chief of education and training at the Ramstein Air Base education office.

“It’s across the board. Effective Aug. 1, all members of the military, regardless of branch, will be required to serve a four-year active-duty service commitment at the time they elect to transfer benefits to a family member.”

The four years of service begins the moment they transfer the benefits but doesn’t necessarily mean they have to re-enlist for another four years. Here’s what Davis told Stars and Stripes:

 “You have to give the military four years from the day you execute the transfer. If you have two years left and you transfer (benefits), you would have to extend for an additional two years to satisfy the requirement.”

The change mostly affects senior officers and enlisted personnel who are nearing retirement.

To be eligible to transfer Post-9/11 G.I. benefits, a service member must have a minimum of six years in the military. To be eligible to receive those military for education benefits, their spouse or child must be enrolled in the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS) computerized database.

Military members can transfer the benefit back to themselves to fund their own education for up to 15 years after leaving the service, but cannot transfer the benefits to their dependents after retiring. The transfer must be made while the military member is on active duty.

That last day in the military is coming on fast and furious. And some of you don’t have a job. Or a place to live.

You don’t need to shack up with your in-laws or pick a hotel to call home. Retirees have 11 months from their last day in service to move out of government housing.

Say it with me, yeehaw!

For a large family like mine choosing a place to live takes a certain mixture of savvy, great planning and perfect timing. Since neither my husband nor I have found full-time jobs yet, picking a place to settle is a moot point.

We’re stuck in a loop: if we move without a job, we may have to move again in short order once we find a job. Who really wants to change over bills, official documents and explain the short turnover to their landlord? I don’t even want to think about how much we may lose in security deposits since, as retirees, our last minute moves will no longer be nicely covered under a military clause in the rental contract.

Turns out, you can hole up in government quarters and avoid the real world for a little longer - 11 months to be exact. Now, your time there isn’t free. You have to continue paying rent after your military pay stops arriving.

And once you receive retirement orders, if you decide government housing is the place for you, you can be placed on the waiting list to receive housing on base after your 11 months have passed.

The amount of time you are allowed to remain on base as a retiree once you secure a house depends on the location. In Hawaii, once you move up the very long waiting list and are placed in a house you can essentially live out your days there.

At other bases, retirees sign one-year leases and are awarded spots only if the influx of active duty members that year is low, meaning you could be moving in and out pretty often.

 So, for now, we will remain in our snug military house until we see what the outside world has waiting for us, at least until 11 months from now.

I hate white walls.

I know that white, Crate & Barrel style homes are all the rage. And yeah, they’re pretty. But I, like many military spouses, have been required to keep white walls for the last decade.

Army housing does not allow paint. Heck, when we moved in to our Army housing in Hawaii the government agent asked us to please not hang pictures on the walls.

Welcome home – don’t touch anything.

Retirement equals a colorful, creative burst of home decorating that many of us have been struggling to contain for years. I personally have the inexplicable desire to paint a room creamsicle orange.

But first, you have to buy your canvas, err, home.

Service members, including retirees, have a fabulous benefit at our disposal: the VA mortgage program. The VA guarantees a portion of your loan so the lender can offer you better terms. Rates are usually lower and you can purchase a home without putting any money down.  The VA also limits the amount you can be charged for closing costs and lenders cannot charge you a fee for paying the loan off early.

Some things to know as you begin your home search:

1. Do not pick a house and then apply for your loan. Each state has a maximum loan allowance set by the VA. You can be pre-approved for your loan. It makes the process shorter and gets you into your home quicker.
2. If you’ve already used your benefit to purchase a home, you can only use the remaining balance of your VA allowance to purchase a second home. For example, if your allowance is $100, and you buy a home for $50 you only have $50 worth of loan left.
3. Money down is great but will not change the terms of your loan. Your debt to income ratio and your credit score are still used to qualify you for the loan and will help earn you better terms.
4. Everyone who applies for a VA home loan must first obtain a certificate of eligibility. This is easy to do and can be done online. Go to http://www.benefits.va.gov/HOMELOANS/purchaseco_certificate.asp for links and instructions

If you already have a VA loan the Interest Rate Reduction Refinance Loan, also known as the streamline refinance loan, can help you lower your interest rate. These loans do not require an appraisal and are done with no money out of pocket.

