For the Military Members in the Audience

When I first announced that I was officially retiring in 2019 via the blog and my Facebook group, the response was overwhelmingly positive. Amidst all those positive responses, Timika Downes, a fellow Financial Independence (FI) blogger, reservist, and FB group member asked me to share lessons I learned throughout the military retirement process. I was non-committal at the time because I had no idea if there would be anything worth sharing. However, now that I’m through the first phase of that process, I realize I have a few nuggets of information worth sharing — especially for military Financially Independent Retire Early (FIRE) seekers like me.

Admittedly some of my lessons are more or less relevant, based on what you want to do after the military. However, any military member contemplating either retirement or transition from Active Duty can take something away from what I’m about to share. Top among those takeaways is this: The Department of Defense (DOD); the Veteran’s Administration (VA); and many state, local, and benevolent organizations have put a lot of effort into ensuring that current active duty military members transition successfully to civilian life.

As a student of history, I’m well aware that the above takeaway was not always true. The VA, and the taxpayers who fund it, have failed to take care of U.S. vets on numerous occasions. As evidence, consider the string of VA scandals outlined by CNN in 2014.

History Speaks Louder Than Words

I remember many of the post-Viet Nam VA horror stories from my youth in the 1980s and 1990s. In fact, in the late 1990s, I sought treatment at the VA hospital in my hometown, after my first attempt at Officer Candidate School ended with two broken knees. The medical service didn’t impress me. So much so, that I sought private treatment. As the CNN article also points out, Post-9/11 vets experienced similar issues throughout the 2000s.

That said, it’s clear to me that the DOD, the VA, and many other organizations are striving to rectify many of those past mistakes with the current generation of transitioning active duty military members. Consider what one particular VA employee stated during my VA Benefits brief:

If you’re a vet or know someone who is a vet, that doesn’t have a place to sleep tonight, give me a call. Here is my personal cell phone number. The VA doesn’t want them sleeping on the streets. We have a program that can help.

The number of resources available to U.S. veterans today is absolutely dizzying … and humbling. As a result, my peers and I are the lucky beneficiaries. But, depending on where you fall out on your path to either FI or FIRE, some military members stand to gain a lot more out of the process than others. That creates the perfect segue to my lessons learned.

Lesson#1: Some Will Benefit More Than Others

I say that as someone who has now attended the DOD required transition course, called the Transition, Goals, Plans, Success (TGPS) program. I’ve also attended a two-day transition seminar sponsored by a benevolent veteran’s organization called the Commit Foundation (which I highly recommend). On top of those, I sat through the Small Business Administration’s (SBA’s) Boots to Business, which is a course oriented towards those of us with an entrepreneurial mind. As a result, I can state with confidence that the current mandatory (and voluntary) transition programs are not designed to accommodate FIRE seekers.

Nor should they be. Let’s be real here folks if you’re as organized as I am in your financial life, and you’re seeking FIRE, you’re way ahead of the pack. In fact, you’re probably lapping the pack — by two or three laps. Don’t break your arm patting yourself on the back though, it’s an easy race to win. We are truly the exception. That’s been clear to me since day one of all the seminars I’ve attended.

I’m glad the VA, DOD, and all the other organizations out there concentrate on the average service member and not the exception. Based on my experience, the average transitioning member needs help because they: 1) have little-to-no idea what the hell they’re going to do next, or 2) no idea how to get there, or 3) both.

The Lowest Common Denominator

I don’t provide that judgment lightly either. I say that as someone who sat through a segregated TGPS course with retirees in one classroom, and personnel at the end of 4, 6, 8, 12, or 16-year commitments in another. Over half of my class of pending retirees hadn’t planned or thought-out their retirement to any real degree.

For some, that was OK, because they were preemptively taking the class with a year or more until retirement. Others, however, were only months away from retirement with no clue about what they were going to do. When asked who was going to “retire retire,” only a few raised their hands. Furthermore, upon questioning them, it appeared to me that only one or two had thought through the implications of that statement.

