We pay our military if they fight of not. Why do Americans protest the $ cost of war?

Question

Granted combat pay is a little more, and it costs some money to move military vehicles overseas; however, the difference is not going to be huge as far as money expenditure goes. America pays its military whether it is fighting or not. Americans are really kind of stupid to think a lot of money is wasted in Iraq. If we weren't using bullets, fuel, and other expendable resources there, we'd be using and paying for them during combat training manuevers here. The only real difference is that a few more soldiers die in combat than in training manuevers. However, what is the total loss of US soldiers over 5 years in Iraq? A frikkin' 2000? 400 a year. That is not even a drop in the bucket as far as wars go. Heck, we lose more soldiers to friendly fire. I'm sick of pansies worried about the $ cost of war. There is no substantial cost difference in peace or war with a frikkin' suicide army of insurgents when you have US combat technology. What an embarrassment that US citizens whine about this

Correction: The title should read, "We pay our military if they fight OR not. Why do Americans protest the cost of war?"

Mark, about the $360 billiion EXTRA cost for Iraq over 5 years, a good chunk has gone into securing and the reconstruction of working oil fields, a very expensive task. Whiners balked at the oil for food program, which I thought was brilliant. Oil is starting to come back down because the US continues to hammer insurgents and regain more control. Middle Eastern jerkwads use religion as an excuse, but they know they are incompetent at managing oil production and don't want the US to get a piece of it. We deserve it all for putting up with their crap. Oil prices went up when Pakistan allowed more of those fruitcakes and weapons into Iraq creating oil export instability. I wish we would just take those frikkin' countries and stop being Mr. Niceguy. Unrestricted US controlled oil production in Irag, Pakistan, and Afghanistan would solve all the world's economic problems and create world peace by having a permanent US military presense and colony there.

mtbskier8, $800,000,000 for life insurance for 2000 dead soldiers? $400,000 a piece? Sheez, I should be a soldier. I'm a frikkin' doctor and my life insurance isn't that good.
But you point is moot. Even if you are correct, $800,000,000 is not even a drop in the bucket for a country like the US that has $trillions of economic exchange daily. In fact $360 billion really isn't all that much over 5 years. Isn't that Bill Gate's net worth? One frikkin' guy. A dollar is not worth what it used to be.

2000 is not a lot of dead US soldiers. One dead will seem like a lot if he is your spouse. Sorry if this is so, but enjoy your $400,000 courtesy of me. Let some of the WWII or Vietnam & Korean vets out there tell you what derath and pay could be.

You know Osama, you do bring up a good point. How much did you spend for your guys, maybe $5K for a couple of pilot lessons, $2K for US plane tickets, $5 for box cutters. What's that, $7,005 dollars?
You seem pretty good at talking your army into kamakazi tactics. I bet if the US employed a few good psychologists, we could convince your brainwashed kamakazis with a megaphone and a flyover that there are no 20 naked virgins waiting for them in the afterlife for helping you out.

Loreric, What are you talking about? Are you sure you are on the right question? Who are you addressing? If it is me, you have missed the point of this question entirely.

Answer 1

I don't have that problem. Why?

Answer 2

Yes, actually there is a big difference in cost between peace and war. I don't have time to name them all, but here are a few to get you started. First, I'll start with our troops. No, we wouldn't be paying them to sit around or to train. A majority of the troops fighting this war are reservists. They are the weekend warriors and they normally work full-time civilian jobs. The government doesn't pay them unless they are called to duty. Second, life insurance. This one probably balances out, but figure that the government provides our troops with low cost life insurance that pays $400,000. With 2,000 troops dead, that's a total of $800,000,000! Now on to our equipment. Yes, our military does fly aircraft and shoot guns for training. But, our military doesn't normally use this much equipment nor as often as they do during war. It all adds up.

Just to emphasize and elaborate a bit more on some of the points that I made, probably the largest expense of this war is manpower. A significant portion of our troops over there are reservists or guardsmen and they do NOT get paid regardless whether or not they are at war. An activation is the only time they get receive the same compensation as their active duty counterparts. Otherwise, they only get paid a few hundred bucks a month (or less, depending on their pay grade). Just like most organizations, labor is always going to be the costlliest expense. On a side topic, the life insurance offered to the military is called Service member's Group Life Insurance, or SGLI for short. It costs the service member about $56/month for $400,000 of coverage. I just thought it would be interesting to point out that this insurance is offered to military members by the government because most other insurance providers have clauses in their contracts which specifically exclude war and war related deaths from being paid out. And you're right, $800 million is just a drop in the bucket for our nation. But it's still $800 million.

