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Author: Eric Saretsky
Entrepreneurship part 1 of 2
I had a great conversation Wednesday evening at my “rest stop” on the way home from work. With my evening commute often taking an hour and a half or more, sometimes I meet my wife for her dinner break at a Japanese-style poki place nearby. I enjoy the sushi poki bowls at the one place, but the clientele’s average age is about a third of mine. I know more people at the Starbucks across their parking lot than at Poki. Now that I am more earnest about healthy living, my other haunt, a cigar lounge, also near her work, is someplace I only stop in once or twice a month. The cigar place is a comfortable spot, like the fictional Cheers lounge in the 1990s TV show of the same name. But with banter over cigars in place of alcohol. I get recharged with some great conversation, which in turn generates ideas for blog posts.
Entrepreneurs, engineers, teachers, male nurses, mechanics and delivery drivers frequent Liberty Tobacco. Retired military men talk sports and politics. Some talk classic cars and motorcycles. One of my acquaintances is a Ferrari delivery driver. Another is an engineer who travels around the country to install or repair equipment at some large manufacturing companies. Tonight I chatted with a Navy veteran turned software engineer. We talked engineering and designing the apps that he puts on the cycling machines found in high-end gyms and rehabilitation studios – the ones that feature pelotons, scenic rides, or other distractions for indoor training. We talked about Amazon web services and designing web applications. One of the new tools I heard about tonight is called TERAFORM which to most bloggers in my WordPress community is likely an uninteresting topic. But to engineers and web designer geeks – and me tonight, an opportunity to talk about one’s passion.
For couple months now, I have been dealing with a complex engineering issue at work. But this week I have had the opportunity to work with a brilliant peer. He is analyzing by means of a methodical series of software images he redesigned, clues to a particularly irritating unknown failure in a device I have been troubleshooting. Until I started working with him, we knew “when” it stopped working, but did not know the “why”. Even an old Senior Chief is open to learning something.
After working forty years, I realize that there are two types of people and two types of challenges I enjoy. Entrepreneurs, like Virgin company’s Richard Branson; my employer, Viasat CEO, Mark Dankberg; or my former college Russian professor who started an immersion language and travel program 40 years ago. And the second type are technical experts, be they engineers, mechanics or horticulturists. To my shame, my onetime boss, a construction foreman- I was in my early twenties – retorted to my arrogant comment about my apparent lack of skill, that he never met many geniuses but he would always take a “dumba%% with common sense” in his line of work.
To be successful as an entrepreneur, a person requires initiative, unyielding determination and great insight into human nature. An interview I watched online featured Tony Robbins who is an expert in human nature. He has coached people to reach inside themselves and conquer their shortcomings for nearly forty years. Understanding what is important to one’s client, customer or consumer, and how to satisfy their particular problem or need is key to becoming successful. Innovators may develop a revolutionary product or service. But it is the entrepreneurs who change the world by solving a problem for people with that innovation.
(To be continued)
If you should happen to be in the San Diego region or know someone who is, particularly a Active Duty or former service member considering a home purchase, I can highly recommend Doug Diemer as a loan officer. He treated me very well, made the process of a VA refinance loan easy and has followed up with me quarterly. There is a lot of noise in the mortgage refinancing industry. And it helps to have someone to recommend.
Quest for non-Fire, Ice Tea and a Paleo-donut
In the late summer in the American West, life has challenges including “excessive heat” warnings, brush and forest fires, snarled traffic, and where to go for a getaway that is not “tourist pricey”. Living in a region that everyone heads toward: beaches, nearby islands, amusement parks, and mountain retreats, I want to avoid all these in summer. Of course, getting out away from the crowds of people for the weekend leaves the desert and the deep sea. Without a boat of my own, the sea is out of the question and the desert – only a few foolhardy migrants and the Border Patrol are out there in August.
Last weekend, in a spur-of-the-moment outing to celebrate my birthday, my spouse and I thought we would go to Catalina Island off the coast southeast of Los Angeles. With no ferry seats on a return trip that day, we looked elsewhere. The popular amusement parks like Disneyland were off-limits, not because of the crowds, but because our annual Pass does not permit entry during the popular summer months for tourists. And Nature was also causing chaos. Brush fires along destinations we alternately considered were, like the Spirit blocking the Apostle Paul’s travel to Asia, directing me to go north up the I-15 freeway. And so we went to Temecula, about sixty miles north of San Diego.
