Six-figure bonuses retain US commandos (Special Forces Drawn to Private Security)

Yahoo! News (AP) ^ | 10/11/2007 | Richard Lardner

[Pyro7480]

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon has paid more than $100 million in bonuses to veteran Green Berets and Navy SEALs, reversing the flow of top commandos to the corporate world where security companies such as Blackwater USA are offering big salaries.

The retention effort, started nearly three years ago and overseen by U.S. Special Operations Command in Tampa, Fla., has helped preserve a small but elite group of enlisted troops with vast experience fighting the unconventional wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Defense Department statistics.

Overall, more than 1,200 of the military's most specialized personnel near or already eligible for retirement have opted for payments of up to $150,000 in return for staying in uniform several more years.

The numbers gathered by The Associated Press and other Pentagon research indicate there has not been an extended exodus of commandos to private security companies and other businesses that value their talents.

"Back in 2005, we saw quite a few exits," said Rear Adm. Michael LeFever, director of the Navy's military personnel plans and policy division. "What we're seeing lately is just the opposite. We've become very aggressive."

Defense Secretary Robert Gates remains so concerned over the lure of high salaries in the private sector that he has directed Pentagon lawyers to explore putting no-compete clauses into contracts with security companies that would limit their recruiting abilities.

While special operations forces are by no means the only candidates for security jobs in Iraq that can pay hundreds of dollars a day, they are the most attractive because of the unique training they receive.

In addition to being proficient with weapons, many of these troops have advanced education, the ability to speak the languages of the Middle East and other regions, and the cultural awareness that comes with living among the local populations.

For those same reasons, the military wants to hold on to them as long as possible, and at the same time demonstrate to younger enlisted troops that there's a financial incentive for an extended career.

The stress of repeated deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan and the opportunities for financial stability outside the military have heightened the urgency of the military's retention efforts.

Gates said Wednesday the Army must focus more on training foreign militaries and fighting insurgent groups — methods essential to success in the type of irregular warfare U.S. forces now face. Troops with these skills "need to be retained," Gates told the annual convention of the Association of the U.S. Army.

With the Pentagon expecting to spend an additional $43.5 million on commando bonuses in fiscal year 2008, which began Oct. 1, statistics show the military is building a more mature special operations force.

In addition to retention bonuses, enlisted special operations personnel ranging from corporals to sergeants major also qualify for a special duty pay of $375 a month above their normal salary.

The Special Operations Command bonus program was approved in late 2004 and targeted noncommissioned Army, Navy and Air Force commandos with 19 years or more of service. After 20 years, military personnel are eligible to retire at half pay and have lifetime access to military medical care and other benefits.

At the 19-year mark, an Army sergeant first class earns about $63,400 annually, a figure that doesn't include what the Congressional Budget Office calls "noncash" benefits available to military members such as subsidized child care, lower grocery costs at base stores and free access to recreational facilities.

The "critical skills retention" bonuses work on a sliding scale and are offered to senior enlisted personnel and warrant officers who form the backbone of the force.

Those agreeing to stay an extra six years receive $150,000; five years is worth $75,000; four years, $50,000; three years, $30,000; two years, $18,000; and one extra year, $8,000.

Since January 2005, 2,326 have been eligible and more than half took bonuses, statistics show.

Those who didn't opt for an extension may have retired, or they may be waiting for the right time to take the bonus: accepting it during a battle-zone deployment makes the payment tax free.

Within the Army Special Forces, the largest U.S. commando branch better known as the Green Berets, more than 900 have traded time for money. More than a third of these troops agreed to six-year extensions.

Overall, at a cost of $75 million, the Pentagon bought an average of 3.3 additional years from Green Berets with nearly two decades of experience in combat engineering, communications, intelligence and field medicine, figures show.

Just over 300 Navy SEALs — Sea, Air and Land commandos — have signed up for longer tours at a cost of $27.6 million. More than half agreed to six additional years.

The Air Force pool of combat controllers and pararescuemen with at least 19 years of service is the smallest; 32 of these troops opted for bonuses costing $3 million. Half took the six-year package.

While Special Operations Command officials view the results as positive, retention figures probably will do little to settle the heated debate over recruiting tactics used by private security companies.

"The disgraceful cycle works like this: Contractors hire away military talent. The military finds itself short of skilled workers, so contractors get more contracts. With more money, they hire away more uniformed talent," wrote Ralph Peters, a retired Army officer and a frequent commentator on military issues, in a recent opinion piece in the New York Post.

Blackwater USA has a large contract with the State Department to guard U.S. diplomats in Iraq. Since a Sept. 16 shooting in Baghdad that left 17 Iraqis dead, the company has been sharply criticized for the way it operates.