Disabled veterans can apply for adapted housing grants through the VA to build, purchase or modify a home that will allow them to live more comfortably with their disability.

There are several non-VA affiliated companies that specialize in processing VA loans. You can contact them to begin your home-buying adventure or work with your local lender.

It’s time to enjoy your home. Happy buying and happy painting!

Are you being medically retired? Do you feel like you’re being tossed to the curb? Me too.

After two spinal surgeries, and possibly more to come, my husband is facing a medical evaluation board and could be retired due to his injuries. We had planned on returning to civilian life in four to six years, not one. But, I figured it was ok; that the military takes care of its wounded veterans.

So far, it doesn’t feel like it. 

My husband started the medical board evaluation process after Christmas. They told him then that it would be about 300 days before he would don his uniform for the last time.

Great, I thought. We have time to pack, make plans for the kids’ school and get our life in order.

Probably not.

Now, his caseworker has announced that we could be done in six weeks or less. She said it with absolutely no care, as if we were planning to order a pizza, not completely reconfigure our lives and move 4,000 miles.

I went into panic mode.

We have a household to move, two toddlers, two more children with special needs and five kids total. He is having difficulty finding a job, not because he’s unqualified, but because employers tend to want to know when you can start. We can’t even begin to guess.

Not to mention, we will be without a vehicle for two to three months with such short notice. Being stationed in Hawaii might be heaven, but waiting for your things to arrive after the move home is hell.

Last week, we were sent to a military lawyer to look over the paperwork.

He could see the absolute terror in my expression and said so.

Then he told me, we didn’t just feel rushed, we were in fact, being rushed.

In years past, he said, the medical board process could take two to three years. Military families began to complain. So, the process was re-vamped and now families are moved through at a breakneck pace.

In essence, they are trying to get us out of the way and on our way as fast as possible.

While I appreciate the info, it didn’t make me feel any better.

So, like a well-trained military family, we are adjusting.

We have begun packing the house and making what plans we have with the undefined timeframe.

We are taking care of us, not the military. And I have a feeling that with the pending budget cuts by Congress, military families all over the world are going to need to start doing the same.

So, while I kicked and screamed at the unfairness of it all for a day or two, it’s time to pack up and move out.

This military life has been an adventure for sure, but it’s time for a new one. And this time our adventures will be set according to our schedule, not the military’s. Finally, I am already starting to feel relieved.

I consider myself a fairly well-informed military spouse. I try to keep up with the news, both official and that of the blog-o-sphere. I attend regular FRG meetings and try not to embarrass my husband with specific policy questions, at all of them. 

Apparently, however, I’m already failing at making the transition from active duty family to retirement.

Listen to me closely, if you are relying on your military life insurance policy to carry you through your golden years, you may want to reconsider.

Since we married late in our careers, and lives, my husband and I already had matters such as life insurance set up separately, he through the Army, and I, through my university. We didn’t think much of it. That, it seems, was our first mistake.

We hired a financial planner to help us navigate what felt like very murky waters as we embark on our retirement. Life insurance was her first obstacle for us to tackle.

As a soldier, we relied on the Servicemembers’ Group Life Insurance plan, which seems to have no comparison in the marketplace. For guys who spend their entire careers putting themselves in harms’ way, this is the plan to have.

As retirees, not so much.

As a 42-year-old, through Veterans’ Group Life Insurance plan, $400,000 worth of coverage costs $68 a month, not bad, really.

However, by age 65, that monthly premium jumps to $600. At age 80, you will be paying $1,800 a month for life insurance. And that’s just for the service member. There is another cost if you want coverage as well.

