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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated
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To: unclewest who wrote (52755)7/4/2004 9:51:26 AM
From: quehubo  Read Replies (1) of 793779
 
You know I did so called hazardous duty in the military and as a civilian working in Colombia. Today we have civilians in Iraq and military personal as well. I venture to say the risk premiums being paid to civilians are higher than the entire salary of a military enlistee.

Tough to compare responsibilities and skills, but I dont think we have tested the market by offering higher incentives before something as radical as the draft.

A 20 year old can make $1,500 a month with benefits working in the service industry. I dont think this is any indication of paying a realistic incentive to attract adequate quantity and quality of personnel. The compensation increases you mention may have been huge but that is no indication that people serving in combat are being adequately rewarded.

I have no doubt that you are correct we need more personnel committed to their duty. I suspect a vast majority of National Guard personnel and reservists feel drafted and never in a million years suspected they would be in Iraq.

I entered the service in 1981 and served with people who were drafted and some who volunteered in the 1970's. Many of those people were not of the desired quality and technical capability. Reagan changed many things when he was elected for the better. By the time I left in 1987 the situation was dramatically different. But I dont know what has happened over the last 17 years.

The draft would be a desperate measure, you cant force patriotism. But perhaps you can entice more people to do the right thing with a more adequate reward for the risk of volunteering. I dont think we are doing enough to do that before calling for a draft.
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