The End Of The War (by Robert Reich)

[kentuck]

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/1123-25.htm

<snip>
Some are motivated by patriotism, of course, but let’s not kid ourselves. People facing a choice between a job in the private sector that’s near home and safe, and one in the military that’s thousands of miles away and may not be safe, will choose to remain civilians – unless the military job pays more. And for any given age and level of education, it does.

When the economy is expanding and private-sector jobs are becoming more plentiful, as they are now, the Pentagon has to pay even more to attract additional recruits. That’s why the latest defense appropriations raises military pay 3.1 percent every year for the next five, considerably faster than civilian pay is expected to rise.

Cash isn’t the Pentagon’s only lure. The military is also offering signing bonuses up to $30,000 for jobs in high demand. You can get up to a $150,000 cash bonus for re-enlisting if you’re with the Special Forces. And all recruits are eligible for up to $50,000 to offset the costs of higher education and up to $65,000 to pay back college loans. Not to mention generous housing, child care, and health benefits.

But not even all this is enough.

....more

[NMDemDist2]

1. Suppose they gave a war

and nobody came?

a girl can dream......

[Jara sang]

2. Money means nothing to a dead man.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

3. I got $79. a month when I enlisted. $165. a month 4 years later.

They didn't have enough in the treasury to get me to reenlist.

USMC '61-'65

[hfojvt]

4. military jobs have a couple other catches too

One is commitment and the 2nd is "stop loss". You can take a civilian job and quit at any time if you find you do not like it, or find a better job. With the military you have two or three year enlistments, and skipping work does not get you fired. It gets you arrested. I guess with stop loss orders, they do not even have to let you quit when you have reached the end of your enlistment or retirement age.
But I am surprised that they have not moved for a draft. Since when does public opinion matter to them more than their own war games and power? It is nice to know there are lines they will not or can not cross.