Yet no road trip with my wife is properly prepared unless she has a large cup of fresh – or at least, recently-brewed UNSWEETENED ice tea at launch and part-way through the adventure. I could write reviews on scores of places , “convenience” stores and “fast food” drive-in windows, who must not sell a lot of unsweetened, fresh tea. When you no longer tolerate sugary soft drinks, water is about the only other choice. Even the dozen brands of bottled iced tea are a last resort. Does anyone really like a passion-fruit-flavored Iced Tea beverage? (For my European and British-tradition tea drinking readers, while you have no idea whatsoever about “iced” tea as a beverage, it is consumed by the millions of gallons annually in the United States. I have had Britons and Irishmen in those respective countries look at me as completely mad when I described brewed tea, refrigerated and poured over ice.)
Once her tea is secured, and the approximate travel time between consumption and the need for the first bathroom stop is calculated in my driving computer ( my head) we set off. As anyone in Mid-Life, who travels frequently with their spouse, that is, fifty-ish, the climate control in the vehicle is a frequent issue. I generally like the air conditioning ON in the car anytime the outside temperature is above 75F. Normally we are at opposite extremes -when she is cold I am hot. When I am comfortable, she pulls out a sweatshirt or a jacket. If roll a window down, she wants it up. And so on.
At least now with our lifestyle that can at times be confused with the “Atkins diet”, the “Keto diet”, “Paleo diet” or “vegetarian”-ish, we do not bother with correcting folks. I can eat anything, though I choose more often to eat healthy food and in smaller portions. So what is the meaning of “Paleo donuts”?
The Paleo diet seems to be at odds with any encounter with donuts. However, as some may be aware, I have been focusing on a better diet and exercise for much of the last eight or nine months. I do not subscribe to fads, particularly ones identified with the eating habits of extinct people. But on our travels into Temecula, we found a farmers’ market I talked about in an earlier post . I spotted a vendor offering samples of donuts and like a smart aleck, opined that that they would have to be gluten-free or Paleo -diet friendly for me to accept. Those were.
When someone has the opportunity to eat his own words, and if they are in a donut, I will. Without regret or “cheating”. A sliver at a time.
fitness test
Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity. John F. Kennedy
(brainyquote.com)
One of my earliest memories of my father was him working out on the pull-up bar he had secured in the doorframe between the hallway and the kitchen of our home. In the bathroom he had dumbbells that he would use before he got ready for work. Years later I saw pictures of him on skiis and also when he was a great swimmer, looking very fit in a picture taken at the beach. He was a handsome and strapping young man.
My mother was also an avid skier. When my father had surgery for a brain tumor requiring years of physical therapy, my mother continued a routine of taking my younger sister and me hiking, running, bicycling and swimming. This was in the mid-1960s, when the President’s Council on Physical Fitness was a sought-after award at school, kids were always in perpetual motion outdoors and obesity was rare in my community. In the years prior to her accident on the slopes (she shattered her ankle ending her skiing days) we took trips to Lake Tahoe in winter to ski. She also had a daily regimen of exercising in front of the television broadcast of Jack Lalanne. She swam laps in a pool for hours twice a week for perhaps thirty years – right into her 70s.
As a teen in Tucson Arizona, I worked on a ranch in the early morning and late afternoon before school, riding my bicycle several miles to and from school. I rode horses several days a week, which is great exercise for your legs, back and core. And in the Navy, I continued to work out, even though I did not have a runner’s body, running several miles every day with the leadership of my department. I was never a body builder, but regularly worked out in the base gym. And cycling around the cities I was stationed.
In my late Thirties, I started to lose interest in fitness. Whether laziness, age or a depression mindset thing, I started to gain weight and stopped going to the gym. It was actually my selection for Chief Petty Officer that turned me around. Up at 0430, meeting a group of men and women ten to twenty years my junior at 0500, we ran along the beach and golf course at the base. Calisthenics, tug-of-war contests, and even a half-marathon were activities I determined to give my best – “lead from the front” attitude. It was in response to a challenge that a Chief, five years my senior issued me.
