PentagonisliketheVatican: USCivilianLeadershipFearsUSMilitary byJohnStanton Only17percentoftheallvolunteerforceservesformorethan20years,andtheyareendowedwitha lifetime benefit.

The current US military retirement system does not compensate for those in high risk situationsorextenuatingcircumstances(e.g.,combatduty,hardshiptour,andseparationfromfamily).. The current military retirement system is unfair. For example, 83 percent of those serving in the US militarywillreceivenoretirementbenefit.USmilitarypersonnelserving5,10,or15yearswilldepart fromservicewithnobenefitorpension.Thiscohortincludesthemajorityoftroopswhohaveengaged and will engage in combat. Retiree healthcare (TRICARE) is significantly more generous than civilian programs.Forthoseservingmorethan20years,theretirementcontributionis10timesgreaterthanthe private sector: average private sector pension contributions range from 412% per year; military retirementbenefitequatesto75%ofannualpayperyearforthosewhoretire;andimmediatepayout after20yearshasnocomparisonintheprivatesector.InlightofthebudgetchallengesDODiscurrently facing,themilitaryretirementsystemappearsincreasinglyunaffordable.DefenseBusinessBoard HowtimeshavechangedsinceGeneralGeorgeC.Marshall(18801959)walkedtheEarth.Chancesare hewouldbeappalledbythecurrentdayUSmilitaryleadershipthathasallowed(andtakenadvantage of) a national security/militaristic thinking to penetrate deep into the American political and social arenas.Marshall,nodoubt,wouldbetakenabackbytherevolvingdoorbetweenthePentagonandthe privatesector,andthehyperprivatizationoftheUSnationalsecuritymachinery. ParticularpainforMarshallwouldcomefromwatchingmanyFlagOfficers(generals,admirals)reaching the 20 year mark in their professional military careers and then jumping ship to private sector employment with defense contractors and defense associations. With them goes a lifelong and comparativelyheftyfederalpensionandbenefitpackage.Combinethatwiththeirnewlymintedprivate sectorsalariesand,well,therichgetricher.Indeed,somedefenseassociationsintheDCMetroRegion arepayingtheirpresidentsformerFlagOfficerswith20ormoreyearsofgovernmentemployment nearly$1milliondollars(US)incompensationandbenefits.Onecanonlyimaginewhatprivatesector defense contractors or corporation boards are paying its retired Flag Officers with 20 plus years of governmentemployment. Occupy Wall Street may have its 99 percent ruled by 1 percent of wealthy Americans but its mirror imageisreflectedintheUSmilitarypensionsystem.There,itisthe83percentthatareruledbythe17 percent of 20orBust personnel whom, upon retirement, have pensions/healthcare packages that are untouchable,evensacrosanct. AndMarshallwouldsurelygrimaceatthecurrentcropofUScivilianleadersandAmericancitizens and chastise them for assisting in turning his respected priesthood, as he called it, into so many ornamented Popes and Bishops who assert neardivinity and truly believe that freedom only exists because they serve or command. The United States of America lives in this purgatory as its civilian

