You know Art, there's nothing evil about Tier 1 PERS; it is what it is. At the time I very easily could have went to work for the state but opted to use my veterans preference and went to work for the fed and I retired last year with 30 years not including military time. 
HR 5714 concerns me though. I have insurance through the FEHB which all federal retires can carry with them into retirement and most do. The problem it seems is that most postal retirees opt out of Medicare, and this resolution requires best business practice which means in order to contain health care costs all retirees, including myself, would be forced to buy into Medicare in order to keep our existing health insurance; cost shifting is all. 
Medicare is absolutely useless in Alaska. What this will do is move tens of thousands of retired postal employees, eligible for VA healthcare, will instead drop their insurance and use the VA. Or better yet some will be eligible for Medicaid.