RE: military overcompensation

[logos]

Originally Posted by Lubaolong

Let me tell you, my orderly room was full of NCO's that sat on their ass, BS all day, and answered phones. That was their job. At my work center, several MOS's spent the majority of their time sitting around chatting, shredding documents, and sending out reports when there was something to do. These people have very little training, very little real responsibility, and are very overcompensated for. This is not an air force thing. I worked in a multiservice enviroment.

First of all, your figures regarding military salaries are way off. I spent five years in the USMC, and if it was as good as you have made it out to be, I never would have left.

As an E-5 I still had to share a BEQ room with another Sgt., we had three toilets and three shower stalls which we shared with six other NCO's, not to mention a washer and dryer which sucked so bad we washed our clothes at a laundry mat. I often worked over forty hours a week which included multiple nights freezing my ass off in the field.

The NCO's who lived off base were either married or worked part time jobs to supplement their income. You couldn't be more wrong.

Judging by this thread and your recent contributions in the War Room you are: 1. a troll, 2. a complete tool, or 3. a narcissistic prick.

I'm leaning towards # 3.

[fullerene]

There is a market comparable for many military jobs in that they are performed by private contractors, often side by side. In those cases, the drivers, security guards and maintenance workers for KBR, Bechtel and Halliburton pull in double what their enlisted counterparts make.

[Mens Rea**]

Luba- I guess you're right. If some uneducated guy is getting paid $80,000 to shred paper and an engineer with a BS is getting paid $72,000 then someone is getting overpaid.

WTF is shredding paper though?

[d brooks]

Originally Posted by fullerene

There is a market comparable for many military jobs in that they are performed by private contractors, often side by side. In those cases, the drivers, security guards and maintenance workers for KBR, Bechtel and Halliburton pull in double what their enlisted counterparts make.

great point

[Orsyn]

Originally Posted by Lubaolong

I am not bitter at all. I know military members work hard and take risks, but I believe I was overpaid for the job I did, as are many others. This is just my opinion, which I know will draw criticism, but that's how I feel. I may have a little less responsibilities now, but I know I work much harder. My work:pay ratio is much different now.

While YOU may feel you have been overpaid, most grunts, feel they don't get paid enough. Let's compare a civi job with a grunt. The guys from Blackwater that provide security in Iraq. They get paid, on average, close to 10 Grand/month ( i wish I had a source for this, other than someone that served over there). So the civillian counterpart gets pais a whole hell of a lot more than soldiers over there.

[d brooks]

Originally Posted by Orsyn

While YOU may feel you have been overpaid, most grunts, feel they don't get paid enough. Let's compare a civi job with a grunt. The guys from Blackwater that provide security in Iraq. They get paid, on average, close to 10 Grand/month ( i wish I had a source for this, other than someone that served over there). So the civillian counterpart gets pais a whole hell of a lot more than soldiers over there.

Do the US taxpayers pay the guys from Blackwater?

[Das Uberdog]

Originally Posted by d brooks

Do the US taxpayers pay the guys from Blackwater?

yes.

[massgrunt]

Originally Posted by fullerene

There is a market comparable for many military jobs in that they are performed by private contractors, often side by side. In those cases, the drivers, security guards and maintenance workers for KBR, Bechtel and Halliburton pull in double what their enlisted counterparts make.

That's not entirely accurate. I make a hell of a lot more as a "security guard" then I did as a Marine, but I also don't have ANY of the benefits that I had in the military... no medical, GI Bill, housing, Thrift Savings Plan, etc, etc.

The simple fact is that there are not enough people in the military to do these jobs. If we weren't in Iraq and A-stan, there would be no need for all the extra manpower. It is cheaper to have these jobs done by contractors than to maintain that number of military guys during peacetime. And you're not going to get civilians to leave their homes and risk getting killed (a DAILY risk) for small change.

[Mens Rea**]

Originally Posted by Orsyn

While YOU may feel you have been overpaid, most grunts, feel they don't get paid enough. Let's compare a civi job with a grunt. The guys from Blackwater that provide security in Iraq. They get paid, on average, close to 10 Grand/month ( i wish I had a source for this, other than someone that served over there). So the civillian counterpart gets pais a whole hell of a lot more than soldiers over there.

The merchant marines in norfolk get paid over twice as much as the sailors who do the same job.

[d brooks]

Originally Posted by Das Uberdog

yes.

Thats fucked up

They shouldnt get payed a dollar more than the least paid US troop