After my military retirement, I rode my bicycle for miles to and from work for a few years. One month after I started to up my efforts – getting the clipless pedals on that bicycle, I had an accident and broke my wrist in several places. I was afraid to ride a bicycle in San Diego after I recovered. Then work became my excuse to not exercise and binge eating instead to cope with stress. Obvious to all, I started to get terribly out of shape to the point, on a vacation cruise in November of last year, I was teased by a Jamaican tour employee who nicknamed me “Santa Claus”. Upon my return, I hated my cruise pictures – alongside our very fit friends. I made a decision. No more Santa Claus. With an illness at the end of the year to motivate me, I decided to follow my spouse’s commitment, by eating nutritiously and moderately. And get into physical fitness again. There have been few things in my life that have not been accomplished when setting my mind to push through. I believe that anyone with sufficient motive and “never quit” attitude can achieve anything, I intend to wear my uniform, fit and with pride, for Veteran’s Day this year.
I just turned 59 last week, and I am well on my way to my next milestone: I was under two hundred pounds when I received my Chief’s anchors in 2004, and I will be there again. It takes forty minutes a day four days a week. I walk the dogs daily, and hike with my friends (and the dogs) Saturday mornings. And I no longer eat the processed crap I ate unthinkingly, as I look at it now as sidetracking my goal.
No longer being a fat old man has been noticed by my co-workers, and supervisors but particularly by friends I had not seen in a year. “Half the man I used to be” is my new moniker. My wife is excited that we are getting healthier together. And my zeal for the outdoors, my relationships with my wife – we work out together , with my physically active friends, and even zeal in blogging has been renewed. And I intend to be healthy and active for my grandchild, Zander, just born, and any more in the future.
I want to encourage you to stay active. Nothing will pull you out of anxiety, depression, a “funk”, or a stressful day at work like exercise and good nutrition. You can find out if this is something you want to do as well here.
And nutritional help here
True enjoyment comes from activity of the mind and exercise of the body; the two are ever united. Wilhelm von Humboldt (brainyquote.com)
Ask the Chief: dress for success
In the manner of dressing for work, the corporate world I entered in 2000, was a lot like the corporate world where my father worked. That is, suits, or sport coats with button-down shirts and ties, nice slacks and polished leather shoes. With the corporate headquarters in Washington, D.C. and the CEO and founder a product of the late 1950s, we dressed up even when we never left the office. But employment in San Diego in the new Millennium was being influenced more by Silicon Valley than Wall Street or Foggy Bottom in D.C.
Not surprisingly, the client of my employers in that first decade of the Twenty-First Century were the Naval officers and senior civilian staff (SPAWAR) who oversaw technical development in ships, electronic systems and aircraft for the Navy and Marine Corps. Since the military has prescribed uniforms for daily wear, and standardized grooming, these military officers had a certain expectation for civilians who supported their efforts.
In published articles in the Wall Street Journal and Scientific American , studies have shown also that dressing well, whether in button-down shirt and tie, or “business casual”, in the years since my father’s generation retired, has positive benefits on worker advancement, attitude and productivity. When I first interviewed at my company eleven years ago, I was still a member or the Navy Reserve and a Chief Petty Officer, so I arrived fit, clean-shaven, with shined shoes, and in a tailored suit. When the offer of employment was accepted, I was told that the dress code, when our clients were not on site, was more casual. California in general and San Diego, in particular, is a center of technical businesses, Integrated Circuits, Biotech, software companies and avionics. But with several universities in the area, interns and later their graduates were recruited and accommodated with casual dress options, flexible working hours and amenities from gyms to coffee houses to volleyball courts. Of course, the industrial standard requirements for manufacturing areas are as uniform in required dress as the military.
