There have been a few letters recently discussing retirement pay and other benefits for military retirees. Some of those retirees appear to by unhappy with their benefits, but from my point of view, the military retirement package is quite generous.

For example, I just noticed that the current rate on the government’s 30-year bond is 3.42 percent. Based on this interest rate and my living another 25 years (which is quite likely in my case), my current after-tax monthly check has a present value more than $600,000. That is, if the government wanted to “cash out” my retirement, it would …

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Lawrence Korb’s article (TNT, 3-16) suggesting that military retirees’ health care cost are the Pentagon’s Achilles’ heel is out of touch with reality.

The majority of military retirees are not geographically located close enough to Department of Defense medical facilities to avail themselves or their families of their hard- earned medical benefits, and if they do they often stand quietly in line and wait their turn.

The figures Korb casually references have little basis in fact. If he is truly interested in the Pentagon’s Achilles’s heel, he need look no further than the no-bid contracts, cost overruns, congressional pork and …

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