So Eric, My brother in law sent me his take on this and I am cutting and pasting his answer here: Notice that he states under certain circumstances and this refers to contractors. Civilians are a different matter.
> Civilians can be less expensive than soldiers under certain > circumstances. The basic principle is that even if they make a higher > salary, the military can save money because: > > 1) You don't have to pay to train them. The costs of paying for > trainers, facilities, materiel, etc. > 2) You don't have to support their families. Childcare, DODDS Schools, > Housing, community activities. > 3) You don't have to pay them retirement. > 4) You don't have to pay them Veterans benefits. > 5) You don't have to pay for their healthcare. > > Basically, you don't own them cradle to grave. You only pay for what > you need. This is a slightly different list depending upon if you are > talking DA civilians or contractors. On Feb 28, 2013, at 8:32 PM, Eric Roberts <[email protected]> wrote: > > You are already housing, feeding, and clothing the soldiers...so that is > moot. Plus if that is part of their speciality...say like in support and > they are distributing BDU's...wouldn't that already be part of their > training? As far as retention...if they are staying in...isn't that already > being done? It also gives more opportunity for conscientious objectors who > still wish to serve their country, but do not wish to be in combat roles. > There may be a few roles...like the automated ranges that you > mentioned...that may be better off with civilians that are specialized in > that, but there are so many other tasks, like the racking and mowing...low > end maintenance jobs...that would be better if soldiers did it. Cooks > should still be military. I remember that too...we used to rotate as well > during basic. You should read Rachel Maddow's "Drift". It has a lot of > good info on how we have outsourced our military. > > Eric > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:361747 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
