Military pension rates: Are they rising fast enough?
- November 30, 2021
Military pensioners have long been the hardest hit by rising military pay, with military pay on average rising 1.3 percent per year in real terms.
But that rate of pay growth has slowed to 0.9 percent per annum in the past five years.
While it may be possible to slow the rate of growth of military pensions, the rate at which the pay is growing is actually falling.
As of July, the U.S. government has paid about $2.2 trillion in military pension benefits.
The average annual military pension payment for all active duty military personnel in the United States has grown to $117,000 over the past decade.
The Pentagon has also paid out about $5 trillion in pensions to former members of the military.
The amount of military pension payments paid out by the federal government is set to rise in coming years.
The military will continue to pay its own retiree health care costs, with the military having $3.4 trillion in unfunded pension liabilities.
The $6.6 trillion cost of the Iraq War has contributed to the rise in military pay.
But it also has a significant impact on retirees who have retired from active duty and are on their way out.
About 8.7 million retired military members received an average of $15,835 in retired pay last year, up from $11,841 in 2010.
And as of June 30, about 1.2 million retired veterans had $1.5 trillion of unfunding retiree medical bills.
This article originally appeared on CBS News.