The Army Business Board’s proposed new retirement plan that calls for phasing out 20-year pensions and gradually replacing them with contributions to a thrift savings plan is only a proposal, not a soon-to-be implemented law.The proposal is an idea from one entity within the Pentagon.The Department of Defense has not endorsed it nor sent it to Congress as a proposed change to the current plan."Another thing to remember is that over the years there have been many proposals to change the military retirement plan, and the only one that Congress passed, called REDUX, back in the 80’s, was repealed in 2000 after it caused retention problems," an AUSA official said.While there is considerably more pressure to cut costs than ever before, it is difficult to imagine Congress changing the retirement system while the military is fighting two wars.Given the Congress’s current difficulty dealing with the debt ceiling and most other issues, it seems unlikely they could agree on a way forward on such an enormous issue as military retirement.That said, AUSA remains opposed to changes to the current military retirement system and will fight to protect the full value of retiree and annuitant pay and benefits.