KC10 FATboy

Good news keeps on rolling. The first line of the article and my personal favorite, "Congress and the Pentagon have lavished money on the nation's 1.3 million active-duty troops and their families." Good times.

Defense Budget Faces Cuts To Personnel After Decade Of War

Elvis90

That's why I don't read the Huffington Post, New York Times, Mother Jones or the Daily Kos, among others. I usually stick to the Wall Street Journal.

mspano85

Army just suspended its tuition assistance program. I always felt that was the main reason people joined. It was a solid opportunity to get whatever education you wanted after you served.

My buddy had his flight training and 4 year degree paid by the Army. Over $100k worth of total schooling in the span. He was planning on getting a Masters when he gets back from Afghanistan in a couple months, but looks like it's out of his pocket this time.

It is an awesome incentive, but I can see how these programs can destroy a budget.

rekatron

To be fair, annual raises on our compensation have been outstripping inflation for a while now. Not only that but we do pay an immense amount of money in benefits for active duty and their families. I'm not saying people don't deserve it for the crap they go through, but personnel costs per person are incredibly high in the military.

Personally, I think we need to dial back the amount we spend on families. It makes no sense to have 2 people of identical rank and experience contributing the exact same amount towards national defense, but one of them costs 4 times more because of their dependents. Worse yet, the mission suffers because actual people in uniform are getting kicked out to pay for that guy's dependents. Of course, there's way more to the budget but I figured the scope of this thread is mainly personnel costs.

Snarge

Interesting.... the DoD budget is one of the biggest if not the largest... deploying the empire globally is incredibly expensive. In fact it has caused the demise historically of other empires. Maintaining our vast empire is gutting our country... at what point do you quit holding onto flawed values and realize change is needed?

propfails2FX

CG just ended TA also, so it looks like an across the board cut. GI Bill is still around and is a good way to get quals/trades/education. Think I'm going to spend some of it this year.

Recently found out the twin turboprop I fly (HC-144A aka CASA 235) costs $60 mil per copy (45 for airplane, 10 for spares, 5 for mission systems pallet). Retarded. Let's keep TA and buy cheaper machines.

hawgdriver

And we continue to give $16B/yr to other countries for their military.

rickair7777

In many cases that's cheaper than coming to their rescue...we'd spend $16B in the first 12 hours of a mid-size conflict.

I'm Ok with that spending, as long as it's rational and thought out.

rickair7777

That's due to the tremendous demands of the last decade. If they can scale back the demands, they can also reasonably scale back the compensation. But in the case of the navy at least, the (deployment) demands are increasing, not diminishing.

Part of the problem is when they add programs and benefits they make them open-ended. There should be "war-time bonuses", "war-time education benefits", etc which can be easily scaled back when the war is over. A bit over-simplified but you get the idea.

I tend to agree. The current system is antiquated, it harkens back to an era when EVERYBOY was married with kids, except the junior-most enlisted who not allowed to get married without permission. I also think at one point in the distant past junior enlisted were not eligible for family pays.

The current system actually encourages junior enlisted to get married...bigger paycheck, get out of the barracks/off the ship. The DoD is then saddled with additional family costs. Not to mention the system attracts "predatory spouses" who actually want to marry the system, not any particular sailor. Make it like any other entry-level job: You can start a family at age 19 if you want, but you have to pay for it yourself...might want to think twice.

On the other hand I think it would be a bad idea to actively discourage marriage/family, especially among career service members. Family provides a better off-duty outlet than alcohol, nightclubs, sports cars, motorcycles, strippers, etc. Also I'd prefer that our senior military leadership in general have a grounding in family and an appreciation for small children.

Grumble

One of my Sailors was/is a frequent contributor to Hufpo. Brilliant dude, and the rag isn't nearly as anti-military as they come across. Which surprised me.