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Historically, this country has always expected the most out of it's soldiers while compensating them at almost starvation rates. It's a good thing that those who defend our freedoms do so largely out of conviction, because no one with half a brain would make this career choice for the money.

This is especially true when you consider the following numbers. It's a comparison of the average compensation paid to the families of those who lost their lives on 9.11.01 and to the families of those soldiers who have died in Afghanistan and Iraq, defending those freedoms our government claims is at risk:

Average compensation paid to families of civilians killed on 9.11.01:

$3,100,000

Average compensation paid to families of firefighters killed on 9.11.01:

$4,200,000

One-time benefit paid to the family of a fallen American soldier:

$12,000

Of course, there are other sources of funds that may be available to the families of fallen soldiers, but none of them will begin to approach the sums paid to the families of civilians and firefighters. To call this an inequity would not begin to do justice to the families of those soldiers kill in the line of duty.

The surviving family may also qualify for the Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP), which is paid up to age 62 or until the spouse remarries. The SBP benefit amounts to 55 percent of the soldier's retirement pay, pay that is already so low it qualifies many military families for food stamps.

These "benefits" are contingent on fulfilling many petty regulations.... Several further benefits, such as the income-based Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC), may pay out about $800 per month and $200 per child, depending on the case.

The clear message sent by this system is that the life of a stockbroker or a firefighter is worth significantly more than that of a soldier, a sailor, a Marine, or an airman- male or female. This is not to say that the families of those civilians, police, and fire personnel killed on 9.11 should not be compensated. Nonetheless, are we really so insensitive that we are blind to the inequity inherent in how we treat our servicemen and women vis-a-vis those who died on 9.11?

Yes, our service personnel are clearly cognizant of the risks they face in the service of their country, but does that make their families less deserving of compensation? The 9.11 families have received an astonishing (albeit unwanted) windfall, and most of them, with some solid financial planning, should be set for life. Are our men and women in uniform somehow less deserving of that sort of commitment?

Our soldiers are being killed on a daily basis, but most of us seem to feel little personal connection with them. If we did, their widows and families would be better compensated. Our idea of "supporting the troops" is to stick magnetic yellow ribbons on our cars. Those Americans who do not serve or do not have family serving are disconnected from our all-volunteer forces and their families....

Let's strip away our yellow-ribbon sentimentality for a moment and admit the truth: We treat our military like second-class citizens. I'm glad the Sept. 11 families were generously compensated, but it's time to ask why the family of someone who has done no more for his country than show up at a stock trading office on the wrong day should receive hundreds of times as much compensation as the family of a soldier who volunteered to leave his wife and child to defend the rest of us.

Most of the dead from our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are being buried in small towns and in the blue-collar or middle- and lower-middle-class sections of our cities. Our politicians seem better able to identify with the needs of stock traders' widows (not to mention the businesses and airlines that were also generously compensated) than with the needs of the families of our soldiers. This is a scandal.

Indeed it is. Until we can stop mouthing platitudes about how we honor those who serve, we will continue to be nothing but a nation of self-absorbed hypocrites. Our men and women in uniform deserve better than empty words and magnetic yellow ribbons slapped ostentatiously on SUVs. We are more than willing to extoll the virtues of those who defend our way of life and the freedoms that we enjoy, but is it fair to expect a soldier to sacrifice his or her life for the moral equivalent of minimum wage? Is it fair to condemn the family of that serviceperson to a life of virtual poverty?

The families of those who died on 9.11 were compensated in part with the use of a formula that calculated future earning power. Why can we not do the same for the families of our men and women in uniform? It's the least they should be able to expect from us.

comments (15)

Those are some amazing stats. I am an insurance adjustor. More specifically I am my company's highly paid designated henchman for cases that refuse to go away. Most recently I have started dealing with 9/11 Pentagon attack cases. For my company the bloom is off the rose so to speak. And in talking with these victims I get the feeling they are taking in funds from so many sources that they can't even keep it all straight. So I can do my nasty job with a cool conscious.

by anna at November 30, 2004 10:29 PM

Yo Northstar, this post was soooo not funny.

by Eviltom at November 30, 2004 10:50 PM

Yo, Eviltom...you were expecting humor?

by northstar at December 1, 2004 6:26 AM

Before I pass judgment, I’d like to know where the 9-11 compensation money came from. (It may say in the article you linked, but I don’t read news sites that make me register. Like I don’t have enough fucking usernames and passwords to remember as it is!) If it came from private charities, I can’t get too worked up about it. People were very generous after 9-11 and felt like they needed to do something. It’s not a situation that happens very often. If it came from the government, then I have a problem.

It’s a no-brainer that our military people aren’t compensated enough. What do you expect from a society that pays basketball players and actors a hell of a lot more than people doing the research to find cures for cancer and AIDS?

