The Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commissions Blended Retirement Plan: A First Look at Marine Corps Implications

Abstract : The final report of the Military Compensation and Retirement ModernizationCommission (MCRMC) proposes a blended retirement plan that would reduce the size of the defined benefit in the current retirement plan but would add anemployer-matching Thrift Savings Plan and a continuation bonus. This plan hasreceived significant support by the Congress and throughout the Department of Defense and is likely to be codified in law in the next National Defense Authorization Act. This research memorandum helps to begin the Marine Corps analytic process for implementation of the proposed plan. It recaps key features of the proposed plan, reviews compensation management basics, identifies key force management objectives that could be affected by compensation changes, provides preliminary analysis for how these objectives could be affected by the proposed plan, andprovides a framework to conduct detailed follow-on analysis.