Return to Article: Military compensation ballooning out of control, GAO says
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77124
I served in 2 wars, I did my time, I have dissability that I am still trying to get money for. don't think you all know me. yet, I still had more disposable income than I do now. some of you deserve the money, some of you don't. I even deployed to Iraq as a civilian. but the money still sucked. I miss being a rich E-4.
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22436
It is so easy to make the claim about the Military being overpaid. Why are you not suiting up and make your fortune.
You may want to consider alternative occupations for our youth other than the Militay. Please consider the starting pay for a drug dealer that can be found in any city at any time. Criminal enterprises should also, such as property crimes, crimes aginst such industries like stolen property, sex, drugs and alcohol. Wait, you must be using, never mind.
Enjoy your freedom, I'm trying to find homes for the last class of Veterans who found riches in war....
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19790
I'm tired of hearing how poor our military folks are.
Really, where else can an 18-year-old with no college start making $32,000 annually (to include only base pay, average housing allowance, monetary food allowance, and the "tax advantage" of untaxed allowances) in less than two years?
Look at the charts on this site: (http://usmilitary.about.com/od/fy2006paycharts/a/salary.htm). Our folks, especially enlisted, only look at their base pay when they talk about how much they make. They purposely do not realize all the benefits afforded to them that civilians will never see. And their base pay is what is used to determine Women, Infants, and Children authorization and day-care fees.
This is entirely unfair to civilians who have a higher base pay, but have 70 percent more out-of-pocket expenses.
According to the chart, I make the same as an E-3 with two years' service. But, after all the out-of-pocket expenses that service members get for free as benefits, I am no longer even on the chart.
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18872
I am appalled that so many people think the military is overpaid. My husband is an E-4 in the U.S. Air Force. We make under $20,000 a year. We live in England where the exchange rate (September 2006) is $1.91 per British pound. They need overseas compensation -- otherwise no one could afford to live here.
Before forming your opinions based on one anti-military article, talk to some people who served or are serving and see what it's really like.
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17570
As an active duty military spouse reading these comments I'm wondering if anyone considered the cost of running a home without your spouse there? With mine serving in Iraq and many friends gone I have to pay (no, it's not free) for extended child care hours and take more time off for the routine things like checkups or when our children are sick, just to name a few. The small amount of additional pay we receive doesn't cover much more than the extra money it costs while he is gone. But I'd bet most civilians would not trade in being put up in a nice hotel and travel reimbursement for their business trip to get to spend one night where my husband spends his days.
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14280
First, this article appears to be misleading. It does not say that the $112,000 average compensation is actual pay; it is total compensation, of which over half is health care related benefits. In other words, the average salary is probably more like $50,000. If you were to add in the cost of benefits to the average salary in the private sector for a "comparable" job, I'd be willing to bet that it is much higher. And most of these people are not putting their lives at risk for their jobs! Let's work with the facts. And let's support our military folks who defend our freedom -- after all, the rest of us wouldn't be making nice incomes and enjoying the ability to live as we choose if it weren't for them. Concerned Civilian
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12520
Let's pay KBR, and other contractors to do the jobs they do over here what a enlisted man makes over here. $120,000 to be a loss prevention officer? $60,000 plus to be a lifeguard at a pool? would you call that hostile fire pay? they volunteered to be here also and are being paid to do it. We came because we were ordered, they come for the money. Away from my wife and kids for a year, while they are at home on food stamps and WIC. yeah I am making a bundle over here!! you no military serving jerk
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12140
I would just like to say to all of you people that are complaining that we get paid too much. Where are you getting your information from? Obviously you have never served in the military. The pay in the military is below the national US average for most of us like myself. Also, I read a comment on this page that said something to the effect of, "We should pay the servicemembers working in the states that of a civilian or either hire civilians to work." Well just to let you know, I am in Iraq right now making about 2 grand a month, and there are civilians over here making about 22 grand a month. I know them personally. So for all of you selfish, greedy, disgusting people out there, why don't you stand up for your military and support them instead of doing nothing but complaining. After all, it is YOU that WE are fighting for. I can't believe what some of you people had the nerve to say, and I know that you haven't served a day in your life, yet you are talking about "Military Drafts." Well buddy, how come you didn't sign up then?
