Recruiting and career retention remain valid and important concerns of the US Congress and the Executive Branch in a world where the US has become involved in many military engagements in recent years with more apparently on the horizon. This book deals with the questions of pay levels, health care, retirement benefits and other aspects of the military experience. These issues take on even more significance with a military which has been downsized in numbers and upsized in electronic technology. Contents: Preface, Military Pay and Benefits; Military Health Care; Military Medical Care Services; Veterans' Pensions: Fact Sheet; Military Retirement: Major Legislative Issues; Military Technicians: The Issue of Mandatory Retirement for Non-Dual-Status Technicians. Subject Index.

For fiscal year 2013, the Department of Defense (DoD) requested about $150 billion to fund the pay and benefits of current and retired members of the military. That amount is more than one-quarter of DoD's total base budget request (the request for all funding other than for military operations in Afghanistan and related activities). Of DoD's $150 billion request for compensation in 2013, more than $90 billion would go to basic pay, food and housing allowances, bonuses, and various types of special pay. Another $16 billion would go to accrual payments that account for the future pensions of current service members who will retire from the military (generally after at least 20 years of service). The remainder of DoD's request for compensation in 2013, roughly $40 billion, would cover health benefits.