[CLUE-Talk] Going to war, how much to pay people

[bof]

Kevin Cullis wrote:

>While the enlisted folks meals, medical, clothing and equipment may be
>paid for, would you like to live on this income?  Most volunteer for
>this!!!!
>

Actually, since the end of the draft in the 1970's, every enlisted 
person in the military is a volunteer.

>Having spent a half my life in the military, I can attest that sometimes
>you work 12 - 18 hours a day with the potential of someone firing on
>your butt earning this pay.
>

What we pay our soldier/sailors/marines/airmen is never enough, given 
what we ask of them. 5% of the enlisted force needs food stamps and many 
of the senior NCO's (the middle-level management backbone of the 
military) are delivering pizzas to make enough to stay alive, from what 
friends at Fort Bragg, NC, tell me.

If you should get a chance watch any of the programs on The Discovery 
Channel about working on a carrier flight deck --- probably the most 
hazardous peacetime job in the world, in spite of what lobster fishermen 
will tell you <g> --- you'll see exactly what work is being done in a 
space not much bigger than two city blocks long and one wide: working 
around running jet engines, aircraft taking off and landing, loading 
ammunition and bombs, refuelling, etc., etc. Keep in mind that the 
average age on a carrier flight deck is about 19, and most of these 
teenagers are making about $1500/month for a 60 hour work week.  

For an infantryman in Afghanistan, making the same money, the work week 
is even longer. And, as many of my friends have told me, when that first 
round goes by your ear, you suddenly realization that whatever you are 
getting paid, it is simply not enough!

Whatever we pay these young people is nowhere near what they should get 
for the responsiblities they are carrying.  One thing about the service 
that I found, personally, and from watching my son in it, is that it 
makes one grow up in a hurry. Not only having to take care of oneself in 
an environment that is very, very result oriented, not terribly 
understanding of mistakes, and utterly unaccepting of excuses, but 
having to lead others and care for multi-million dollar equipment occurs 
at ages far younger than anything in civilian life. The average pay for 
a tank commander for a Abrams tank, costing the taxpayer $5 million, is 
about $2000/month. For a pilot flying a F-16, costing the taxpayer $27 
million, the pay is around $3000/month.

It used to be that former military service was an asset on a resume. So 
the interviewer who so cavalierly dismissed you was really a fool: had 
that been me in the room with him, he would have regretted making that 
statement. To put it mildly!

BOF