John B. Testruth, an Army retiree and a member of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, attends a send-off event for Individual Augmentees from Fort Jackson, S.C., in March 2010.

Betsy Majma and her family sacrificed greatly for the military and thinks proposals to cut her pension or medical benefits are grossly unfair.

The critical care nurse enlisted as a second lieutenant in the Air Force in 1986 at age 28. When she left 20 years later, she was a major and a nurse anesthetist and had an advanced degree in nursing.

During her service, her family was uprooted repeatedly — to Maryland, Ohio and Mississippi, not counting short-term deployments overseas. Her husband and young son bounced between homes in Dallas, Bethesda, Md., and Dayton, Ohio, in one year as the military's plans for the nurse changed.

Frequent moves forced her husband, a former restaurant manager, into a stop-and-go career, mostly as a stay-at-home dad. "Spouses can't easily slip into new jobs," Majma says. "Where do you get a good job when you're in Biloxi, Miss., for a few years? There's a tremendous loss of income."

The federal government last year spent a record $275.2 billion on benefits for retired federal workers, two-thirds of it for military retirees.

What's driving up costs: Congress has expanded benefits frequently and Baby Boomers are living longer, collecting pension checks longer and consuming more health care — the same issues challenging Social Security and Medicare.

For every person in uniform, the government spent $201,059 last year in compensation — $86,924 for active-duty people and $114,135 on retirees. In addition, the government promised about $30,000 more in retirement compensation to those on active duty, money that will be paid later.

The financial stress of retirement programs has caused the military, the deficit commission and others to propose a range of money-saving measures, such as making retirees pay more for health care and creating a 401(k)-style retirement system to replace the traditional lifetime pension.

Congress has not approved any changes.

For the 10 million former federal workers who get retirement compensation — especially those who served in the military — these benefits are regarded as well-deserved, hard-earned promises.

"Whether it's officially in writing or not, this is something you believe your whole career, and it would be hard to swallow losing something you feel you've earned," says Eric Sesit, 53, who retired from the Navy in 2007.

Sesit was excited to open a home improvement business in the Norfolk, Va., area. Then the real estate market collapsed. Now, his pension helps supplement his work as a contractor. The medical insurance has been a godsend because of unexpected family illnesses.

"Yes, I get a military pension," Sesit says. "After taxes, insurance and survivor benefits, my (monthly) check is $1,400. And yes, I pay chump change for my health benefits. But these benefits were earned through 20 years of sacrifice and more than five years away from my family."

Sesit says "people don't understand the mental distress" of military life — constantly putting children in new schools, spouses who can't develop careers, not to mention the potential danger.

Majma, the retired nurse, now lives in Edmond, Okla., and works on a contract basis as a nurse anesthetist.

"When people say I'm getting a handout, it irritates me. I earned this retirement," she says. "When I signed my name on the line, I did it knowing what they would give me in return for what I gave them."