People—dedicated men and women who sacrifice many comforts of civilian life to answer the call to serve—are the cornerstone of the U.S. military, the allvolunteer force. To attract, retain and fairly compensate those who dedicate their lives to service, the military has long offered its careerists adequate retirement pay packages in return for their dedication. Retirement benefits are a covenant with servicemembers who, despite comprising only a very small percentage of the population, bear much of the nation’s burden. However, in today’s strained fiscal environment, there are unofficial proposals—citing steady growth of personnel costs— that view the military retirement system as a largess and a target to be overhauled in a business-like manner.