New York Times article calling for service member benefits reduction

Link to the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/01/opinion/sunday/putting-military-pay-on-the-table.html?_r=2&

I wrote a response to the editorial desk that sums up my misgivings about the piece and it's implications.  I was asked by a friend to share both here to help bring awareness to a growing movement against service member interests, which can be read below.  If you're as concerned as I am about this article and what it represents, I ask that you make your opinion known, or if my letter reflects your opinion closely enough, I encourage you to share it instead if you prefer.

Regards,

John

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Thanks to an email I received from the Air Force Sergeants Association today, it’s come to my attention that the New York Times is calling our federal government to proverbial arms against military personnel. How ironic. Seems rather than taking umbrage with war, or even the cost of war, it’s taken umbrage with the cost-of-supporting-the-people-who-are-sent-to-fight the war.

It's discouraging how the sacrifice of service members fighting and dying overseas for the last 13 years has been relegated to 45 seconds of coverage on the nightly news, and only when we’re discussing national budgets does the public even recall we’re still there. Still fighting, still getting physically and mentally maimed, still half a world away from our spouses and our children, still sacrificing everything we have to fight for a nation that forgot it was even at war, much less why. It’s insulting, and it’s degrading.

So war is expensive; you don’t say? The government is out of money, and we’ve got to trim the fat; you don’t say? Look, we all get it. There are economic realities we have to face and tough decisions have to be made. While I'm a staunch advocate of reigning in defense spending, doing so at the expense of the warfighters themselves is recklessly irresponsible and terribly misguided.

Our basic pay, medical coverage, pensions, hazardous duty pay, educational funds, child care, exceptional family member benefits; these and other military benefits have already been eliminated, reduced, or threatened in the spirit of saving money. These personnel costs were introduced to treat our abused bodies, to care for our families and ease our worried minds while we’re at war, or to offer meager tokens of gratitude for being in constant peril. They were enacted for a reason and they are anything but extraneous.

Yes, the military is wasteful. I couldn’t agree more, and neither could many of my fellow service members. In fact, I challenge anyone to discuss military waste with a service member and he or she will give you a dozen examples they see on a daily basis, each one of them a better candidate for scrutiny than our benefits. The vast majority of the waste we observe involves funds known as Operations and Maintenance. And guess what’s nearly double the cost of the entirety of personnel related expenditures on a yearly basis; you guessed it - O&M.

Billions of tax player dollars are shoveled into a budgetary system that rewards and incentivizes spending every dime it gets and punishes efficiency. Careers are rewarded for managing more people, spearheading larger projects, and spending more money. Careers are stymied for requiring less people, being more cautious with projects, and exercising more accountability in resource stewardship and change management. Do we really want to make a difference where it counts? Then stop focusing on personnel and focus on incentivizing managers to spend less.

But guess where the cross hairs of our government have inevitably fallen; on us. The military members. Why? Because it’s easy. Focusing on personnel is as convenient as adjusting a spreadsheet, while the cost is absorbed in the abstract of a human buffer. Focusing on waste is more complicated, and requires effective management, legitimate stewardship, and real leadership. It requires incentive. But focusing on waste isn’t easy, and consequently, not opted for.

Unfortunately, the public has long since stopped caring what happens to its military members. In our greatest time of need, the public has grown apathetic as we grind ourselves into dust overseas, year, after year, after year. And so, shrouded in apathy, we’ve become politically vulnerable to the very government that has ordered us to battle, and as our backs are turned it advances towards us with shears in hand. Is this how America keeps the faith? We can do better, we HAVE to do better, so let’s do it together.

Sincerely,

John J. Zelinski