There's been a lot of talk about the recent Department of Defense proposal to change the long-standing military retirement system, which entitled only Servicemembers who ended their service after 20 years to receive full retirement benefits.

The new plan, which was presented by the Defense Business Board in late July, would instead work more like retirement plans in the civilian sector, with yearly contributions from the government into a 401(k)-style account (similar to a Thrift Savings Plan), regardless of how many years Servicemembers serve before getting out.

Though the change seems dramatic to many, the retirement contributions for the military would still be higher than those given out in the private sector, which typically range from between four and 12 percent of employees' annual salaries.

Conversely, contribution rates for the military would be around 16.5 percent of Servicemembers' annual salaries. There are also rumors that the contributions would be higher for Servicemembers who deploy frequently or serve in high-demand positions.

However, when factoring in the average corporate employee's salary versus that of a Servicemember, the percentages don't seem to work in favor of those in uniform. The true benefits for Servicemembers who leave before reaching the 20-year mark would be that they would receive some retirement benefits from their time served, as opposed to getting nothing under the existing plan.

While the new plan would not affect those already retired or disabled veterans, it would affect current active military.

For example, Servicemembers with five years of service would immediately begin accruing new benefits in a TSP-type account. Then, if they remained in service until the ‘old vesting date' of 20 years of service, they also would receive 25 percent of the ‘old plan benefit,' which would work out to about 12 percent of their pay at retirement, as an annuity.

However, if they left before 20 years, they would receive only the money in the TSP account and no annuity. Other ranges of years of service, like 10 or 15 years in, would have different percentages of TSP vs. annuity.

A further, more extensive report will be released this month before the item is brought before the Secretary of Defense.