The entire point of the TGPS curriculum is to help transitioning members find a job. To that end, a Department of Labor (DOL) representative teaches three-days out of the five-day course. Fortunately, our representative was engaging and knew her curriculum well. She taught the class how to write resumes, give an elevator pitch, network, and conduct a job interview.

The Commit Foundation transition seminar also centered on building a network, perfecting your elevator pitch, and finding a job. Although, in that particular forum, they at least attempted to tailor to their participants’ individual transition desires. They did this by bringing in mentors with backgrounds in specific areas, such as starting their own business or returning to government work.

Lesson #2: Not For Overseas Retirees

As noted in a earlier post, Mrs. Grumpus and I are seriously considering retirement in New Zealand. So much so, that we head back there next month to scout out potential retirement locations. As a result, a small part of me had hoped the transition education process would cover subjects pertinent to overseas retirees. It didn’t. Or, at least it didn’t cover anything in-depth. Somebody made a vague reference in TGPS to counselors with particular overseas experience. I plan to follow-up and actually see if there are any counselors with overseas expertise in my local office.

The lack of overseas subject matter came as no surprise. I was fully prepared for little material of benefit, and I wasn’t disappointed. Friends and co-workers who had recently retired and/or transitioned while overseas, told me to expect as much. Also, Doug Nordman pointed out the same thing in one of his articles at the Military Guide blog.

Strangely, the Navy is well-known for its inability to accommodate overseas retirement. Which I find odd for a service with so much overseas presence. I’m stationed in Hawaii, where the Navy is the senior service. Thus, I attended a Navy-run TGPS class. If you’re contemplating an overseas retirement, I suggest you find a non-Navy led course.

Lesson #3: Despite Lessons 1&2, There’s Still A Lot to Learn

That’s right folks, don’t let the limitations of the transition education process get you down. There’s still a ton of useful knowledge to take away. For me, most of the worthwhile stuff came from the VA benefits brief at TGPS. In truth, there was so much information on that day’s worth of training, that I wish it had been three days long, in place of the DOL’s training. Fortunately, the VA hands out a useful booklet with all the information (and more) covered during the training. I plan to read it cover to cover.

There are some truly amazing VA programs and resources available to retirees or veterans with an honorable discharge and/or a service rated disability. This includes the extremely flexible post-9/11 GI Bill for those of us looking for a traditional 2 to 4 year college (which I’ve blogged about before); the Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (VocRehab or VR&E) program for those looking at vocational training for a trade or skills job; and the newly minted pilot program called Vet Tec for those specifically looking for technology training.

If going back to school, or obtaining vocational skills, isn’t your thing, don’t worry, there are plenty of other programs. This includes help with setting up your own business from the Small Business Administration (SBA). They run Veteran’s Business Outreach Centers (VBOCs) in 22 locations across the U.S., including Hawaii. You can learn about all of this and more in the Boots to Business course.

Lesson #4: Everything Requires Proactivity

If you aren’t proactive, your transition to civilian life won’t be smooth. That could probably be said about most things in life, but in this particular instance, it’s definitely true. Whether you want to go to school, get a job, start a business, or golf the rest of your days away; for the transition to run as smooth as possible, be proactive.

For example, what’s the one thing, besides TGPS, that everyone leaving or retiring will do? The VA disability assessment process. Be you someone who’s transitioning to civilian life after six years, or someone who’s retiring at 26 years; it’s in your best interest to go through the process. Even if you get a 0% rating, that’s still a rating. Depending on which U.S. state you choose to move to after the military, 0% can unlock access to certain veteran privileges. If nothing else, the VA disability assessment process is one last chance to find any potential medical issues that need treatment while you’re still on active duty, and have access to universal healthcare.

Truthfully, you could either finish the disability assessment process before, or after, you leave the service. But, for the reason I identified above, I highly recommend you do it before you leave the service. I say that because it’s my understanding that everything gets harder from the medical perspective once you leave active duty.