SPC Horsley
Balad, Iraq -
11689
"If they are volunteers they do not need compensation! If they have to be compensated they are taking risk for a known reward! The volunteer military means the guys volunteered and do not have to be compensated. They decided to take the risk that we would not go to war and they lost! Now they want to be compensated - you cannot have it both ways!"
Regarding these allegations, you have obviously not served in the military. But it is unlikely from these comments you have ever served anyone other than yourself. Every one of us volunteers for whatever position we put ourselves in. We have agreed to get what was promised if we took the position. We in the military were promised these special incentive pays, when applicable, and many "lifetime benefits" that have been continually eroding since the early 80's. But telling you facts won't change your mind, will it?
I feel sorry for you, taxpayer. Your continual diatribes and vitriolic comments show you to be a bitter, angry and perhaps abnormally petty individual. When you stick to facts, you have made some good points, but where you rant... that is another story. As I said, I feel sorry for you.
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11645
Ive read a few of these posts, and as a veteran of mulitple deployments to numerous countries in support of both OEF and OIF, i find it disgusting that anyone who hasn't "been there" can pass judgement as to what our pay is, or that incentive is what makes us perform. I have 2 brand new vehicles, and i'm in debt up to my eyeballs!... yet i'm still here, still serving! So to all you that complain that the military is overpaid, tell that to my bank... Btw, it's people like you that make us NOT want to perform, you're the reason we want incentives. Our lives are complete being soldiers... yours isn't unless you have sumthing to complain about!
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11450
I'm a commander of a unit serving in Ba'Quabah, Iraq. We have KBR civilians here that make twice as much as I do AND they never leave the wire. I am among MANY reservists that are taking a pay-cut from their civilian jobs to serve here.
As far as benefits go, my wife has been in and out of the hospital with a serious illness. The doctors keep changing her medication in hopes of finding something that works. EVERY TIME she gets a new prescription from a doctor the pharmacy gives her a hard time because it's not on the approved list of drugs. This just adds stress to her illness.
DOD civilians should get pay comparative to what a person in that market would get paid. Higher level officials that make decisions that affect the lives of our soldiers should get paid accordingly.
What I drive is none of your GD business. I could be a manager at McDonalds and budget my money so I could afford a Porsche. I may live in a box, but I would have a hell of a nice car.
I've heard rumors of an increase in hostile fire pay if you serve in Iraq and it is said to be retroactive. Rumor states that it could be as much as $600 per month, raised from $225. That's enough to motivate me and increase the morale of my Soldiers.
I volunteered to be in the ARNG because I feel its my duty. I didn't plan on coming to war as my unit hasn't been activated in 11 years before this. I would still be here if I was paid less. This has been the most rewarding time in my life. My only regrets are that I can't be home for my wife in her time of need.
JMHO CPT......
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11264
"Those who volunteer to go in harms way should be compensated. " If they are volunteers they do not need compensation! If they have to be compensated they are taking risk for a known reward! The volunteer military means the guys volunteered and do not have to be compensated. They decided to take the risk that we would not go to war and they lost! Now they want to be compensated - you cannot have it both ways! No one in their right mind every thought we would go to war in Iraq! Thank George the third for that one because he had no valid reason for the war. Now the "volunteers" have to face fire. They should not be compensated for the bad decision of the President and Congress. If they are compensated we need to go back to the draft.
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11231
"... over 60 different types of pay, like hostile fire and foreign duty pay" the way the bean counters think I'm suprised they're not suggesting that foreign duty is a benefit and travel to and from foreign posts should be paid out of pocket by our soldiers/sailors/marines. And hey, what's with all those Coast Guard service folks getting paid to go boating? Shouldn't they have to buy their own boats at least?
"... represents a 29 percent increase from 2000." five years is not exactly a long period over which to be evaluating performance. Where are the benefits compared to 1980? I suspect that the recent growth is not typical, and is a result of the realization of the long-term under-compensation for service members.
