Retirement pay cuts upset Fayetteville veterans

[unhappycamper]

http://www.fayobserver.com/news/local/article_9a834439-8b56-569d-a23e-0c2a20e932da.html

Retirement pay cuts upset Fayetteville veterans
Posted: Sunday, December 22, 2013 7:00 am | Updated: 7:00 am, Sun Dec 22, 2013.
By Paul Woolverton

Soldiers and retired soldiers in the Fayetteville-Fort Bragg community are furious that Congress voted this month to cut their retirement pay as part of a federal budget compromise to keep the government running.

~snip~

"We did everything we promised the country that we would do," Downey said. "And a lot of us went and stayed a lot longer than we probably should have - mostly because we wanted to - but we also were fat, dumb and happy knowing that there still would be some sort of compensation on the other end to help us out."

Soldiers can retire and start collecting their pensions and other benefits after 20 years of service, which means career soldiers often retire in their late 30s or early 40s. Injured soldiers are allowed to medically retire in less than 20 years.

"Tell this to the children of these brave souls that have given nearly everything that they are undeserving of a full (cost-of-living increase) as their family scrapes by because their mother or father is so physically disabled that they can't work in any job that requires them to be physically capable," retired Sgt. 1st Class Greg West wrote in a open letter to Republican U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, who co-wrote the budget bill. "These men and women sir are the true patriots of this great nation and you dishonor every single one of them by denying something that should be rightfully theirs by their excessive sacrifices."