A new study reviewing military compensation published by the Rand corporation suggests that soldiers in the Army may be overpaid, but this thesis has one big flaw in it.
"Given that military pay exceeds the 70th percentile, is military pay too high?" the study asks, pointing out that while Army pay has increased over the years the quality of the recruits has not, leading one to believe that pay as an incentive to attract the best talent may not be working as expected.
The 70th percentile is a reference to military members being paid around the 70th percentile of civilian pay. According to the study, current low levels of recruit aptitude are, "implying that the 70th percentile for military pay relative to civilian pay is also not the right standard today."
The study takes an in-depth and thorough look at military compensation, factoring in all of the added benefits of being in the military such as free housing and heath care. It also weighs the fact that it is difficult to compare military and civilian jobs and therefore equate their pay scales. Soldiers serve for the prestige of being in the military and because of their patriotism, which are intangible qualities unlikely to be found in most civilian jobs. However, there is one glaring oversight in the report and how the data is analyzed. Nowhere in the study are perpetual combat deployments factored into their analysis, except for a brief aside about retention issues.
"In the 2000s, Army deployments during operations in Iraq and Afghanistan were extensive, and research shows that deployments also affect retention," the report reads.
Despite claiming to draw upon 30 years of research the Rand report does not appear to take into account the 18 year-long Global War on Terror which seems to have no end in sight. When calculating whether or not soldiers are overpaid, it seems negligent not to factor in this major difference between military and civilian jobs. While the report takes a "human resources" approach to the problem, nowhere does it speak to Army pay being incredibly little when considering the amount of time troops spend away from home, the missed births of children, birthdays and holidays, the stress of combat, and the subsequent emotional and physical fallout.
Once these factors are added to the research questions, one could argue soldiers are underpaid
It is unknown how much the Department of Defense paid the Rand corporation for this study.
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Reach Jack Murphy: jack@connectingvets.com or @JackMurphyRGR.
