So, you're arguing that that promise must then be fulfilled in the most wasteful manner possible. I see.
I'm arguing that the promise must be fulfilled.
Be careful what you call waste. If you save a few dollars, but you can't get the kind of men and the numbers of men you are looking for, you haven't saved any money. If you save a few dollars, and senior NCOs won't re-up, or younger NCOs aren't sticking around long enough to become senior NCOs, you have not done yourself any good.
I'm all for letting the smart guys come up with better and more effective benefits for the soldiers. The emphasis has to be on "better" if you want to recruit and retain good people. Better doesn't have to be more expensive, if smart people can do it another way. But it has to be, at the very least, "plenty good enough".
Right now the services are paying serious bonuses to get their people to re-up. Its war-time, and all of them have a serious decision to make in accepting a job that risks the primary breadwinner for their family. Making sure their families are cared for is not waste, its part of the equation that allows these men to risk themselves.