Showdown with Iraq on 1073theeagle.com

Study Finds Military Pay Near Lowest
By TAMMY JOYNER
Cox News Service

ATLANTA -- American soldiers on the front lines in the Iraq war earn little more than a theater usher or crossing guard, according to a new survey of military pay.

Front-line battle troops, mostly those who hold the rank of private and have been in the military about a year, earn less than $16,000 a year - - some of the lowest pay around, the Challenger, Gray and Christmas survey noted.

In fact, the Challenger study looked at hundreds of jobs listed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and found only five other jobs paid less than the $15,480 a year earned by privates.

At the other end of the spectrum, Gen. Tommy Franks, a 36-year Army vet leading the U.S. Central Command that's overseeing military action in Iraq, earns a base pay of $153,948 a year. That's about $12,829 a month.

Franks' peers in corporate America -- chief executive officers -- had compensation packages averaging $11 million in 2001, when a slowing economy lowered bonuses and the value of stock options fell sharply.

Most soldiers, however, get more than just basic pay. Those on active duty are given an allowance for housing and subsistence, incentive pay, medical and other benefits, said Christopher Michel, chief executive of Military Advantage, a San Francisco-based company that provides services to current and past members of the military.

Combat pay varies, but it's generally an additional $150 a month in a soldier's check.

"Special pay and incentive pay" is added for such duties as flying or diving, for hardship and for foreign language proficiency, depending on one's assignment and skills.

Military personnel and their families also have commissary and post exchange privileges, which allow them to buy items often for less than they would pay at conventional stores.

"In fact, disposable income can be quite high for military families," said Anne Dwane, vice president at Military Advantage.

And it's gotten a little better in recent years. The fiscal 2003 budget includes $47 billion set aside for pay increases for mililtary personnel, who will get a minimum 4.1 percent raise across the board this year, Dwane said.

Still, basic military pay is relatively low compared to corporate paychecks.

The $26,200-a-year starting salary for second lieutenants, for example, is equal to annual salaries for sales clerks at clothing stores ($26,780); receptionists ($26,208), pest control workers ($26,208); and shoe repairers ($26,364).

"It certainly looks like there's an inequitable distribution of pay given the trade-offs and risks of the jobs," said Mitch Barnes, Atlanta-based principal at Mercer Human Resource Consulting. "Certainly a theater usher doesn't have the kind of risk that a corporal or private in the field has."

But Barnes cautioned against making comparisons between private enterprise and public service.

"Many people who are employed by the military do it for reasons far beyond the compensation package offered to them," he said.

The military offers training that people later use in corporate America, which makes the work attractive, Barnes said. But, he went on to say, corporate America and the military have two different objectives when it comes to compensation.

"The private sector is very strongly focused on retention and attracting and retaining good employees," he said. "Their compensation packages reflect that, and therefore they're going to be more competitive than the military for workers.

"The military really has different motivation."

Tammy Joyner writes for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

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