Just a thought on how your pay might legitimately be squeezed.
The military pension is 'non-contributory' in theory, but in practice pay is reduced by a percentage to be comparable with private pension schemes. Historically this was 9% but reduced over a couple of years to 7%.
Logically, with the squeeze on private company pensions but with the promise of a guaranteed sum, the amount witheld could nw be increased. Maybe not by 3% this year but 1% or 1.5% which would flatten any real pay rise.