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Originally Posted by Greg700
The military doesn't need a flat pay raise. They are nice, but near as I can tell they are politically motivated...if the other side points out how retarded it is to continually up military pay for no apparent reason then they are guilty of 'not supporting the troops.'
There are a lot of incompetents in the military who are working desk jobs, poorly, and would be unable to make the same salary in the civilian world. Why should we give them a raise?
There is only so much money to go around, and by putting more money into soldiers pockets, you are reducing what is available to put towards keeping those soldiers alive.
I would, however, support increased pays for soldiers who are deployed.
Just my two cents,
Greg
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I couldn't disagree with you more about somehow needing different pay for different types of personnel within the military. There already are special allowances for those troops in unique need situations, such as those whose cost of living is higher than normal due to deployment location. As for REMFs not 'deserving' the same pay as a rifleman, that's rediculous. If they are in combat, they get combat pay, which covers that aspect. A clerk can be called on to serve as a rifleman any time (and currently many clerks are patrolling Iraq alongside 11-B's).
As far as unfit personnel, that is up to the military to evaluate, identify, and rectify. Your average Army private (E-3) makes $1,729.20/mo., equivalent to an average retail clerk at the mall. But we are asking that young person to use an ever increasing array of technology to do a very critical job. And that's not just the combat troops, but the REMFs too. They are working just as hard as our logistics forces are so stretched out supporting the troops in the field. There's hardly an area of the military that isn't being tested right now with a high rate of operations.
The argument of limited resources is true as an isolated factor but it rings hollow when at the same time we are giving away huge sums in tax breaks and the many millionaires are being made off of a military-industrial complex that is collecting billions for programs of quite dubious value. That we are refusing to offer a little more to those getting the smallest pay and making the biggest sacrifice is certainly quite telling of our current attitude as a country.