At an Oct. 2 congressional hearing, Democratic lawmakers accused the company of poaching from the military's ranks. Erik Prince, Blackwater's top executive, defended his company, saying not every one wants to stay in uniform for 20 years.

"At some point they're going to get out after four, six, eight, whatever that period of time is, whatever they decide, because we don't have a draft. We have a voluntary service," Prince said. "Yes, a lot of them come to work for companies like us, but not at any higher rate than they ever did before."

Chris Taylor, a former vice president for strategic initiatives at Blackwater, said Prince's claim is backed by a July 2005 study from the Government Accountability Office that said attrition levels within military specialties favored by contractors were about the same as before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

More recently, Chris MacPherson reached a similar conclusion in a research project he conducted over the summer in the Pentagon's special operations directorate.

"I found no evidence that (private security companies) have increased the number of U.S. special operations forces leaving the military," said MacPherson, a graduate student at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

Of the estimated 25,000 security personnel working in Iraq, only about 2,000 are Americans and they earn between $350 to $500 a day, said Doug Brooks, president of the International Peace Operations Association.

That means there aren't that many high-paying security jobs available even if a service member leaves the military, said Brooks, whose organization represents many companies doing business in Iraq.

"There's no drain on the military," Brooks said. "This is way overblown."

[Pyro7480]

American Navy Seals land on the main beach in Monrovia, Liberia in this Aug. 18, 2003 file photo.The Pentagon has paid more than $100 million in bonuses to veteran Green Berets and Navy SEALs in an effort to keep top commandos from heading to the corporate world where security companies such as Blackwater USA are offering attractive salaries. The figures gathered by The Associated Press and other research done by the Defense Department indicate there has not been an extended exodus of commandos to private security companies and other businesses that value their talents. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam, File)

[jwalsh07]

Money well spent on a cadre of men whose experience is irreplaceable. God bless’em, each and every one.

[RDTF]

short lived if this continues:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1909198/posts

General Rebukes Special Operations Forces - Lawmaker requests probe of Kearney’s actions
The Washington Times ^ | Oct 10, 2007 | Sharon Behn

Posted on 10/10/2007 11:01:25 AM EDT by RDTF

A crusading three-star general has sparked outrage within the Army Special Forces and Marine Special Operations Command by publicly condemning and twice bringing legal actions against members of their forces.

None of Lt. Gen. Frank Kearney’s actions has resulted in a conviction, but they have roiled the military community, led to the resignations of several top-trained Marines, and sparked accusations of improper command influence.

Rep. Walter B. Jones, North Carolina Republican, worried about the effect on the military, has asked Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates to investigate Gen. Kearney, who currently heads the Special Operations Command. The case also has attracted widespread comment in military publications and blogs.

The general’s actions “have damaged the lives of many of our special operators and deserve to be investigated,” Mr. Jones said in an Oct. 3 letter to Mr. Gates.

Col. Hans Bush, special forces public affairs officer for the Special Operations Command, said yesterday that Gen. Kearney stood “ready to support any investigation directed by the secretary of defense in this matter.”

[Mr. K]

GOOD!! I would take a good payout to go there.

Anyone know where I cam market my 20 years of computer engineering skills over there?

[George W. Bush]

Defense Secretary Robert Gates remains so concerned over the lure of high salaries in the private sector that he has directed Pentagon lawyers to explore putting no-compete clauses into contracts with security companies that would limit their recruiting abilities.

Gates still impresses. The Blackwater contracts should be altered to include no-compete clauses.

Much as with industrial concerns, they should have and enforce non-competition clauses. Blackwater should not be allowed to poach highly trained personnel who have benefited from training and experience with rare and expensive military resources.

[JDPendry]

When you reduce the size of the active force so that it doesn’t have the people needed to perform the convoy and security work type tasks it creates opportunity for contractors like Blackwater. They pay well and it’s attractive to people who do more dangerous work for much less. They’re collecting on the Democrat, downsizing the military, peace dividend }:>)— and doing a valuable service for us.

[ConservativeMind]

What a great investment!

[redgolum]

This is going to be an unpopular post. With that said, I don’t like it that we are to the point were the US military can not do its operations with out mercenaries.

For me that is the real travesty of justice. And we are now over seven years past 911.

[DieHard the Hunter]

> Gates still impresses. The Blackwater contracts should be altered to include no-compete clauses.

The US Military should instead indenture all of its warriors against a bond equalling the cost of their training. The value of the bond decreases over, say, a ten-or-fifteen year period, after which the warrior should be free to go wherever he chooses.

Why shouldn’t a warrior be able to make good money after his military career is over? It’s not like anybody gets rich being in the military.

