Ok so here are my two cents...FWIW...

#1 I am an active duty soldier, AND PROUD OF IT

#2 stop calling military retirement an entitlement-it is earned, if you think it is an entitlement then please feel free to start forking over more of your pension/retirment fund to my bank account, you work and put money towards your retirement and SO DO ALL MY BROTHER AND SISTERS IN ARMS...

#3 I don't hold it against anyone that never joined, couldn't join, joined but got out, etc...but if you want to complain and start making absurd comments that it is the fault of the military as to why our national debt is the way it is STOP....read a high school government book and see who actually decides on where and how money is spent

#4 if you actually think, and don't just regurgitate what the talking heads on TV say, that 20 years in the military is such an easy thing and that 50% of our base pay is such a great retirement, then please by all means drop what you are doing and head for the nearest recruiter, join up and see for yourself what being in the military is all about and make an informed decision...because less than 1% of the population wears the uniform...

Now that is off my chest...the 401(K) plan sounds great on paper, but let's not forget that while we aren't complaining about the goverment not doing enough, it was that same government that made a promise to us who raised our hands and who gave 20 or more years. It doesn't bother me in the least bit that personnel who did one tour or maybe two and who got out receives nothing...that wasn't the promise, the promise was 20 or more and 50% or more...this isn't the first time this has occurred. A brief history lesson: 1783-Independance Hall-revolutionary soldiers demand back payment from the Continental Congress; 1932-Washington D.C.-WWI veterans demand payment of the Soldiers Bonus Act (passed 1924). People clamored around "more transparency" "more honesty" in government...well please tell me how threatening our veterans is a change? I understand federal agencies are facing cutbacks...but please let me know how much you are going to be affected if the "magnificent 12" don't figure out how to fix the budget, for those of you who aren't in service or who aren't in a federal job...is your company going to have to give roughly 50% of the trillion dollars in savings that is demanded by the end of the year?