Sgt. Maj. of the Marine Corps Barrett: Less pay raises discipline


Lower pay and slimmed-down benefits will make Marines more disciplined and less wasteful, according to the Corps’ top enlisted Marine.

In comments before a Senate Armed Services Committee panel on Wednesday, Sgt. Maj. of the Marine Corps Micheal Barrett dismissed lawmaker concerns that proposed compensation trims in the Pentagon’s fiscal 2015 budget proposal would hurt troops’ morale or desire to serve.

“Marines don’t run around asking about compensation, retirement modernization,” he said. “That’s not on their mind. As I talk to thousands of audiences, they want to know into whose neck do we put a boot next.

“They want to know about what new equipment are we getting, are we continuing to modernize. Just because the budget sucks, does that mean we’re not going to get our new gear?”

Barrett’s comments came in contrast to his counterparts in the other services, who conceded to senators that lower pay raises, scaled-back commissary offerings and smaller housing stipends would be problematic for many servicemembers.

Instead, Barrett argued that the lower quality of life would be beneficial to Marines.

“I truly believe it will raise discipline,” he said. “You’ll have better spending habits. You won’t be so wasteful.”

Both Barrett and the other leaders emphasized that without changes in compensation, force readiness will suffer. Pentagon leaders have said that they need to trim a host of benefits and family assistance efforts to ensure that training and equipment modernization funds aren’t compromised.

“In my 33 years, we’ve never had a better quality of life,” Barrett said. “We’ve never had it so good. If we don’t get ahold of slowing the growth, we will become an entitlement-based, a health care provider-based Corps, and not a war fighting organization.”

So far, that’s been a tough sell for Congress.

On Wednesday, several senators said they objected to any changes in troops’ pay and benefits until after the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission offers its recommendations on overhauling the system. Their report is set for early 2015.

Lawmakers are expected to begin marking up their versions of the fiscal 2015 defense budget next month.

When asked whether a smaller compensation package could be seen as a broken promise by servicemembers, Barrett said few Marines use pay and benefits as a factor in enlisting.

“They don’t want an easy life,” he said. “They want to be tougher people. They want the pride of belonging, being something bigger than themselves.”

Quoted:
I wouldn't disagree that some of us are overpaid but this is just ridiculous.

“In my 33 years, we’ve never had a better quality of life,” Barrett said. “We’ve never had it so good. If we don’t get ahold of slowing the growth, we will become an entitlement-based, a health care provider-based Corps, and not a war fighting organization.”

Quoted:
The Marines only let about 15% of first tour guys stay in.

It really cuts down on costs.

Of course there are some downsides.

Quoted:
Never could understand why officers made so much more money than enlisted. Especially junior officers, since they are so fucking useless for the most part.

Looks like the goal is to completely get rid of the military.

Quoted:
Medical and retiree benefits are eating the .mil budget alive, not the E-3 on the bottom of the food chain.

What a complete and utter tool.

Quoted:
Obviously you're a ZERO!    Just to tack this on.....the Officer/Enlisted rank structure is an antiquated system that results in a pure CLASS society.  In that sense the officer corp is useless.  It only presents itself as a more privileged group within a group.   And before you shout "we need a rank structure"... we already have that within the system.  Any higher ranking individual has authority over lower ranking individuals whether they're an officer or enlisted.  You don't need officers and enlisted to accomplish this.    And if you think a college degree makes a difference...well you ARE part of the problem.   Can a degree be used as a discriminator?  Sure!   But it should apply to ALL.

Quoted:
Which positive NCO attributes do you think make a "terrible" officer?

In my career field 60% of our officers are prior Es.  They seem to function just fine, and I've known plenty who made it to O-6 as well.

Quoted:
Logical conclusion: if less pay raises morale, would they not be super-loyal if we stop paying them at all?

What does that Sergeant-Major take home? Would he be  a better NCO if he worked for free?

Quoted:
Maybe the idiotic DoD should stop encouraging every new dumbfuck boot to go out and get married as soon as they get to their first duty station.  Absolutely worthless fucking dependents are the problem here.

Quoted:
So you are essentially looking at your organization, without accounting for the differences present in other units or services and extrapolating that to the rest of the uniformed services?

Does that not illustrate my point?