It has been 14 years since Y2K, Pat. First, inflation by the CPI has been 40%. Second, military pay was behind what it should be, so they gave raises throughout to help military pay catch up with civilian counterparts.
Third, where's the data on how much R&D, procurement, operations, etc., have gone up. One normally provides the comparison when writing an honest article.
Fourth, either have the pay competitive or run a military without career members.
Indeed, xzins.