An Unpopular Opinion Concerning the Military Pay Raise

Yesterday, I was on Facebook when a couple of my friends posted this:

I don't normally talk about this but I will repost this to spread the word. President Obama has proposed a 1.4% pay increase for active duty military in 2011. This is THE LOWEST SINCE 1973! Nice to know that during a time of rampant inflation, while war is fought in 2 theatres, our men and women in uniform get A LOWER PAY INCREASE THAN WELFARE RECIPIENTS!!! Please repost if you support our troops.

 A quick Google search turns up debate on this topic here and here and I'm sure many more places.

Apparently I'm a glutton for punishment because when I read this, I said, "Well, they should be glad they're getting that. There is 20% unemployment and we have debt up to our eyes." The way I looked at it, we can't afford a raise, for anyone in the government; where is the money going to come from?

Facts and Figures

I did an extensive search for a chart that could prove the claims above and the closest I can come up with is this chart that reflects the Employment Cost Index (ECI) from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This applies to all federal employee, which include service members. Apparently there is a law that forbids a pay increase above this threshold. So if the ECI is a relative reflection of private industry and that only increased about 1.4% and the law forbids an increase greater than the ECI then service members getting 1.4% is fair.   All this griping about the military deserving more pay is simply emotional. There is no legal argument to be made.  The fact is, our economy is sucking and this is the best that congress can do. Let's not forget that last year, the proposal was 2.9%, but congress authorized a 3.4% increase. Congress, not the President decides the budget. The President only makes the proposal.


When the poster tries to compare welfare recipients (the 20% unemployed and other families in need) what kind of welfare? Is the poster being intentionally vague? Here are some facts taken from here to put things in perspective. All dollar figures are in billions.

• National Defense (including pay) - from $722 in 2010 to $738 in 2011      +2.2%
• Pay - $152 to $154      +1.3%
• Social Security - $724 to $738     +1.9% 
• Medicare - $ 462 to $ 498     +7.8%
• Income security (This is the welfare that comes to most people's minds) - $629 - $567     -9.8%
• Unemployment - from $158 to 83.26      -47.2%
• VA Benefits $124 to $122      -1.6%

I'm flummoxed... it appears the military is getting MORE than welfare recipients unless you count those on Medicare and Social Security. Damn those old people for retiring and getting sick! (Wow! I'm defending welfare and Washington DC! This goes against my stance as a libertarian, but I'll do my best to be dispassionate and reasonable.)

For the sake of argument, I'll ignore these figures. I've attempted to offer a solution, but so far I haven't read anyone on the side of the military that has a solution. They've simply said things like, "How about we double the raise for our service members and hold back on any raise for the other federal workers like was withheld from our senior citizens." That's just silly. The solution I offered, if they want a better raise, (which means a higher ECI is necessary) is bringing the troops home. The billions saved, not to mention the relief of blowback* from our foreign adventures, could be used to pay down debt or create a tax relief that would increase ECI and thus increase military pay.  ECI is dependent upon a prosperous private sector.

My Rebuttal to the Emotional Majority

I hold the unpopular opinion. I don't think that the military "deserves" a pay raise. They get one if we, the taxpayers, can afford it. I don't know who made the post above, but I imagine it's someone in the service. My two friends that I commented on their postings about this are in the service. I understand their point of view because I served too. As a former serviceman I want them to have pay deserving of their sacrifices, but honestly, we just can't afford it.


I've been censured by other commenters for my opposing viewpoint. It's what I get for standing up and voicing my side. All of the comments I read from other people on FB have been:

• Unjustified Support - "Thank you to all our troops, they deserve so much more!" But why?
• Emotional - "you go overseas and have your friends killed, be shot at, blown up and rockets shot at you! THEN you can tell me what I should feel good about, ASSHOLE!"
• Close-minded - Refusal to listen to the other side of the argument, ie "you need to keep that shit to yourself" This one reminds of someone that puts their hand over their ears and says "lalalalalalala."
• A combination of both - "I don't know who the hell you are, but you need to shut the fuck up."
• Off Topic - "Not at all saying teachers deserve what military gets, just saying very few of us are rolling in the dough when we sign up for a public service type job." This was a reference to teaching in comparison to military pay.

 Instead of trying to respond rationally and staying on topic, there have only been ad hominem attacks and diversions. There was nothing of substance. To go off-topic and make comparisons to teacher's pay or even my favorite, corporatism and DC politics, is disingenuous.

In defense of myself, I support the military. I support the families that make the sacrifices. I know all about these things. Once anyone serves, they know about these things, personally. What bothers me is this growing sense of entitlement that seems to be growing within the ranks. "I deserve..." "We deserve..." No. Don't dishonor the military by behaving similar to those on welfare. Those that serve are not entitled to so much that the rest of society must suffer. Benefits such as free medical care and housing and weight rooms are there so that the troops remain combat ready and should also be added when considering compensation. When people enter the service or marry into the service, they know what type of life to expect. These are voluntary choices and as such they are paid appropriately and rewarded with benefits. Why complain when a husband/wife is deployed...you knew this would happen. Why bemoan your lot, you chose it. If you don't like your situation, change it, don't expect others to bend over for your decisions.

I could go on about Bush, Obama, corporatism, corruption, secession, inflation, the Federal Reserve, Constitutionality of these undeclared wars, entitlements, morality, insecure-borders-that-our-military-could-be-used-to-protect-but-instead-are-off-fighting-in-countries-that-don't-want-our-help, all of which I could tie into our strained military and broken economy, but I won't and I hope you'll stay on topic too, reader, if you decide to respond.

*Blowback is a term used to describe unintended consequences of our foreign policy. One example was the installation of the Ayatollah in Iran in the 70's. If we hadn't ousted the democratically elected leader, in favor of the Shah in the 50's, then anti-American feelings and the Ayatollah wouldn't have emerged.  Another example is 9/11, but that's for another posting.