“Remember they pay no medical or dental. Education is essentially free while you are in and so is the gym. I work with the military all day everyday in very close quarters so you might want to take a second look at what they really are receiving. Also they are receiving 50% retiremnt after 20 years with medical benefits. Believe me there is plenty of room for payroll savings without loss of capability.”
Still active duty after 22 years, just had triple hernia surgery (related to G stress from flying the jet), both breasts removed from cancer (related to chem exposure in Iraq)...being in the military these days really stresses a lot of guys out. I doubt I will suck up retirement pay for too long after I get out. Most people in the military earn retirement after 20 years.
In a position of authority I have several civilians that work for me. You should see the bonuses that were handed out to that group last December. Absolutely disgusting. As I am handing out thousands of dollars of bonus money (to people for doing their jobs) I laughed because there is money to cut in stuff like this and it is kept “hush-hush”. I know for a fact that a significant number of civilians that work at Naval Air Stations received large sums of bonus money for simply doing their jobs as a “gift” before Christmas. My vote is to significantly reduce the number of government civilians working for DOD. However, the civilians vote Democrat and the military votes Republican. Guess who will lose?
There are always specific cases that lie outside the general arena. As an E-4 leaving the Air Force in 1976 I made about $485 a month. I survived it and was able to parlay those skills into a lucrative career in aviation over the next 36 years. I am a DOD employee that is currently serving in Afghanistan and was in Iraq before that. I do not get bonuses. However I do bring an extensive skill set to the table that justifies my compensation. Most military I encounter over here could never earn in the private sector the pay and benefits the military confers. You don’t have to try and refute this because I know what I speak of. I spent 33 years in private industry and it was amazing how narrow and shallow the skillsets most of our military hires had. Fortunately for them the majority of civilian hires were even more marginal. My main point is that compensation being received by most military occupations exceeds the value of an individuals contributions to the organization by a wide margin. Is a private E-2 with 2 years service really worth $40,000 as a cook or clerk.?