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Opinion

Blackwater Pay Insults the Military

October 04, 2007 10:33 AM ET | Bonnie Erbe | Permanent Link | Print

Among the more amazing things to emerge from the House government oversight committee hearing on private security contracting in Iraq was the amount of money paid to Blackwater USA private forces. A memo released at the hearing  shows that some of the paid militia were making as much as $1,200 per day. Compare that with what the Washington Post reports American servicepersons make risking their lives for this nation:

An unmarried sergeant given Iraq pay and relief from U.S. taxes makes about $83 to $85 a day, given time in service. A married sergeant with children makes about double that, $170 a day. Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Baghdad overseeing more than 160,000 U.S. troops, makes roughly $180,000 a year, or about $493 a day. That comes out to less than half the fee charged by Blackwater for its senior manager of a 34-man security team.

Twelve hundred dollars per day comes out to $6,000 per week, or almost $300,000 per year. How in the world can that be justified by a supposedly promilitary president? I recently had dinner with a friend who works for the Veterans Affairs Department. This person told me that a 45-year-old relative who is on active duty in the Army is being sent back for a third tour in Iraq. This relative has retired military friends in their 50s who've been asked to return to service. As this person put it, the Pentagon is "digging very, very deep" to find Americans willing to serve in Iraq.

Meanwhile, Blackwater seems to have no trouble recruiting young men. It seems to me an insult to everyone on active duty that the Bush administration can let profiteers earn these huge sums while troops' families use food stamps back home. What is wrong with this picture?

Tags: Iraq | Blackwater USA

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Reader Comments

False: Blackwater pay does not insult the military

When people serve in the military, they do so in defense of their country, or so they imagine. That is always positive so why does the writer say "Blackwater pay insults the military". Only one who is not a patriot will say something like that!

If people who presently serve, do their time and come back to join a PMC, that is also part of America, land of the free and home of the brave!

Focus

I think private contractors make what they deserve. I don't think the our Military folks do, however. I did my time, and I didn't do it for the pay. I remember a couple of years ago hearing someone in the NBA complain about a $180,000,000 contract. That's what gets me. He said "I have a family to support." I'll trade you. Maybe everyone's focus is on the wrong people.

I'd like to add a comment since I played both sides. I deployed to Iraq as an E5 SGT making around 3K a month. It was my last year and when I returned home in 2004 I was honorably discharged. I then switched to Blackwater and made 15K monthly. The majority of deployed BW guys are former soldiers and Marines that served and did their time. Instead of us complaining about contractors making a higher wage, most of elected to join their team. We are still serving despite popular opinion and work under the Dept of State.

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About Bonnie Erbe

Bonnie Erbe is a contributing editor at U.S. News & World Report and hosts PBS's weekly news analysis program, To the Contrary with Bonnie Erbe. She also writes a weekly syndicated newspaper column for Scripps Howard News Service.

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