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

[Kevin Cullis]

On Wed, 2003-01-29 at 12:44, bof wrote:
> 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.

Absolutely correct, but I didn't want to give the history lesson. 
Thanks.

> 
> >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.
> 

I served during the Gulf War, not in the Gulf, and I had to send my guys
to the Gulf and they were scared.  It's not something I liked to do, but
you sign up to do a job and you do it.  One young gentleman I had to
send first worked at the Scottish resaurant (McD's, and he had more
girlfrieds than money, which is why he had the "second job). He was
worried about his car and girlfriend and how to pay his bills and he
used every excuse NOT to do.  After the end of the War, he came back and
thanked me for sending him: because he couldn't spend ANY of his money
in the Gulf and paid off all of his bills while he was there!!

As a suggestion for future consideration of this list, please do NOT
criticize the troops for what they do, only criticize Congress and the
President.  But once a conflict or war begins, do NOT back down from the
support or convice Congress/President to have a good exit strategy of
any conflict. Clinton sent our troops everywhere for everything and I
have friends who were gone for a year at a time whereas before, maybe a
month or so.  I even heard that F-15E pilots were offered as much as
$40-60,000 retention bonuses to stay in for another 4-6 years but they
turned them down because of the workload and poor family conditions.

> 
> 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!

However, the Continental Army probably got less they today's troops.

> 
> 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.

Add in the flight pay and it's up to around $4-5,000, depending on the
number of years in service and how critical the career field is.

> 
> 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!

Thanks for the support, I only wish that those that complain have those
rights defended so they CAN complain and not be placed in prison for
being "disrespectful" of the government.  I've lived in two foreign
countries and six states and have travelled to Turkey, Greece, Morroco,
and throughout Europe and I can tell you that once you go overseas and
see how the other world lives, you get a different perspective on
American and don't complain as much.

Kevin

-- 
Kevin Cullis <kevincu at orci.com>