The Cost of Boots on the Ground in Iraq

Tag : boots

I t takes half a million dollars per year to maintain each sergeantin combat in Iraq. Thanks to a Senate committee inquiry, anauthoritative government study finally details the costs of keepingboots on the ground. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), in itsreport Contractors' Support of U.S. Operations in Iraq , compared the costs of maintaining a Blackwater professional armedguard versus the U.S. military providing such services itself. Bothcame in at about $500,000 per person per year.
News reports of the study have largely focused on the total cost of U.S. contractors . The 190,000 contractors in Iraq and neighboring countries, fromcooks to truck drivers, have cost U.S. taxpayers $100 billion fromthe start of the war through the end of 2008. Overlooked in thismedia coverage has been the sheer cost per soldier of keeping thearmy in Iraq. This per-soldier cost is more comprehensible andalarming than the rather abstract aggregate figure.
Whether in maintaining U.S. soldiers or private-sector contractors,the costs of occupation are enormous. With no end in sight,unending foreign wars do have one clear consequence: the eventualbankruptcy of the United States.
Breaking Down the Costs
T he cost of a sergeant is complicated to calculate. His or heractual cash pay is $51,000-$69,000 per year, which puts sergeantpay in the middle of the pay grade, according to another CBOreport, Evaluating Military Compensation . Non-cash benefits  pensions, medical care, child care, housing,commissaries  likely double this amount, even during peacetime.Pensions are the biggest ticket item. The average retirementbenefit for a soldier or sailor who stays in for 20 years equals$2.6 million, if he or she lives to the age of 77 (though mostsoldiers don't stay in the service long enough to get thisbenefit).
A major portion of the $500,000 figure comes from the "supportstaff" and rotation system that allows for recuperation, training,and accumulated vacations after each year in combat. It's allocatedon the basis of one or two sergeants in the United States backingup each one overseas. The CBO report does not, however, factor inbonuses for re-enlistment, which offers tens of thousands ofdollars for soldiers with special skills. Nor does the reportcalculate operating or equipment costs per soldier. The $500,000figure applies to personnel costs alone.
"Support staff" refers to headquarters management and specializedskills supervising the enlisted men. To make the comparison the CBOidentified a hypothetical Army unit that could deliver roughly thesame caliber of men as the Blackwater guards. This "would requireabout one-third of an Army light infantry battalion  a riflecompany plus one-third of the battalion's headquarters company."This support staff would "include not only command elements, butalso medics, scouts, snipers, and others who functionallycorrespond to some of Blackwater's supervisory and specializedpersonnel."
Contractors, meanwhile, are increasingly filling the roles onceplayed by U.S. Army personnel. In terms of total costs, the CBOpoints out that there are about an equal number of contractors assoldiers, the highest proportion for any war in American history.However, only 20% are U.S. citizens. And most contractors, forexample kitchen personnel, are paid much less than the guards whoearn $1,222 per day. The report also notes that their contractsallow for much more flexibility and shorter assignments than whatregular Army soldiers cost the government.
Thousands, not Billions
T he studies are only for personnel. They don't include the long-termcosts of care for disabled and handicapped veterans. They don'tinclude the costs of replacing or maintaining equipment. Nor dothey factor in the costs for allies' supplies and training or thecost of interest on all the borrowed billions used to fight thewar. That's how Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes reached the astronomical cost estimate approaching $3 trillion for Iraqand Afghanistan. That study estimated actual yearly cost persoldier in the field at $400,000, a number comparable to the CBOestimate for sergeants.
Perhaps the accountants who did the CBO study were themselvessurprised at the costs of fielding an American army. Theirobjective was only to analyze the costs of hiring guards at$500,000 a year, compared to fielding soldiers. The study onlyincidentally shows the individual costs of American occupationforces facing resistance.
Given these costs, which are only part of a military budget andother defense expenditures that approach a trillion dollars, it'seasy to see how the wars are bankrupting America. Washington hasborrowed the money, and the impact can already be felt in thedollar's declining value and America's deterioratinginfrastructure. The national debt, since the war started, has increased from six to nine trillion dollars. Ancient Rome simply taxed itscitizens into ruin and clipped the coinage to pay for its armies.Higher taxes, a lower standard of living, and unending wars willdrive us to the same end.
Reprinted with permission from Foreign Policy in Focus .