Sheesh, speaking of waste, how many tax dollars did it cost us to get this study done? How many Humvees could have been equipped with adequate armor with that money? Who's watching the watchers?
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11197
So... military compensation is getting out of control. Well, duh. What did they expect? We are at war. If they don't like the price tag then how come they don't pull the troops out?
Statistics are that for every one troop getting killed over in Iraq, there are at least 5-6 coming back that are seriously injured and needing lifetime care. Where are we going to get the money?
Ex-DoD
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11192
My respects to both the Military and Civil Servants, trying to do their best during a twisted administration, let's not pit the military against the civilian couterpart.
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11191
An E-6 is overpaid because he/she drives a Suburban? How old is the veh? Maybe they have a big family. Maybe the spouse has a good job. Is this how we should evaluate military pay? You are jealous and petty!
-Retired E-7 who is damn proud of our fighting force.
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11189
There is an answer to this problem. Since the military is an all volunteer force, let's give them the same opportunity as their civilian worker in DOD, and other agencies throughout the world - lets allow them to quit whenever they want. After all, they freely volunteered so why not let them freely quit. A civilian can do that. I somewhat agree with "TAXPAYER DOD" and that is lets draft them all, but lets require anyone working for DOD or in the government to serve in the military before being allowed a government. This would give civilian, government workers an idea of what military personnel go thru during a stint in the military. They may change their negative minds and attitude toward the military.
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11177
This is just business as usual. GAO always thinks the military are overpaid. I think we should send GAO oversees to the combat zone. And oh by the way, give them the same benefits that the military get when they involuntarily PCS, make the spouse get a new job every couple of years, never get to build up equity in home ownership because they have to move more often, and not the benefits the civilian workers get who do their voluntary move across country with a big pay raise. And then the DOD civil servant complains about the military, conveniently forgetting that without the military, they wouldn't even have a job, as DOD would not exist. Of course they would have to complain in German, Chinese or some other foreign language.
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11169
"Maybe it would be a good idea for those civilians worrying about compensation to go into Iraq and fight the war instead of those who are there" Here is a good example of the attitude that causes military compensation to be excessive! Not everyone in the military will ever see Iraq. There are about 100,000 USA troops in the war zone; however, there are about 1.3 million USA troops. You think the hundreds sitting on their butts at the pentagon should be paid for facing war? I face war as much as most of the incompetent managers I get that are military and never see the war zone. Of course they are highly overpaid.
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11162
It goes to show that the military is overpaid. When I go to work as DoD civilian, I see E6s driving GMC Suburbans and E8s driving Porsches. Tell me, how is the military undercompensated? Lastly, when will Congress start paying our reservists their rightful share?
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11156
Comparing compensation costs for military personnel to compensation costs for "comparably educated" civilian personnel is an interesting statistical exercise but it's not a comparison that can be taken seriously by anybody who takes an objective look at the differences between military service and civlian employment. Conditions of employment and quality of life for a high school graduate manning the cash register at WalMart are somewhat different from those of a high school graduate driving a HUMVEE through the suburbs of Baghdad. Those who volunteer to go in harms way should be compensated.
As for the alarming rate of increase in health care costs, where is the comparable figure for increases in civilian health care costs over the same period? How to military health benefits compare to the benefits enjoy by the unionized auto worker to built my "made-in the-USA" automobile? Has the figure been adjusted to account for the increase in the population covered - i.e. 150,000+ reservists called to active duty.
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11155
Watch your backs, boys - they did the same thing to us after Nam.
This is kind of like the story about the extremely successful artist that formed his own business selling his art work. He incorporated, went public, and got caught in a hostile takeover. One day, he got his pink slip. He was fired because the bean counters had been watching him, and decided he didn't contribute anything to the corporation - all he did was sit around and paint all day.
When you engage people in work where the competitor is literally trying to kill the competition, someone's bound to get hurt - and that's going to cost. War is not, and never has been, cost effective.
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11152
Amazing.