While senior management of the major divisions were often more formal due frequent meetings with senior-level clients, it was still an office environment where a staff meeting occurred at 10 AM to allow for surfing or gym workouts. In the last ten years however, the growth of the company has changed the culture slightly. From acquisitions, becoming a publicly-traded company, and increasing leadership roles in major technical boards, advisory groups and other businesses, business casual, including button-down shirts, nice tailored polos (with the corporate logo) and slacks and leather shoes is increasingly seen in the middle and senior division-management and those groomed for their next level. New hires, and casual employees who make a significant contribution to a project (read “brain trust”) are often the ones who are more casually attired year-round.
What does all this mean for the transitioning military member who has the education or the skills to enter the corporate world? It means having to adjust their “uniform” for the workday. While it may seem refreshing to wear baggy shorts and sandals, or hair that recalls more of the college dorm life than a corporate environment, one’s work ethic and contribution to a project, may be hindered. During meetings with military or senior government clients, a sharp appearance can foster more productive outcome. And the more ambitious a former military member becomes, there is value in a certain standout appearance.
This also seems to motivate employees to maintain or enhance a certain fitness and healthier lifestyle. Not only because the workplace may subsidize health insurance for workers more generously for fitness, but also it reflects better on the employee’s advancement opportunities. (Of course, this does not imply that any of the equal opportunity standards that govern employment are overlooked.) A sharper appearance and a healthier overall person is more often a better candidate when looking at similar qualifications.
Popeye was no vegan
During the years I served on Navy ships underway on deployment, one of the most anticipated days was the mid-point of the cruise when the Command authorized a barbecue for the crew. This was known as “Steel Beach”. We all would form long lines to have a burger, roasted chicken, hot dogs, and potato salad, baked beans and chips. And a beer. But I can understand the excitement about a barbecue – even a steel beach one. It seems to be part of the human DNA to enjoy roasted meat. Perhaps it was the way food had to be containerized, frozen, powdered, steam-blanched for long voyages. At least, we never had salt beef, hard-tack or meal-wormy bread of our sailing ship forebears.
I guess I could have fared worse. Meals Ready to Eat, or MREs have been issued to servicemen on the battlefield – or during Chief initiations – or in SERE schools for generations. But in our changing society, I hope that vegetarians or vegans do not come to control the food selection of a captive audience be they on a forward operating base or a deployed destroyer. In Twenty-First Century society, we have a number of people who choose to eat vegetarian or even more radically, make food choices as “vegans”. The latter disdain any product that has anything to do with animal-origin; these folks condemn animal-related food industries. Of course, prior to modern refrigeration and frequent underway replenishment, I imagine had there been vegans onboard a ship thirty years ago, they would have been hard-pressed to determine if what was offered from the galley had been a creature at one time. SOS and powered eggs at breakfast, or sliders at lunch hardly seemed to be animal products.
One of my childhood cartoon heroes, Popeye, certainly had a thing for spinach. But I don’t think he would ever have turned away from barbecued steak, ribs, or a brat. I certainly never saw any war movie where the men (and women) lined up for soy or critically read the ingredients in any of the slop they were served. I learned as a child while watching movies about dinosaurs, aliens, and vampires, there is an undeniable dominance of meat-eating creatures over plant-eaters. Tyrannosaurs were definitely the hunters that preyed upon the herbivores. Lions and other big cats, wolves, foxes, and coyotes are predators. Barracuda, killer whales and other cetaceans are meat eaters. I know that human beings are more omnivorous, and when times were tough, hunter-gatherers would get by on flour ground from plants. A rabbit or lamb might do if a bison was not available. I have heard of some Amazonian warriors eating their enemies. The Aztecs did have a thing about human hearts, but a Sailor would have to be very hungry to eat someone you had played Spades with late nights.
Gratefully, cannibals do not seem prevalent in the military services. Nor do I encounter any at my employer. But I have encountered vegans. And some of these are a little ill-tempered, particularly when you tease them why they are not joining you in savoring barbecue for lunch or the team picnics. But inquiring further, I learn that vegans are predisposed to feeding their cats or dogs in the same manner they have chosen for themselves. While I can understand personal choice in the type of sustenance that humans put in their bodies, I am at a loss to understand how we humans project the same ethos on our dogs and cats.
