Military Retirement

Troops will have two years to get ready for the massive overhaul of the military retirement system.

Troops nearing the end of their military career can take a close look at their retirement pay options with a new online calculator tool released Tuesday.

Career troops’ extraordinary choice: Traditional pension checks or an undetermined but less valuable one-time lump-sum cash payment.

The Pentagon is officially backing a “blended” system that would shrink the size of the current pension by about 20 percent yet supplement that benefit by offering government contributions to individual retirement investment accounts.

Rep. Mac Thornberry sees no significant obstacles reaching a House and Senate retirement reform compromise this year.

The members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff support the current proposal in general to overhaul the retirement system but have some concerns.

For the small slice of the force that spends — or plans to spend — 20 years or more on active duty, a comparison of the current all-or-nothing plan and the proposed “blended” system is complex.

Here is how the compensation commission breaks down the retirement plan numbers.

Military personnel experts say compensation commission proposals don’t go far enough.