Article

2005-07-29 Home Front: WoT

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by Bobby 2005-07-29 16:28|| || Front Page|| [2 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Article: Despite the competitiveness of military compensation, GAO found in focus groups with active-duty members that many still believe benefits are eroding. That perception, GAO says, "is in direct contrast to the reality that costs to compensate service members have risen dramatically in recent years and benefits are projected to rise even more dramatically in the future."

Some of this is due to aggressive lobbying by groups fronted by liberal ex-military personnel that claim their benefits are horrible and criticize the war because they really enlisted for the benefits. I keep getting e-mails from one of these groups. These guys are frustrated union organizers.

Posted by Zhang Fei">Zhang Fei 2005-07-29 17:16|| http://timurileng.blogspot.com]">[http://timurileng.blogspot.com] 2005-07-29 17:16|| Front Page Top

#2 Let's use those relatively cheap GAO employees to clear IED's in Iraq, and save our expensive paratroopers for real offensive operations with a better cost-benefit ratio.

Posted by Matt 2005-07-29 17:20|| 2005-07-29 17:20|| Front Page Top

#3 Over-paid and under-worked. Always seemed to describe the GAO to me.

Posted by Mrs. Davis 2005-07-29 17:47|| 2005-07-29 17:47|| Front Page Top

#4 I think some members of the GAO needs to be reassigned to create a spreadsheet detailing Caribou guano north of the Arctic Circle --- they need to do it in person...

Posted by BigEd 2005-07-29 18:30|| 2005-07-29 18:30|| Front Page Top

#5 I think the GAO has their head up their ass.

As I recall from my days in uniform - Uncle Sam owned my ass 24/7. I can't say that I was particularly well paid based on having to avail myself of that kind of duty. Some days (Field Problems) I was "on duty" actively "doing shit" 24 hours a day. In addition, I can't name any civilian jobs that require you to sleep in a armored box on a steel floor, have people shoot at you and/or shoot back.

Not that I'm an expert on pay or anything - but it seems to me like Blackwater Security personnel are being paid something like $200K+ dollars to do their work in Iraq for similar duties to our soldiers.

So - GAO; BITE ME!

Posted by Leigh 2005-07-29 19:57|| 2005-07-29 19:57|| Front Page Top

#6 Military pay and allowances alone are "competitive" with private sector wages, exceeding salaries or wages of 70 percent of Americans of similar age and education, GAO says.

The comparison should be to positions with similar duties, working conditions, and responsibilities. This results from a bunch of REMF accountants who think they are overworked if they put in a 9 hour day.

Posted by RWV 2005-07-29 21:17|| 2005-07-29 21:17|| Front Page Top

#7 They should compare to mercs. Not normal jobs.

Compared to mercs they are way underpaid!

Posted by 3dc 2005-07-29 21:30|| 2005-07-29 21:30|| Front Page Top

#8 The US has decided to go with a vounteer military. The proper pay amount is when you have enough people with the right skills to meet your force requirements. Supply and demand states that when demand or difficulty increases, pay must increase to match the new equilibrium point. The question is the military getting enough/just right/excess of the right people to meet its mission? Comparision with a civilian peer group is moot.

Posted by ed 2005-07-29 22:16|| 2005-07-29 22:16|| Front Page Top

#9 Maybe it will be cheaper to lose the WOT. I bet the parents of Beslan were excited about the cost-savings they enjoyed by fielding an ineffective military.

Posted by Super Hose 2005-07-29 22:48|| 2005-07-29 22:48|| Front Page Top

00:02 MunkarKat
23:46 Asedwich
23:39 SteveS
23:34 DMFD
23:33 SteveS
23:32 Pappy
23:24 jules 2
23:17 djohn66
23:16 Alaska Paul
23:09 Robert Crawford
23:07 Barbara Skolaut
23:02 Laurence of the Rats
22:50 too true
22:48 Super Hose
22:46 JosephMendiola
22:44 JosephMendiola
22:42 Super Hose
22:38 MunkarKat
22:35 Super Hose
22:35 JosephMendiola
22:33 Bobby
22:32 Super Hose
22:26 Jack Ruby
22:25 Just About Enough!