Gates: Draft not solution to personnel costs

[unhappycamper]

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates testifies before the Senate Appropriations Committee May 20 on Capitol Hill in Washington.


Gates: Draft not solution to personnel costs
By William H. McMichael - Staff writer
Posted : Tuesday May 20, 2008 20:13:54 EDT

The expense of maintaining the all-volunteer military is “worth the cost,” Defense Secretary Robert Gates told Congress Tuesday, adding that he does not favor a return to the draft.

But the admiral who chairs the Joint Chiefs added that the continuous increase in personnel costs “does not bode well for a military of this size.”

One way to reduce the Pentagon’s rising personnel costs without affecting current troops, Gates told Senate appropriators, would be for Congress to approve a “modest” increase in Tricare health care fees for working-age military retirees.

“Health care costs in the military for the Department of Defense have gone from about $19.5 billion in 2001 to $42.8 billion for ’09,” Gates said.

By fiscal 2011, he said, 65 percent of military health care beneficiaries will be retirees.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/05/military_appropriations_052008w/



uhc comment: Gates also said “I think it would be a real problem to try and go back to the draft.” Even a stopped clock is correct twice a day.