Then again, I was eating some cantaloupe tonight with my dog monitoring my every slurp. To humor him, I gave him a small chunk. He ATE the chunk of cantaloupe. But of course, he had also just eaten scraps of the barbecue roast I had on my dinner plate. Omnivores. I would think it cruel and unusual punishment to restrict him to soy proteins and vegetables. He might decide to snack on me one night. Vegans can be a little unpredictable.
Ask Jack? Are Sailors war veterans if they only deploy on ships?
Here’s a fellow veteran Squid who has a great take on sea duty! I hope he doesn’t mind my volunteering his post for a wider audience!!
It’s time for some more worldly wisdom from your favorite Sailor turned advice giver.
Today’s question comes from Willy, who writes:
“What are your thoughts about Navy Sailors calling themselves war veterans when they have never been boots-on-ground (only on ships)? I have deployed to Iraq BOG twice (a year each time) and deployed three times aboard a DDG and LSD in support of operations in Iraq.”
Well Willy, I have admit I had to google “BOG” before I realized that BOG is an acronym (and I love acronyms) for “boots on ground”. I’ll have to add that to the never ending list of acronyms that I now know thanks to my Naval career.
I have never actually been BOG. I have been BOS-boots on ship, BOB-boots on boat, and even BIS-boots in shower (this is what happens when you forget to pack shower shoes, barefoot is out of the…
View original post 628 more words
Ask the Chief: interview skills
The world’s third oldest profession*.
When I was a younger Sailor, traveling from foreign port to foreign port, I encountered a lot of outgoing people engaged as vendors, tour guides, shopkeepers and restaurant owners. Often their families were the wait staff that ran these places or made the things that provided their living. When your livelihood depends on people, there is an advantage in being a “people person”.
When I was a kid, I was actually an introvert. A gangling kid with poor eyesight, I was not the best athlete nor a glib talker and jokester. From several moves, a lot of activities that caught my interest, studying people, and experience in several professions from ranching to construction, furniture sales and auto parts counter work, I got to talking with and taking an interest in people. I worked as a bartender and waiter before I went into the military. One of my dreams, long before I became a technical worker in the telecommunications industry, was opening a bar or restaurant based on what I visited in foreign places. A kind of dive that had “atmosphere”. With all that experience of these exotic places and tourists from every part of the world I thought it would be fun. I had been working in bars and restaurants prior to my military service so it was somewhat familiar. I learned to speak, or at least communicate in three foreign languages, Spanish, French and Russian.
The service industry depends on people-skills as well as a strong work ethic. Marketing. Being a good listener as well as an observant and diligent service provider. And have a good memory for people’s names, their likes, and so on. In France in he early 1990s I saw the “smash sandwich” vendors – paninis as America now knows them – and thought it was a novel idea to bring to these shores. With the buxom women staffing these kiosks, the Toulon vendors served a lot of sandwiches. In Turkey, shoeshine boys mobbed visitors, appearing at the dock where our ship’s water taxis deposited them. These kids knew how to say “shoe shine” and make small talk about sports, whether you were an American sailor, a Brit, an Arab or perhaps even Chinese tourist. Even sailors wearing sneakers were not overlooked by boys with pats of shoe polish. In the markets, almost every vendor spoke some foreign tongue.
Interviewing, like selling, takes skill and people-smarts
Just as there are people who do not understand the difference between “selling” and “buying”, there are people who do not understand that the interview is a skill that one perfects. Preparation, listening, knowing what and how, to answer a question is part of the interview. Confidence, balanced with humility, and understanding the requirements of the job being sought as well as knowing something of you prospective employer, can win the interview.
Technical professionals I have coached have earned an offer of employment, not only from their preparation, but knowing how to “answer the question being asked” with sufficient detail, but not enough to get bogged down. It is a marketing opportunity to show that you will be an asset to those doing the hiring, but not telling them as much. And to win their trust, through your personality and likeability.
I know others who are successful gardeners, pool men, insurance agents and financial counselors. Some are musicians. Others are artists and writers. And still others with a love for and enough experience in hunting, fishing, camping or motor sports, they made professions as guides and teachers. And they connect with their clients and employers, with the same people-smarts.
Commitment and self-improvement
Practicing interviews, such as the “elevator talk” or meeting people in social settings, is valuable. Listening to people’s names and observing details about those you converse with, not only makes the other person feel valued, but aids in your ability to connect with your message.
