"...A proposal that would transform the military retirement system by promising smaller monthly checks but also giving troops a lump sum "transition pay" immediately upon retirement could turn out to be very popular among most service members, according to a new study.
The study published Wednesday by the RAND Corp. think tank looked in detail for the first time at how today's 1.4 million active-duty troops might respond to a sweeping overhaul of the traditional military retirement system.
The results suggest that many troops, given a choice, would prefer to take an end-of-career payout, probably amounting to about 2½ years of their annual basic pay, in exchange for smaller monthly checks during their so-called "working-age retirement" years before age 65..."