Twenty years of service : the politics of military pension policy and the long road to reform / Brandon J. Archuleta.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 229-246) and index.

"For nearly seventy years, the military retirement policy remained unchanged-requiring retirees to serve twenty years in order to receive the military's highly desirable, traditional, defined-benefit pension. How has it remained so durable for so long, and what needs to change as the military adapts to the twenty-first century? Brandon J. Archuleta explores the history and development of the military pension through the lens of the autonomous policy subsystem. Through extensive fieldwork and interviews with sixty policymaking elites-including congressional staffers, veterans' lobbyists, blue ribbon commissioners, and even senior Pentagon policymakers-Twenty Years of Service gets inside the military personnel policy subsystem and reveals how these institutions managed to monopolize military retirement policy by maintaining the rigid status quo. Archuleta's research reveals major organizational issues that have significant bureaucratic and policy implications for the Pentagon. Congress and veterans' groups have been able to dominate the policymaking process, undermining the military's ability to adapt to a new policy environment. As the military aims to attract the next generation of young recruits for the twenty-first century All-Volunteer Force, Twenty Years of Service is a timely and relevant contribution to the field with lessons for scholars and policymakers wrestling with the future of American defense policy."-- Provided by publisher.