The story says: "DACMC presentation on special and incentive pay found there are over 60 different types of pay, like hostile fire and foreign duty pay, most of which "are not structured to motivate personnel to perform."
Ummmmm. Hello? Is there anybody with half a brain?
So I presume now that the Bush Administration is going to propose cutting military base pay, and then giving "bonuses" based on numbers of people you kill. Kill more "insurgents", get a higher paycheck. Is that Geroge's approach to Pay for performance?
What is wrong with this country? This administration has NO CLUE.
I want my America back.
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11148
A few comments for "Military retiree": Of course, most of us respect our counterparts in the uniformed services and think they deserve much better pay than what they currently receive. But to dump on civilian DoD employees doesn't help state your case. There are many, many benefits that uniformed members receieve that we do not: free medical, housing, family assistance, childcare, education, etc. Remember that next time there is a big hoop-la about a modest civilian pay increase or pay parity.
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11147
I'm very curious in what some of these different pay types are, like "leprosy pay". I've only heard of a few, like combat, hazardous duty and so on. Where does one go to find out about them?
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11146
This nonsense has got to stop! Now they want to set up another level of supervision (probably a political appointee) within the Pentagon to monitor "out of control" benefits and restructure them so the average GI will be motivated to "perform" better.
The article specifically points out "overseas pay" and "hostile fire pay". These are hardship duties and need to be maintained. Besides, if we don't pay a special bonus for our soldiers being fired at, then we might as well have regular federal employees or, better yet, contractors being fired at. They don't get special pay.
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11143
So the bean counters think the military spends too much on compensating soldiers? They're surprised to find that health care costs increased 69 percent since 2000? They found that costs for health, retirement and incentive benefits are skyrocketing. What a surprise! Hello, we're in a war! Soldiers are getting wounded, and thus require care. This is a war of choice for the president, most people do not support it, and must be given incentives to join and get sent to a war zone. I love this comment -- DACMC presentation on special and incentive pay found there are over 60 different types of pay, like hostile fire and foreign duty pay, most of which "are not structured to motivate personnel to perform." What a slap in the face to the military. I was unaware that hostile fire pay was an incentive to motivate performance!
This just makes me sick. I wonder how many in GAO and on the DACMC have actually served in the military, much less in combat. This article needs to be given to every member of the military.
Disgusted former soldier.
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11141
A lot of words on a page and all they mean is: Now that the government has screwed with the civilian population over how much we cost the taxpayer they are now going after the military.
Good luck.
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11138
Military compensation totally is out of hand. Congress treats every military person the same but they are very different. They are overpaid, have far too great of a housing allowance, have health benefits that are totally ridiculous and have retirement benefits totally out of line with anyone else.
"The department "believes benefits are central to morale and readiness as well as important in providing members with a quality of life to help cope with the sacrifices they make," This type of atitude is what causes the problem. Remember that only 10% of the military actually enters a fighting zone and the other 90% are logistics. The logistics portion could be civilians and should be paid as such. Stop the services from moving people around so that they appear to go overseas and into war zones frequently. My Dad spent five years in the Navy in the Pacific during WWII and my friend spent 3 years fighting Chinese in Korea in the early 1950's. Today the Air force tries to rotate its personnel in the middle east (Iraq) on a ninety day basis and has to fall back to 6 months. Then they argue there is a shortage of personnel for the war.
I think it is time the USA goes back to the draft. They should draft everyone graduating from highschool or when they stop attending highschool. Train them for nine months in the USA and then send them overseas into the war zone. The military should stop sending anyone overseas to England and Germany right away except for the medical personnel going to Germany. Remember that in 2003 DoD moved over 700,000 people in one year! How ridiculous is that?
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11132
Maybe it would be a good idea for those civilians worrying about compensation to go into Iraq and fight the war instead of those who are there. It is always easy to squeal when your own butt is not on the line nor those of your kids or grand-kids. tell President Bush to bring them home if you don't like the cost of war. Maybe President Bush needs to take a hard line toward the fat bonuses handed out to senion executive and other civilian types who don't need combat pay, etc., to feed their family.
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