Either that, or the military should pay their warriors a decent, competitive and market-driven salary and be done with it.

[napscoordinator]

Gates still impresses. The Blackwater contracts should be altered to include no-compete clauses.
Much as with industrial concerns, they should have and enforce non-competition clauses. Blackwater should not be allowed to poach highly trained personnel who have benefited from training and experience with rare and expensive military resources.

Please tell me you are kidding!!! Are you saying that a private company cannot come up to a military person and offer them a job six months before their contract is up? So what you are saying is that these guys MUST do 20 years? Perhaps I don’t understand what you are trying to say. These guy did their time and now have a choice to make. Either stay in or get out and make loads of money? You must be some sort of socialist or something...I don’t get it. Either that or you are against capitalism. Maybe if the military is that worried they should increase their pay to what the private sector pays. That should fix the problem right away. I am just surprised that you want more government intervention...

[Ramius]

Non-compete agreements are commonplace all over. These non-compete clauses would be with those companies that contract with the DOD. Nothing wrong with that.

That said, I think this bonus program for special operators is a great idea. They are highly valuable, and expensive to train. I’m all for paying them what they’re worth.

[Plains Drifter]

AMEN!!!

[napscoordinator]

Me too! I think for them only (and I am in too) that they should at least get six figures.

[JDPendry]

Blackwater is an American owned security company working on contract for the United States. That doesn’t quite fit the definition of a mercenary. There are civilian security contractors on every US military base in the United States because the military was downsized to the point that it can’t spare the people for those jobs just as it doesn’t have enoough to do those jobs in Iraq. Get the active strentgh back to what it was pre- Desert Storm and we can let the contractors go...

[Leisler]

The way the world is, and the way they work these guys, what you think your chances of getting a pension is? You might not think of it when you are in your twenties, but when you are working into your thirties, knowing you won’t be able to help your kids with even community collage, knowing your SF E8 pension is the same as (no offense) a supply E8 pension. Most likely you will have been wounded, bone broken here or there, and a couple of bouts or more with very interesting tropical diseases. From sleeping on dirt, out in the open and keeping up with the younger studds and officers with their ‘how to lead’ handbooks, you will be a caffeine addicted, skin cancer-ed, mal contented wreck that sees a dentist every other year. Any good stories you have, no one's going to believe them anyways, and your kids will run from the room screaming.

[JerseyHighlander]

THere is another problem here.
IF the US retains the top 2% of our military forces, Blackwater and the other contractors will go recruit from our NATO and other allies. And those NATO countries in the face of overwhelming budget problems realted to socialist spending policies, will be much more likely to never replace and retrain their own special forces, thereby increasing the US military’s needs to train and maintain elite forces in the future.

Especially true as Gordon Brown is now PM of the UK, and Howard won’t be AU prime minister much longer it looks.

[359Henrie]

I reenlisted and received a 96hr liberty.

[Ramius]

With that said, I don’t like it that we are to the point were the US military can not do its operations with out mercenaries.

I would argue with what I think is your definition of mercenaries, but that said: I think contracting is a great way for the DOD to farm out certain activities to others, leaving the armed forces to do the real work of fighting hostiles.

Of course it begins with everything from food service to logistics. There's no reason the army should have to cart another 100,000 REMF's along just to provide all the chow and mail and stock the PX. Contract it out. I think it works pretty well.

Now on to your "mercenaries"... I've got no problem with private contractors providing security services. This is a personal protection detail not unlike the Secret Service. It's actually a *very* different skill set and training plan and is quite apart from what Soldiers and Marines do, or should do. Combat troops engage in offensive operations to take and hold ground from the enemy. Hiring contractors to do *that* would make them "mercenaries" according to the definition, and that it *not* what contractors are being hired to do.

Personal protection details do not conduct offense operations. Their sole concern is to protect usually one individual VIP. The training for this is different, the tactics are different, and the operations are vastly different. IMHO the military shouldn't be bothered with these tasks. Contract it out, to the extent the VIP's are ours, and let the customers pay for their own VIP's. Done.

I think it is useful to observe that Blackwater, as one example, has never lost a person under their protection. A remarkable record to be sure, and one that speaks for itself. I won't deny that they've likely had some obnoxious cowboys in their staff from time to time. I'm sure there's some screening that might be improved. But on the whole I think it is only fair to say that they do a great job at what they do.

[JDoutrider]

A Krugerrand a day (or it’s equivalent)seems appropriate compensation for their highly regarded resumes...

[BerryDingle]

I have nothing but complete respect for SEALS and the hell they go through in training. They earn every penny they get on the battlefield and on standby.

Hillary’s recognition of former SEAL Jesse Ventura and Governer: “The circus side show is over!”