My father worked as a Civil Service employee for the USAF until 30 years ago - at a time when many accepted the lower pay in exchange for the better long term retirement benefits. Since then it seems like the wages have increased to be at least as competitive as the commercial sector (at least for USAF civil service employees) while they retained better job security (retirement benefits may not as good as they used to be).
It will be hard to change the whole system, but hopefully improvements can be made for the taxpayer benefit.
Once public service meant a lower salary for better job security. Then the idea was pushed that salaries had to be equivalent to the private sector to get the best people. OF course once they were hired the odds of getting fired were almost nil. When the private sector jobs declined salaries did not keep up with civil service but nothing was done to modify civil service salaries.
We are long overdue for reform.
He had job security plus little to do. The retirement is very good and not even an O-6 could fire him.