U.S. Pays Huge Bonuses For Soldiers

We've all heard about the $20,000 bonuses that the military is paying to get recruits nowdays. Well, that is small potatoes up beside the bonuses being offered to experienced soldiers trained as commandos.

Back in 2005, the Army and Navy were having trouble getting commando-trained soldiers to re-enlist. Many of these soldiers were unhappy with the repeated tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. The military was losing a lot of them to private security companies like Blackwater, where they could make huge salaries.

So our military decided to pay out large bonuses to keep these well-trained fighters. In the last couple of years the military has paid over $100 million to keep 1200 commandos. They paid out $75 million to re-enlist 900 Green Berets, and another $27.6 million to re-enlist 300 Navy SEALS. The Pentagon expects to spend another $43.5 million on commando bonuses in 2008.

Commandos receive from $8000 for one additional year to $150,000 for six additional years, plus an extra $375 a month over the soldier's regular salary. About one-third of the Green Berets and one-half of the SEALS opted for the six-year extension. (They could also get $18,000 for two years, $30,000 for three years, $50,000 for four years and $75,000 for five years.)

I don't begrudge these brave men their bonuses. If anybody deserves it, they do. In fact, these bonuses pale in comparison to the bonuses corporate executives get every year, and the commandos are far more valuable to our country. But there was a time that these men didn't need the bonus to re-enlist. They did it because they loved the job and their country.

But that was before Bush aand Cheney began to abuse them in an effort to get Iraq's oil for their corporate buddies. They are being sacrificed in a no-win situation so corporations can make windfall profits. I'm surprised it doesn't take even more to retain them.

We need to pull all of our soldiers out and bring them home now, while we still have them. We could need them to defend our country, which is their real job after all.