America's upper classes have gone AWOL

rjrzoom57
Tue, 15 Jan 2008 19:30:11 +0000

I think the subject of compensation needs to be addressed. Unfortunately as they say the devil is in the details. When we were not at war retention was not much of an issue, nor was the size of our forces and yet in our current situation retention is certainly impacted by the duration of the war as well as the necessity for extended tours and rotations; a consequence of our diminished forces.

I recall comparing pay checks with a senior NCO that I worked with years ago; I had just made 1st Lt. and was just starting my third year in uniform. As I recall he had been in for for at least 12 years and was getting ready to pin on his 6th stripe. He had a wife and 4 kids; I was single. We made almost exactly the same money. I think any discussion about compensation has to focus first on the enlisted ranks first. Enlisted pay is pitiful and yes a disgrace especially given the circumstance they now face.

In terms of pay, it’s obvious not much has changed in the years since I left the service, so I can see why retention would be a growing problem given the duration of the war and associated sacrifices these young men and women in the enlisted ranks are making.

One theme that seems to be absent from the discussion of compensation is the notion of “deferred pay”, more specifically the fact that military personnel are eligible for retirement benefits after 20 years of service. I have to believe it’s hard for a 20 year old that is making next to nothing to look that far into the future, so that aspect of compensation may have little value during the early part of a soldier’s career and may not factor in to his/her decision to stay or leave.

On a brighter note I recently looked at the latest pay scales for officers and in contrast I was impressed. Factor in the potential that many of these officers pass through an Academy or ROTC scholarship slot and will graduate with no college debt and you have a very attractive package. I don’t think money is the main issue driving retention issues within the ranks of our Army and Marine officers. In that scenario I believe the overriding factor is time in the field and a lack of sensible rotations. Retention in this war time scenario can only be addressed through a larger force structure that diminishes the demands placed on the individual.

So what should we do? Given the anticipated duration of our commitments around the world I don’t see how we can continue without a substantial increase in our military ranks. And their pay will have to be addressed, perhaps along the lines of a substantial increase in combat pay to address the additional sacrifices during times of war along with an increase in base compensation.

There are many aspects of the war in Iraq that haven’t gone well because of poor planning with an inadequate force structure. The net result is extended tours and a major issue in retention. You can try and address retention through better pay, but other damage has been done. In the end the one thing you can’t change with money is the perception of broken promises, that our military and our government can’t be trusted to keep its word. “They told me I will just serve one tour and then rotate back to my family after 12 months etc, but it didn’t happen”. The need of the nation will obviously come first, but we need to go the extra mile to keep our word to these young men and women that have chosen to serve.



It is an outrage that American military personnel and veterans are given a lower priority in the federal budget than spending to benefit politically powerful special interests. Until this is changed, we will never have a military which reflects our nation’s highest ideals.



Agreed. Perhaps the only individuals lower on the list of our nations priorities are our children. They can’t vote, they aren’t organized and obviously don’t have any lobbyist representing them so they are easy targets. If you want to talk about a nation’s ideals, what does it say about a nation and the politicians that lead it when the budget is balanced year in and year out on the back of those not yet old enough to vote?

Pay the military more, increase veterans benefits, provide much better care for our vet’s when they require medical attention; we can and should do all those things assuming “we” as in the current generation of taxpayers have the courage to tell our lawmakers we are willing to pay the freight today and not just pass the bill on to our kids. Take a look at even the most optimistic projections for Social Security, Medicare and then add in our national debt. As cited in that quote, it is indeed an outrage as we are guilty of generational larceny; we are stealing the economic well being and the future prosperity of our own children. That’s not something we should be proud of.