Check the rates for all age levels here: http://www.benefits.va.gov/INSURANCE/forms/VGLIRates-07-08.pdf

Plus, the VGLI program has no cash value, loan products and does not pay dividends.

And honestly, when I sat down with our financial advisor, I really didn’t know what that meant or why it was important.

But it is.

There are whole life policies available that have set premiums and not only pay your beneficiary upon your death, but also build cash value. It’s not immediate, but after 20 years of paying on the policy, the plan we purchased will build over $35,000 in cash value, meaning we can take that money out of our policy without being reprimanded by extra taxes and such. After 45 years left untouched, that amount is expected to be over $100,000.

It’s not meant to be play money, but knowing there’s a cushion there in case of serious accident or illness, made me feel more at ease.

And the big clincher, the younger you are when you purchase whole life insurance, the lower your monthly rates. The company we purchased through never raises that rate once it is locked in. At age 42, my husband’s rate is now locked in at $225 a month, forever. Can you imagine what it would have been if we had purchased the insurance at 17 when he entered the service?

If you are looking toward retirement, you may want to take the time now to begin looking at whole life insurance policies and really compare them with those offered by VGLI.

As a young service member, don’t give up the SGLI. But you too may want to look at purchasing your whole life insurance for retirement now while you are young and the rates are low.

I married my husband late in his Army career. He was an E-6 when we walked down the aisle and I had already built my own career and life.

Soon after we started our family, he deployed to Iraq and during a six year span was deployed or TDY for a combined 5 years. I stayed at my job, in my home, with my friends, in my world. He came and went as he could.

Eventually, we began experiencing the rigors of tri-annual PCS moves and typical life on a base. I was thrust into the actual role for the title I claimed: military spouse. I had been married to a service member, but never really lived the full lifestyle.  He moved, I stayed. He deployed, my life continued.

We spent six years on the move. Now, it seems we are slowly sliding into home, the last stage of his military career: retirement.

From my perspective, it feels too quick. I only had six years to experience all the benefits and frustrations of being an Army wife. Our children are just old enough to enjoy the perks of a military childhood.

From my husband’s perspective, it can’t come quick enough. After 23 years, 42 months in the Mideast, over 100 airborne jumps, which resulted in two spinal surgeries, and countless long work days, he’s ready to end this chapter.

Because of his surgeries, and multiple other medical issues due to his deployments, he is being medically retired, a term I am quickly learning comes with its very own set of rules, frustrations and difficulties.

I haven’t found much guidance on base or the internet to face this next hurdle. There are lots of official documents to describe the terms and process we will encounter. But there seems to be no one discussing what those terms actually mean.

So, we’re going to talk about them here.  Once a month, please join me in frank and honest discussions about the ins and outs of retirement and what it means not just for your service member, but what it means for you.

Please look for my new column, Retirement Chronicles the second Tuesday of every month.

Life is about to change, drastically. Why face it alone?

Is your military spouse preparing to leave the rank behind and join the civilian job force? My husband only has a handful of years left until that transition to retirement and I am dreading it. I’m unsure of how our benefits might change, namely medical coverage. I fear losing that steady paycheck. And let’s be honest, tax free combat pay covered a lot of bills.

If your husband is anything like mine, he probably hasn’t brought much information home from his pre-retirement briefings, or even began looking seriously at some of the issues. I, on the other hand, need info!  

The Department of Defense launched a web site specifically to help your family make the transition: www.turbotap.org. The website is billed as a resource for military members entering the civilian job force. However, as a spouse without a military record of my own, I found the site just as helpful.

Sure there’s military-geared career advice but there’s also a treasure trove of information regarding benefits, disability compensation, insurance and VA home loans. There are checklists of items that need done before retirement day and after.

And just as my husband’s last day in uniform is approaching, I’m certain I will probably be bringing most of these important items to his attention, rather than the opposite. This is going to be a good site to keep handy.