Time Keeps on Ticking

The process takes time, which is why you need to be proactive. If you want your rating before separating or retiring, then you need to submit your package 180 to 90 days before your end of service date. On the other hand, if you’re comfortable with the idea of leaving active duty without your rating, but still want to submit the package while on active duty, then you can submit with less than 90 days left. If you get a rating, they’ll adjust your future retirement checks and add the back pay.

Finally, you could submit your VA claims package after you’re out. Once again, they’ll add the back pay if you get a rating. If you want to know more about VA disability, go to the article that Friend of Grumpus wrote in 2018 for this blog. It walks you through the assessment process step-by-step, and discusses how payments work.

It’s important that you find your motivation for all the various things you need to do before leaving service. Personally, I want to know my VA rating in advance, so I can build a realistic retirement budget prior to the regular paychecks ending! As a result, I plan to submit right at 180. In the meantime, I’ve been busy getting the rest of my medical issues seen to, fixed, and documented. I also continue to explore all my education options through the various VA programs.

Lesson #5: UCMJ For Life

This last lesson applies to active duty retirees only. It comes courtesy of my command’s Judge Advocate General (JAG). Did you know that as an active duty military retiree you are still subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) once you retire? Not just for crimes committed while in the service, but after you leave as well. Yeah, neither did I, until the JAG mentioned it to my Commanding Officer (CO) at a meeting the other day.

I seriously thought the JAG was joking. Either that, or I thought he had confused retirees with members of the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR). After the meeting, I researched the issue, and discovered the JAG was correct.

Indeed, the U.S. government can recall retirees to active duty just to punish them under the UCMJ for offenses committed after they leave the service. Unlike our reserve counterparts, who can only be punished for breaking the UCMJ while on active duty; the DOD can recall retirees and court-martial them for UCMJ infractions committed after they retire. In fact, in February 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court reinforced supported this federal provision when it chose not to hear Larrabee vs. the United States. This meant that the lower court rulings, which found in favor of the United States, stood.

You can read about it here. As you’ll see from the article, a lot of the legal justification surrounding the case deals directly with the fact that Larrabee was a retiree receiving a pension. I’m not a lawyer, so some of the finer nuances go over my head. However, I think the legal explanation goes something like this: as far as the U.S. government views it, a pension isn’t just compensation for services rendered, but also pay for an ongoing agreement that a retiree can be recalled to active duty at any time; therefore, retirees are accountable under the UCMJ.

Reassessing Pension Safety

I’ll be honest that interpretation changes my understanding of what my pension represents. Not only that, but it changes my calculation of my pension’s safety. Up to now, I always viewed my federal pension as 100% safe, because I knew it was backed by the full (monetary) faith of the U.S. government. I figured since the world operates on the dollar standard, and the U.S. always pays its debts, something truly calamitous would have to happen for my pension payments to stop.

Now though, I don’t view it that way. Or to put it more accurately, I no longer view the safety of my pension through the singular prism of U.S. monetary policy. While my military pension may not be vulnerable to traditional pension safety concerns like funding levels, it’s apparently susceptible to either a strict or loose implementation of federal law, assuming I violate the UCMJ in retirement.

The Long Arm of the Law

As the article I just linked to points out, these federal provisions are mostly applied in egregious cases of wrongdoing. Larrabee was specifically recalled and court-martialed for sexual assault while living in Okinawa. Since I’m not planning on committing any heinous crimes, my military pension is still probably safer than most.

Yet, there’s nothing in the law limiting the DOD to prosecuting only egregious retiree infractions under the UCMJ. They could literally recall any retiree receiving a pension for any infraction. As Steve Vladeck, one of the petitioning lawyers for Larrabee’s failed Supreme Court appeal stated in a recent article on the Lawfare blog:

This logic is stunning in its breadth. Not only would it allow for the court-martial of any of the 2 million currently retired service members for any crime committed at any point between retirement and death, but it would also allow Congress to subject to military jurisdiction any offense committed by the 17 million men currently registered for the Selective Service, who are subject to involuntary induction and activation by the president for training and service at any time, “whether or not a state of war exists.” If the lower courts are correct, the military could not only prosecute Admiral McRaven for contemptuous speech toward the president; it could also prosecute an octogenarian Vietnam veteran for Medicare fraud or an 18-year-old Selective Service registrant for speeding in a national park.

