Report Takes In-Depth Look at all Military Benefits

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We've told you about the work the Military Compensation Retirement and Modernization Commission (MCRMC) is doing. This board is tasked by Congress with coming up with recommendations that could seriously alter our future military benefits.

While the commission won't release its recommendations for changes to military compensation until Feb., 2015, they DID just release a report jam-packed with information and details about the pay, compensation and benefits we currently have.

What you won't find here: any sort of inkling as to the future of military pay and benefits. I know, I was disappointed, too.

What you will find: All the details of all the benefits we currently enjoy and some really interesting data on the who and want of our military.

If you're anything close to as wonky as I am (and I know most of you aren't. A big $20 says even our own editor Jacey hasn't gotten this far into this blog post) you will really enjoy this report.

Why? All the information. Here's just a sample of the details in it:

-- "The number of Service members who are married increased over the  last 40 years, from 40 percent of the active-duty force at the start of the all-volunteer force to 55 percent in 2013. Sixty-eight percent of all active-duty officers were married in 2013. Of these, 71 percent had dependents and another 11 percent were families in which both service members were in the uniformed services."

Whoa.

-- "...It it is worth noting that the force is much younger than the overall civilian sector. Indeed, 38 percent of the active-duty force (officers and enlisted) is between the ages of 17 and 24, while only 13 percent of the civilian workforce falls between the ages of 16 and 24."

Whoa again.

-- "In fiscal 2013, 9.46 million people were eligible for the Tricare benefit. Of those eligible beneficiaries, 8.03 million actually used the Tricare program; however, only 5.19 million enrolled in the program."

-- "In fiscal 2013, of 13,115 U.S. civilian [commissary] employees, approximately 64 percent had a military affiliation, including 3,711 military spouses (28 percent), 990 dependents (8 percent),  1,598 retirees (12 percent), 256 guard and reserve (2 percent), and 1,825 other veterans (14 percent)."

-- "Service members have approximately 1.2 million school-age children. In the United States, approximately 80 percent of those children attend public schools."

-- A mere 22 percent of military 1.4 million active duty service members live in government quarters of some kind (on base housing, barracks, etc.). The rest live off base.

-- Beyond the military resorts we all know and love (Hawaii, anyone?) in fiscal 2013 the military ran "147 recreation areas, 71 hotel-like facilities, 1,072 cabins, 500 cottages, 224 trailers, 164 RV/trailer parks, and 109 campgrounds."

 

You can read through the entire reports (or just the parts that interest you) over here. 

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