Answer 3

The cost of the war has been over $360 billion, all of which is BEYOND the normal funding of the military. The normal expenditures that you talk about are already covered in the money given to the armed forces each fiscal year in the government budget. The $360 billion has all been in supplemental appropriations that come after the setting of the Pentagon's original budget. These supplemental appropriations are almost entirely for the Iraq war. The Pentagon's regular budget for training is separate.

Answer 4

Wow, either your the most callous person this side of Osama or you are really stupid. Soldiers are neccessary for diplomacy. War is a failure of diplomacy. Read about the lead up to Iraq. Diplomacy is like poker and your military is there to back a busted hand when you bluff. Sometimes you get called no matter what and then your soldiers pay the price of your leaders idiocy.The soldiers pay in blood.They don't die by accident and a lot more of them do die. Thats the difference between not fighting and fighting.Money is great as long as someone else is dying so you can spend it. Teuklune.

Answer 5

I am also sick of hearing people say things about the cost of war. My husband is in the Army and is currently in Iraq, coming home in a few weeks though YAY, and I don't think the military gets paid enough. They are risking their lives more than we are back in the US. Yea you risk your life everyday, but when you are there sleeping is risking your life. The protesters just need something to ***** about and they need to shut it! We had that stupid church come to our base and protest and you don't screw with a bunch of military wives!

Answer 6

Job security!!!

I love a president who stands and fights the islamo-fascists on their turf

The dems "best president eva" dodged the draft, then when it came time to kill osama (8 times) he cut and run, saying "what about the innocent civilian lives!!"

On 9-11 we had those innocent civilian lives, and they were ours.
They brought the fight to our homes, now we brought it to theirs, lets hope it stays that way, but one day a Dhimmi-crat will come to office, cut and run from the middle east, and we will go all over again, bloodshed on our soil. Preventable blood because we didnt stand tall for the long haul when the chips were down. I will never vote for someone with a D next to their name.

US Army- Five years, still going

Angel- thank you, thumbs up

Answer 7

I too am a soldier. I have spent the beyond four years of my lifestyles combating this battle and protecting my nation. When I see the crap that those antiwar humans say and do it makes me unwell. I routinely discover myself puzzling over whether it is quite valued at it to position my lifestyles at the line to protect a country that's able of such matters. Then I believe of the entire well humans, the entire accomplishments we now have made and the entire development I see every day and remind myself that I am no longer simply combating for participants, I am combating for the proposal that a each character is born with detailed unalienable rights, and amongst them are the rights to lifestyles, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I volunteered to become a member of the navy, nobody pressured me and I am nonetheless proud to this present day to name myself a soldier. But what I do not realize is how humans who've in no way picked up an M16 and brought goal on the very humans who wish to break all that we keep expensive can honestly believe that we will with ease withdraw. The very notion of it's stupefying. If we depart they're going to come after us, if we lose they're going to kill extra Americans. Terrorism is any such gigantic predicament in in these days’s international given that terrorists don't keep allegiance to at least one nation. This isn't an Allies vs. the Axis form combat anymore. We are not able to salary battle within the technique that we've got all found out approximately in historical past elegance. There isn't any entrance line given that there's no territory to achieve or lose. There isn't any "Eagle's Nest". Terrorists are covered via the truth that they ordinarily combination right into a populace. Driving down the avenue of Baghdad you are not able to inform Iraqi from Insurgent. Yet, right here in Iraq, we now have an possibility we might handiest pray for ago. Terrorists have selected that entrance line and are available to combat on it every day. Do we go into reverse now and supply them relief and victory. Do we quit the combat? I feel that this may handiest positioned us again. If we withdraw now we quit that entrance line. We quit this expertise. Then we return to puzzling over wherein they're and what they're plotting. Then we return to waking up within the morning and listening to the ones terrible phrases resonating from our tv "An airliner crashed into the World Trade Center in these days....." The backside line is that we selected to protect our nation, and we take that option severely. None of wish to die for our nation, however we're inclined to take action given that we realise the fee of freedom. It's our process to combat for you. So allow us to.

Answer 8

People have to have something to b*tch about. If it wasn't that it would be something else. I think Bush just done what he thought had to be done. It can't be easy to run the USA. I'm sorry that innocent people have died, but that's the way of war.

Answer 9

As you know, there are some Americans that will *****, whine and protest, about dam near everything!!

Answer 10

We should spend more on the military. They don't get paid enough.