I have a friend that had a federal job and he got an early disability retirement for Vietnam PTSD. When he turned 62 he applied for and got SS benefits. He was pretty distressed when he found out the amount he received from SS was offset and reduced by his gubmint pension. [/quote]

Maybe that was due to his early PTSD disability and being a Federal employee? I have a buddy who just retired from Boeing and applied for early age-62 SS and he said there was no reduction in benefit due to his Boeing pension. Different rules for public/private pensions' affect on SS perhaps?