Top military chiefs: Cut pay and benefits

[MADem]

52. They don't WANT to recruit people for support. It's cheaper to hire them as needed.

Why pay those salaries waiting around for a war to start up? Draw down in peacetime, up-surge in wartime.

As for operational personnel, there's a reason why there's now a reservist on the JCS (there never was before). Guard/reserves have taken so much more of an important role these days--they sit at home, drill every other week, and sometimes less, depending, but they are there when needed.

Absent a genuine world war, where all the marbles are on the table, you will never see a draft again. They're inefficient, and the people who are conscripted do not want to be there, do not respect the process, and it takes more effort and energy to "keep them in line" than is worth the effort. The unreliable draftees make it an unsustainable process.

They don't have to worry about finding contractors. They pay well, they put the job out for bids, and they get more than enough takers. It is more money upfront, but it is way, way less money downstream.