2021’s Best & Worst States for Military Retirees

Military personnel retiring this year are forecasted at 2,190. The US has formally begun its withdrawal from Afghanistan after almost 20 years in the country. The Biden administration announced that all US troops will be leaving Afghanistan by September 11.

Life after the military can pose many challenges to veterans and family members. For some, returning to civilian life may feel like another battle that poses a variety of challenges that must not only be fought, but also understood and accepted in order to be successfully overcome including depression, PTSD and Physical handicap as a result of injuries sustained in combat.

With May being Military Appreciation Month and the U.S. planning to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan this year, the personal-finance website WalletHub today released its report on 2021’s Best & Worst States for Military Retirees along with its Memorial Day Facts infographic.

To help our troops plan their years after service, they compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 30 key indicators of retirement-friendliness toward veterans. The data set ranges from job opportunities for veterans to housing affordability to quality of VA hospitals.

Memorial Day Facts

• 91 – Number of members of the 117th Congress who have served in the U.S. military, the lowest total since at least World War II.
• 2.4+ Million – Number of veterans fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
• 2.5 Million – People are expected to travel by plane over Memorial Day weekend (nearly six times more than in 2020).
• 818 – Number of hot dogs consumed every second from Memorial Day to Labor Day (seven billion total).
• 20 to 80 Percent Off – Discount shoppers can expect during Memorial Day weekend sales.

WalletHub Q & A

What are the most underutilized military retirement benefits?

‘From my standpoint, as a front-line advocate for student Veterans of all ages, I have witnessed that educational benefits like Chapter 33 - 9/11 GI Bill, or Chapter 31 Veteran Readiness and Employment (VR&E) and this is due to lack of communication and follow-up with Veteran Affairs, as well as the Transition Assistance Program (TAP); all service members have to serve at least 90 days of active duty time, to receive benefits,” said Ryan Luurtsema, Ocean County College. “he military put all transitioning out service members through a crash-course of two weeks separating from the military and in that time frame you multiple 30 minutes to 1-hour PowerPoint sessions between a finance briefing, an educational officer from the VA, not to mention the service member has family obligations, house-hold-goods to prepare and ship out, turning in all military service equipment, and so much more; all-in two-week period. Most of the time service members either retired or not, have no clue about VA disability compensation or Combat-Related Special Compensation as well as other monetary programs, so -- the service relies on a collegiate institution with a Military and Veteran advocate like me to coach and mentor through the process as we have been through it before. Mentorship / Coaching leaves the service members when you get your DD214 and that is where the military commitment fails Veterans. “

What should veterans consider in choosing where to retire?

“State Taxes and is the location, Veteran friendly. They should ask the question, where do most Veterans retire?” said Ralph T. Harrison, VRC, VSOC, M.S., CRC, University of Houston.

Is the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package enough to assist the hundreds of thousands of veterans across the country who lost their jobs during the pandemic?

“My small office at Wright State supports about 400 veterans, active duty, and citizen soldiers,” said Seth Gordon, PhD, Wright State University. “The VA has addressed issues related to GI Bill to support veterans during the pandemic.”

“Caring for our veterans is a great honor and obligation. They sacrifice for the greater good and in that regard the distinction about whether that entire package is enough to support “veterans” is problematic. It needs to be enough to support everyone because that is why we have veterans. They fight for us all – so we need to create policies that protect and support all Americans to honor their sacrifice.”

To view the full report and your state or the District’s rank, please visit: https://wallethub.com/edu/best-states-for-military-retirees/3915

To view the Memorial Day Facts infographic please visit: https://wallethub.com/blog/memorial-day-facts/21363

Courtesy: WalletHub