[Sola Veritas]

"The answer to all this is simple. Increase combat pay SUBSTANTIALLY."

I agree with you that this should be done, however it WILL NOT work to increase recruitment to the reserve. Many times reserve forces are not actually sent into what would be considered a combat zone. For instance an OKARNG Infantry Brigade just came home from a tour in the Mideast. They were not sent to Iraq or Afganistan, they did "peace keeping" in the Sinai as a substitute for regular forces that used to do this duty. This is not a combat zone, and there is no combat pay. Many times the reserves are used to take over more mundane tasks to free regular units for combat duty.

[elmer fudd]

I don't think the reserves should be called up for that kind of duty unless the country is faced with a dire emergency. They sign up to be part timers and to go in the event of a major conflict or national emergency and we should respect that.

Pay the full-timers what the market requires and we'll have no shortage of volunteers to work in the Sinai.