Now that’s scary.

Up in Smoke

Why do I bring this up? Well for one, if you’re a (soon-to-be) active duty military retiree, and thinking of going into, or investing in, a quasi-legal industry where federal and the state laws are different like the cannabinoid industry you should stop. Although I’m no lawyer, I’m almost certain you’re not safe under state law.  Because you’re an active duty retiree drawing a federal pension, you’re subject to federal law no matter what. And, according to federal law you can be recalled and court-martialed for UCMJ violations.

If I just crushed your dream of becoming the legal pot king of Washington state, Colorado, or California; I apologize. At least you’ll keep your pension this way! And, just to be clear, even though I want to study horticulture when I retire, I never intended to enter the pot growing industry. Despite all the jokes I get when I tell someone I want to study horticulture, chilies are my game, not marijuana.

Freedom, I Won’t Let You Down

The UCMJ covers a lot more than just drug use, or investing in the pot industry, though. It covers things like adultery, illegal types of sex, and fundamental rights like freedom of speech. Specifically, it limits free speech. I used to think that limit only applied to active duty military members, but apparently, as the above passage by Steve Vladeck points out, and the Supreme Court recently affirmed, it applies to all active duty retirees as well.

Now, you may not have noticed, but I run a blog! That means freedom of speech is important to me. Not only that, but if I choose to monetize this blog, writing might prove a useful income stream in retirement. While I attempt to avoid politics on the blog, that’s not always possible, especially when analyzing policies that impact the personal finance issues that this blog covers. This means I don’t always agree with the economic policies, directives, or decisions made by the Commander-in-Chief.

As an active duty officer, I’m aware that the UCMJ and federal code prohibits contempt towards officials. I also understand why those laws are in place. Furthermore, disagreement doesn’t equate to contempt. People in and out of the military often conflate the two. As a result, I believe I’ve walked that line correctly with the blog. Hypothetically speaking though, at some point in the future, I may need to be more specific with my criticism of particular policies, and the administration officials that make them. Up to now, I always thought I’d be able to do that in retirement, but now, I’m not so sure.

Grumpus For Life

Furthermore, I’d hoped that I could drop the Grumpus Maximus pseudonym at some point. Not that I ever planned to write a scandalous tell-all book, or start a counter-culture movement. But, if warranted, I’d certainly like the ability to criticize senior U.S. government and DOD officials (current or future) and their policies without looking over my shoulder and fearing punishment under the UCMJ.

The punishment scenario is highly unlikely, but the truth is I’m just another broke-dick mid-grade military officer retiring after 20 years. Why take the chance? I guess I’ll keep the pseudonym in retirement and stay Grumpus for life. Best get making make t-shirts with Grumpus 4 Life on them. Copyright!

Stay on Target, Stay on TARGET!

My apologies for diving down the rabbit hole on Lesson #5. However, that knowledge changed how I assess the safety of my pension. If it did that for me, I suspect it might for other people as well. The staff doesn’t cover that particular disclaimer about your pension in TGPS. It’s another reason I felt compelled to mention it here. Let’s just assume that none of us will run afoul of the law or the UCMJ in retirement, and never speak of this again. Shall we?

Regardless of whether you found lesson #5 useful, I hope you found lessons 1-4 worthwhile. If nothing else, I hope those lessons spur you to conduct your own research. They can also help when it comes to building your post-military retirement plan. No matter what you choose to do in retirement, there are resources available at the federal, state and local level to help you do it.

Be proactive. Don’t waste that help, because historically it hasn’t always been there. The resources are now available because our predecessors had it much tougher than us. Fortunately, they chose to do or say something about it. It’d be a shame to see those resources redirected to other areas of the government due to lack of use.