After Push From Klobuchar, Army Takes Action to Ensure Military Retirees Receive the Benefits They Deserve

Press Release

After a push from U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), the U.S. Army has announced that it is taking action to ensure military retirees receive the benefits they deserve. A recently implemented Army policy has been forcing a significant number of captains and majors who are former non-commissioned officers to retire at their highest previous enlisted rank, causing a significant decrease in lifetime retirement benefits. Following calls for action from Klobuchar and a bipartisan coalition of senators, the Army recently announced that it has reversed this policy in order to ensure soldiers can retire at the rank they earned and to appropriately honor their service.

"Our servicememen and women put their lives on the line to keep us safe, and they deserve to know we have their backs when they come home," Klobuchar said. "This misguided policy was needlessly stripping some of our military retirees of the benefits they'd earned, and I'm pleased that the Army has reversed course and heeded our calls for action to ensure these servicemembers receive benefits that are worthy of their service."

Under the Army's policy, officers selected by the Enhanced-Selective Early Retirement Boards were forced to retire as soon as they reach 20 years of service. However, a soldier must have serve at least eight years of active service as a commissioned officer in order to retire at that rank. This means officers who were forced to retire before they have served in the position for eight years were demoted upon retirement to their highest previous enlisted rank and received the corresponding benefits.

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