Books I have read recently and recommend to everyone, engineer, actor, or military member in transition, include How to Start A Conversation and Make Friends, by Don Gabor (Simon & Shuster), and the classic, How to Win Friends and Influence People , by Dale Carnegie. Another great read and short, is The One Minute Sales Person, by Spencer Johnson, MD, and Larry Wilson (Harper Collins). There are also many good books and websites on personal development, the interviewing process in the social media age as well.
Selling “you”
In a job interview, a prepared and confident person builds a relationship and earns trust with the interviewer and the employer. Beyond the hiring process, as an employee or consultant, you continue being a student of the company, the people you meet, and learning by asking the right questions. There is also the times and places you can market yourself for new opportunities in the company, and by demonstrating value – increasing the bottom line, can use the same interviewing skills to ask for raises as well.
As a manager, you are still engaged in the sales profession. Whether as team leader, morale booster, mentor, recruiter or discipline agent, you still show the “customer” the value of the company and role that person fills, which provides their needs and their relationship to the team.
People do not want to be “sold” but they do want to “buy”
Just as someone who shops for a new vehicle, kitchen appliance, or bringing on a new team member, the skill is in recognizing what motivates, interests or is valued by the customer. A customer looking for the security of business insurance is not going to respond to the agent’s ‘hot buttons’. And an employer is not going to be encouraged by a prospective employee’s focus on pay rate, vacation earned or working hours.
Interviewing requires diligent effort and practice. But the military member also has what many other applicants lack. Focus. Endurance. Attention to detail. And maturity. As well as experience working under stressful situations and deadlines. So take charge and carry out your mission. Interview, interview, interview. And I have benefited from fifty years of practice. I am no longer gangling, nor introverted. I have been a recruiter and meet people everywhere I go. Though my best friends will tell me I am still not “glib”.
Fair Winds and Following Seas. – Senior Chief (Ret.)
* Wikipedia repeats the quote attributed to Ronald Reagan that a politician is the second-oldest profession. Prostitution is frequently quipped as the “oldest” profession.
Military, Active, Reserve or Retired:
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If you live in, or are moving to, the San Diego area,
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In the market for a new home, or refinancing an existing one?
Contact Doug Diemer:
Consider this a personal testimonial as he made my VA Refinance a very smooth transaction in 2016. I receive no compensation for any referral.
DoD Announces Policy Change on Transfer of Post-9/11 GI Bill Benefits
Via DoD Announces Policy Change on Transfer of Post-9/11 GI Bill Benefits:
CTMCS (ret) Summary: DOD has changed policy to increase retention, mandating service members must be under 16 years TAFMS (or Selected Reserve), to elect a transfer to spouse or kids, and must have 4 years service obligation remaining in order to transfer benefits.
WASHINGTON –12 July 2018
The Defense Department issued a substantive change today to its policy on the transfer by service members in the uniformed services of Post-9/11 GI Bill educational benefits to eligible family member recipients.
Effective one year from the date of this change, eligibility to transfer those benefits will be limited to service members with less than 16 years of total active-duty or selected reserve service, as applicable.
Previously, there were no restrictions on when a service member could transfer educational benefits to their family members. The provision that requires a service member to have at least six years of service to apply to transfer benefits remains unchanged in the policy.
Focus on Retention
“After a thorough review of the policy, we saw a need to focus on retention in a time of increased growth of the armed forces,” said Stephanie Miller, director of accessions policy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. “This change continues to allow career service members that earned this benefit to share it with their family members while they continue to serve.” This change is an important step to preserve the distinction of transferability as a retention incentive, she added.
If service members fail to fulfill their service obligation because of a “force shaping” event — such as officers involuntarily separated as a result of being twice passed over for promotion or enlisted personnel involuntarily separated as a result of failure to meet minimum retention standards, such as high year of tenure — the change will allow them to retain their eligibility to transfer education benefits even if they haven’t served the entirety of their obligated service commitment through no fault of their own.
All approvals for transferability of Post-9/11 GI Bill continue to require a four-year commitment in the armed forces and, more importantly, the member must be eligible to be retained for four years from the date of election, officials said.
