Leaderboard

Again, the “I am in the Army disclaimer”. But as someone who has access to all the Aviation numbers on our side of the house, here is my take. The reason we make the money (yes, it is a lot) is not because we do such a dangerous job. Sorry to all of you that like to think that but it is just not true but I am sure the girls in the bar will still believe you. The real reason is that the military unlike the civilian world cannot “hire” mid level managers. Work for brand “X” and need someone with mid level or even senior management? You will have more qualified applicants than you can ever interview. The civilian market is very competitive right now. The military cannot do that. For example, we are short Majors right now. The reasons are simple. We went from 1.3 million men to 440,000. Officers make up about 10%. We commissioned less (keeping 10% for the 440). That same group of commissioned officers is a part of a 540,000 man force that has been deployed more than any group in history. So a lot have gotten out leaving us even shorter. How do we fill this gap? Make the time lines shorter to make MAJ? That will work in a while, but mean while, that mid 90’s class will get promoted to LTC and then we will be short of LTC’s. There is no way for us to close the gap. We can’t just go hire an Army Major. That is why we make so much. Simple numbers. Find yourself in a year group that has far more than it needs and see how important you are. The amount of money we make is trivial compared to the amount of money spent training us and the impossibility of replacing all but the junior officers. Simple business. You would think it would be simple to manage. But as we are discussing now, congress keeps changing the end strength numbers. It is all numbers needed vs numbers on hand vs funding and the possibility to maintain each. That was the officer in me prospective. The personnel side doesn’t have any friends in the civilian world that have had to spend as much time away from their family as we have. Or get up every morning in their 40’s to do PT because their employer requires it. None of those same friends have ever been shot at. I don’t know any civilian who has had to move 5 times in 3 ½ years. Personally, I do think I make a lot of money and will get a lot for retirement. And I think I deserve every penny.

I am guessing he won't be allowed to PCS until he gets his man card back.

Cut it. Everyone is going to have to eat a bite of this giant shit sandwich we have made for ourselves, even the military/DoD. The gravy train can't last forever, this stuff isn't free (generally speaking of all things government).