So, like I said before: I’d like to know where that compensation came from. If the government paid it out, that’s a problem that could be fixed. If it’s from private charities that were set up just for the 9-11 victims, good luck in your quest to change society.

by MrBlank at December 1, 2004 9:33 AM

Shocking Stats, Northstar... "He went to fight wars, for his country and his king... A bullet hand found him...his blood ran as he cried...no MONEY could save him, so he laid down and he died..." ooooo what luckyman he was...

...of their glory we shall sing... All soldiers

by LOCKHEED at December 1, 2004 11:37 AM

Northstar, your intro did (mis)lead me into thinking that this post was gonna be funny. But then I clicked on the "cont'd" thing and BAM, it got all serious on me. Boooo! I will never trust you again.

by Eviltom at December 1, 2004 12:12 PM

I coincidently have a similar post in my blog. Just click on my name, and please comment as to what you think, because the content of the last post I found rather creepy, even though I have been desensitized to obscene levels. EVILTOM, you will probably find it funny.

www.tradinganddrugs.blogspot.com

I welcome you all to express your opinion on my recent post. Just comment as Anonymous if you don't have a login. Much Appreciated. Because it makes me sickly. And yet, after posting it, the SUN came out of the Clouds.

by LOCKHEED at December 1, 2004 12:42 PM

The soldiers have always gotten screwed. I've forgotten the percentage of families on welfare/greenstamps when I served but it was rather high. It struck me odd that the people you expect to protect and defend you have to live below the poverty line. It would seem to me that you would pay these people, at least, comparable to their civilian counterparts. Sadly, you can make more money flipping burgers at McDs as an entry level cook than you can make as an entry level enlisted person. Here's a link to the 2004 military pay scale if anyone is interested.

http://www.dfas.mil/money/milpay/pay/

You have to download the PDF "January 1 2004".

by Ezy at December 1, 2004 1:14 PM

Eviltom....a thousand mea culpas for my abuse of your trust. As punishment, I will stand naked in the midst of a troop of also naked Girl Scouts as they have their way with me....

by northstar at December 1, 2004 7:20 PM

The money came from tax revenues and was designed to prevent protracted, potentially ruinous lawsuits against airlines. How obscene is that? Tom, if you didn't find this funny don't even go near my post.

by anna at December 1, 2004 8:00 PM

I agree with what you said, and we do need to pay our soldiers better. However, there are other small benefits you don't mention - which I know mainly because of veterans in my extended family. Some of these pass along to families of dead soldiers. Things like interest free (and easy-to-get) home loans, college stipends for students, some extent of free/low cost healthcare (even though it is the VA), PX shopping privileges, after-service employment preference (though I don't think that extends to families of dead veterans) and, of course, the retirement amount can be a lot more if the soldier served a long time. Some posts also give families of serving soldiers free housing and such.
Note, these are small benefits - but the whole package can be made to look pretty good to some poor kid with no future, which is where the recruitment is targeted. And, believe it or not, to many poor people the concept of "job security" is very appealing.
I know you were mainly talking about survivors - but I was just pointing out that even though it seems kind of crazy to many of us that people choose to enlist in the military as a career, it can seem like a step up at the time from where many of these kids come from.

by Charles at December 2, 2004 1:53 AM

Most of the people I served with came from less than ideal backgrounds. One guy, Parker, said in basic training that he was getting three meals and a bed to sleep in plus getting paid. He wasn't complaining. He said at home, Baltimore, he was lucky to get food once a day and had to steal to survive. It definitely shut up all of my bitching and moaning.

by Ezy at December 2, 2004 9:28 AM

Can't they make it like piecework, such and such an amount per kill?

by anna at December 2, 2004 6:34 PM

In ancient Athens the wives and children of citizens who fell in battle were provided for for life. Sort of makes us look like a bunch of miserable bastards, doesn't it? Of course, in Athens every adult male citizen was prepared to go out to war if he was called, whereas here we just recruit from amongst the Helots. Not quite the same I guess.

by Adam at December 8, 2004 2:02 AM

When you put yourself forward and pursue a career as a stockbroker I think it's generally acknowledged that you're not putting your life on the line. Fire fighting can make the point I’m attempting hazy, but then, there aren't many fires capable of operating Russian made AK 47's. Firemen generally fight the fire in what is accepted as a somewhat 'controlled environment'.

When you volunteer to become a gun-toting grunt pitted against gun-toting grunts... It's assumed that you know the risks of your chosen profession and that dying is a very real, and very likely prospect. Perhaps the insurance and compensation clauses are written in the small print of the military application forms, but you should always read the small print before you sign your (one and only) name to any piece of paper. Especially one which basically translates to: "We will own your ass for X years."

Pitting the compensation provided to civilian families related to civilians who lost their lives due to poor national security... Against compensation provided for families of men/women who knowingly engage gun-toting killers in war zones... Is a slightly inequitable deed… Me thinks.

I'm not saying the families of the servicemen don't deserve greater compensation for their loss... Only that the comparison you're making is a little unjust. :)

by Ex Crimson Guard NCO at December 23, 2004 6:28 PM

Can anyone reasonably argue that this is a fair and equitable solution?

by northstar at 09:27 PM on November 30, 2004

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