The policy affects service members in the uniformed services, which includes the U.S. Coast Guard as well as the commissioned members of the U.S. Public Health Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
editor: emphasis added
Combat-injured veterans tax relief
righting a wrong
Of all the things that politicians do that gets people’s dander up, then-President Obama signed into law a bill that rights a wrong for combat-injured veterans. For more than a hundred-thirty thousand veterans whose combat injuries ended their careers, the government has ended taxing their severance pay. The veterans affected served from 1991 (Desert Storm) through the present.
The IRS bulletin :
The Combat-Injured Veterans Tax Fairness Act of 2016, enacted December 2016, allows certain veterans who received lump sum disability severance payments additional time to file a claim for credit or refund of an overpayment attributable to the disability severance payment. The law directed the Secretary of Defense to identify disability severance payments paid after January 17, 1991, that were included as taxable income on Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement, but were later determined to be nontaxable and to provide notice of the amount of that payment. The Department of Defense is mailing letters to affected veterans (letters 6060-A and 6060-D) in July 2018.
What this means for some veterans
Veterans discharged from military service due to medical disability may receive a one-time lump sum severance payment. Disability severance pay is taxable income unless the pay results from a combat-related injury or the service member receives official notification from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) approving entitlement to disability compensation.
Anyone who received a disability severance payment that was taxed and determines later that the payment qualifies under one of the rules above can file a claim for credit or refund for the tax year in which the disability severance payment was made and was included as income on a tax return.
For veterans who received a lump sum disability severance payment after January 17, 1991, the Combat-Injured Veterans Tax Fairness Act of 2016 may provide additional time to claim a credit or refund for the overpayment attributable to the disability severance payment.
What you need to do
You must complete and file IRS Form 1040X, Amended U.S. Individual Income Tax Return, for the tax year the disability severance payment was made carefully following the instructions in the notice mailed by the Department of Defense in July 2018. You must mail the claim generally by the later of:
- 1 year from the date of the Department of Defense notice, or
- 3 years after the due date for filing the original return for the year the disability severance payment was made, or
- 2 years after tax was paid for the year the disability severance payment was made.
If you did not receive the notice from the Department of Defense and you received a disability severance payment after January 17, 1991, that you reported as taxable income, you can still file a claim as long as you attach the necessary documentation to your Form 1040X. You may contact the Defense Finance and Accounting Services to obtain your documentation for submission with the required Form 1040X. See the FAQs for additional information.
Text of the 2016 law:
Ask the Chief: taxes
Retirement pay, states of residence and taxes
Edited and sourced from military benefits :
I believe that we all should contribute what is fair to help our military and contribute to the efficient management of our nation. That said, we all know that taxation is out of control in many states, without regard to the military service retiree’s sacrifice during their career. This information should assist a veteran with decisions about where to spend retirement.
Compiled for 2018, a list of all 50 states that exempt (or don’t) all or a portion of military retirement pay. When and where you settle, after retirement, is up to you, but having some current information should help you with “Uncle’s” hand in your pocket.
Summary:
- NO personal income tax: 9 states
- Full military retirement pay subject to tax: 8 states
- NO tax on military retirement pay: 20 states
- Partial tax on military retirement pay: 13
No state income tax ( no tax on retirement pay):
Alaska
Florida
Nevada
New Hampshire (dividend and interest taxes only)
South Dakota
Tennessee (dividend and interest taxes only)
Texas
Washington
Wyoming
8 States That Do Not exclude Military Retirement Pay from tax:
California
Montana
New Mexico
North Dakota
Rhode Island
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
20 States Don’t Tax Military Retirement Pay:
Alabama
Arkansas
Connecticut
Hawaii
Illinois
Iowa
Kansas
Louisiana
Maine
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
New Jersey
New York
Ohio
Pennsylvania
West Virginia (as of 2018)
Wisconsin
13 States With “Special Provisions” Or Other Consideration For Military Retirement Pay
Arizona – Military retirement pay may be excluded from state taxation up to $2,500.
Colorado – Depending on age, up to $24,000 of military retirement pay may be exempt from state taxes.