leaders have forsaken their constitutional responsibility to actually think and challenge military assumptions and projections (this includes scores of civilian military experts in think tanks and academia)whiledesigningnationalsecuritystrategywhich,ofcourse,drivesnationalmilitarystrategy. AndtheyhaveputothercountriesinterestsfaraheadoftheAmericanhomelandwhichisindireneed ofrepair.Thelogicoffightthemovertherebeforetheygethereisirrelevantintheglobalizedworld. HaventAmericansbeentoldthebattlefieldiseverywhere? ThePopesandBishopsofthePentagonVaticanhide/classifycostoverruns,casualtyrates(increasingon the African Continent), gang activity, poor soldier/sailor/airman care, and the near poverty that many enlisted personnel and families around the US live in. The PentagonVatican proclaims that budgets mustalwaysbeincreasedandneverreduced,orevenpeggedtotheGDPoftheUSA.Morecathedrals and chapels around the globe must be built (military bases large and small) they say. The Pentagon Vaticanportrayschallengestoitsbudgetaryormilitaryacumen asthornsinacollectivecrownplaced upontheirheadsbytheciviliannovices/brothersintheexecutiveandlegislativebranch. Indeedthenationalsecuritymachinerysubtlypromotestheservingsoldier/commander asasortof sufferingChristontheCrossfigure.Thisisdangerousstuff. Whatisthesoldier/commandersufferingfor? ADetroiturbandwellerwatchingashis/hercitycrumblestotheground?The20plusyearcivilianretiree whohasnomilitaryclouttosavetheirpensionsandhealthinsurance?ThereturningsoldierwithPTSD who gets a 1800 telephone number with a distant voice telling him/her to calm down? That small percentage of active military personnel (and their families) who actually engage in combat or direct combat support and receive little notice except when they need to be rolled out to stop budget sequestration(becausecivilianscantgetittogether)? The only command that actually takes care of its personnel and families is the US Special Operations Command.Buttheyareararity. SoastheUSeconomycontinuestostagnate(trucking,rail,ports,drybulkindicatorsalldownorwith marginal improvement) and US infrastructure crumbles, the thought is to increase not to cut the nationalsecuritybudget(military,intelligence,homeland,etc.).Atrilliondollars(US)willjustnotdo,say thePopesandBishops.WeneedtochaseAQ,druggies,gangs,anarchists,vandalsandthatsexpensive saysthechorusofNovicesandBrotherswhodesignnationalsecuritystrategyandcontrolthetreasury. AndallthepropagandaandmythgetspumpedintotheAmericanpublicscollectivemindthroughthe media, most of which is owned by approximately 10 corporations, and the many speeches/testimony givenaroundtheUSbythePopes,Bishops,NovicesandBrothersandthecollectiveintellectualRemora thattheycarrywiththem. CharlesBrowerencapsulatedbestthequalitiesofGeorgeC.Marshallthataresoveryabsentinthese times.

Hedidnotattempttoadvancehiscausethroughleakstofavoredjournalists.Hedidnotattemptend runs of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to the president's congressional critics. And he did not publishintheNewYorkTimesorWashingtonPostopedpiecesarticulatingalternativesolutionstothe administration'spolicies.Insteadheprivatelyprovidedhiscommanderinchiefindependentandcandid advice,notpartisanadvocacyofalternativepolicies,andheloyallysupportedandactivelyassistedtheir executiononcethepresidenthaddecided. Hebelievedthatmilitarymenhadadutytoexplaintheneedsoftheirservicesandtherequirementsof theirforcestocarryoutassignmentsdirectedbythecommanderinchief.Aresponsibleofficerhadthe right to question a policy he considered wrong or mistaken and to discuss thoroughly a proposal. But there was no right to challenge publicly the wishes of the commanderinchief. Refusal to accept that ruleonthepartofanofficermeantthedestructionofhisownpowertocommand.ToMarshall,such resistanceofthearmedforcestothepresidentweakenedthefabricofademocraticsociety. [TheAmericanArmedForces]haveagreatasset,"Marshallobserved,"andthatisthatourpeople,our countrymen,donotdistrustusanddonotfearus.Theydon'tharboranyideasthatweintendtoalter thegovernmentofourcountryorthenatureofthisgovernmentinanyway.Thisisasacredtrust....We arecompletelydevoted,weareamemberofapriesthoodreally,thesolepurposeofwhichistodefend therepublic.Weconcentrateourtimeandattentiononthatsubject.Thatdoesn'tmeanthatwedon't understandotherthings,butitsimplymeansthatwedevoteourtimeandattentionexclusivelytothis.I don't want to do anything...to damage the high regard in which professional soldiers in the Army are heldbyourpeople John Stanton is a Virginia based writer specializing in national security matters. Reach him at cioran123@yahoo.com