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Too many people remember stories from those who left in the 1970s and 1980s who did see their pensions treble/quadruple at 55 - because many of their years between leaving and age 55 had inflationary increases of between 15% and 20%.
I had this 'conversation' with a friend who retired in 1998 and who based all of his retirement finances on the belief that his pension would quadruple at 55. I showed him the pension increase tables, which showed an increase of 40% - but he still didn't believe me, insisting that the rules were different for the Armed Forces. He believed me when he got his first post age 55 payment.
My dad left the RAF in 1975 and at 55 in 1990 his more than quadrupled. Such a pity that it was a smallish figure to start with!
His biggest problem was that he never bothered to buy a house so now in his 80's all of his military pension is used to pay his rent. The guy next door gets his rent and council tax paid so is better off!