Delaware – Taxpayers up to the age of 60 may exclude up to $2,000 of military retirement pay, military retirees aged 60 or older exclude up to $12,500.
District of Colombia – Military retirement pay may be excluded from state taxation up to $3,000 for individuals 62 or older.
Georgia – has a provision for any retirement income including military retirement pay. Taxpayers who are 62 or older, or permanently and totally disabled regardless of age, may be eligible for a retirement income adjustment on their Georgia tax return. Up to $35,000 ages 62-64 and $65,000 for 65 and older.
Idaho – Retirement benefits to a retired member of the military 65 or older, or disabled and age 62 or older are excluded from state taxes. Such deductions must be reduced by retirement benefits paid under the Federal Social Security Act or the Tier 1 Federal Railroad Retirement Act. The total maximum deductions vary each year.
Indiana – Military retirees may deduct the lesser of actual retirement pay or $5,000, whichever is less. Certain conditions may apply.
Kentucky – All military retirement pay is exempt from state income tax for those who retired prior to 1997. For those who retired after 1997, military retirement pay is subject to state tax when the pay exceeds $41,110.
Maryland – Military retirees don’t pay state income taxes on the first $5,000 of their retirement income. Those over age 65, or who are totally disabled, or who have a spouse who is totally disabled, receive additional state income tax breaks which may vary from year to year.
Nebraska – Retirees must choose (within two years of the retirement date) a seven-year exemption option of 40% or a lifetime exemption option of 15% starting at age 67.
North Carolina – Military retirement pay may not be taxed at all if it meets certain requirements including if the veteran was “vested in the retirement system” for five years as of August 12, 1989. Otherwise, tax exemptions may be applicable up to $4,000 for single returns and $8,000 for joint returns.
Oklahoma – Military retirement pay is exempt either up to 75% or $10,000, whichever is greater, but cannot exceed federal adjusted gross income.
Oregon – Military retirees may qualify for a “federal pension subtraction”. Those considered “special-case” Oregon residents will have their military retirement pay taxed as regular income.
South Carolina – Military retirees with a minimum of 20 years of active duty may exempt up to $3,000 until age 65, after which an exemption of $10,000 applies.
See: https://militarybenefits.info/states-that-do-dont-tax-military-retirement-pay/#ixzz5KmP3NLpq
Veggies, exercise and sex
Yes, exercise is the catalyst. That’s what makes everything happen: your digestion, your elimination, your sex life, your skin, hair, everything about you depends on circulation. And how do you increase circulation? Exercise –Jack Lalanne (http://www.brainyquote.com)
All the world’s most difficult problems are often generated and also might be solved, through sex, exercise, and eating well.
Yes, Sex. There are many facets to this subject, but as far as health is concerned I am focusing on how this is part of a healthy lifestyle. Many issues in monogamous relationships can be relieved through a healthy sex life. Often, one, the other, or both partner(s), because of an emotional or physical-origin imbalance (a triggering behavioral response or physical limitation) can hinder healthy sexual life. Our physical and mental health directly contributes to having satisfying relationships. Contributing directly to a healthy life, is what we consume and the exercise we get.
“All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” – proverb, unk. origin
Of course, many adults associate exercise with childhood or youth, and delay or deny regular exercise. Commuting early to work provides an excuse to not exercise. The work schedule is another excuse not to regularly exercise (to relieve stress), and the return home and additional commitments provide other excuses. But those who do regularly exercise whether aerobics, weight-training and cardio-enhancing workouts see the doctor less for cardiovascular disease, joint ailments, and pain -medications than others. Exercise helps keep circulation and all our bodily systems operating efficiently.
Personally, a recent education in the value of eating vegetables that provide healthy fiber, proper nutrients, as well as other food, and a radical shift in the amount of water I consume daily has made positive changes. The difference between eating the processed, preserved, microwave-ready and overly-sweetened food, and the natural, organic, non-preserved foods – with daily water intake, is visibly remarkable. Appearance, energy-level, attitude and a healthy sex -life makes “Jack” NOT a dull boy.
Jack Lalanne lived healthily 97 years. He once was celebrated at age 54 for besting 21-year old Arnold Schwarzenegger in a fitness challenge
