Army To Pay $150,000 For Arabic Speakers
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in Iraq, Military, MoneyWe’re paying through the nose now because we didn’t plan ahead back then.
The Army may begin paying a retention bonus of as much as $150,000 to Arabic speaking soldiers in reflection of how critical it has become for the US military to retain native language and cultural know-how in its ranks.Only one other job in the Army, Special Forces, rates such a super-sized retention bonus. Now, as the military makes a fundamental shift toward rewarding the linguistic expertise it needs the most, it is expanding a program to train and retain native Arabic and other speakers from the same regions in which it is fighting.
Personally, I don’t like to see such a vast disparity in troop pay because I think it has the chance to seriously hurt morale. Sure, retaining these folks is important, but what about those men and women who put themselves in harm’s way every single day? A move like this literally tells them how much less their lives are worth, and that just doesn’t seem like a smart move at this point.
Furthermore, is this the new American way? Trying to buy our way out of a problem?
Considered me unconvinced…
This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 5th, 2008 and is filed under Iraq, Military, Money. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
August 5th, 2008 at 5:08 pm
Or, the Army could’ve kept the 58 Arabic linguists who happen to be gay.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/05/23/america/NA-GEN-US-Military-Gays.php
Nah. That’s crazy talk.
August 5th, 2008 at 6:44 pm
To expand on what Gold Star said, just consider it the price you pay to avoid having gays in the military. Obviously the damage to morale from gays is greater than that from the vast differential for linguists. Obviously — even though the troops (as opposed to the generals) don’t seem to think so.
August 5th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
I must have missed that pre-9/11 hue and cry from all those folks more far-sighted than the Army, counseling a massive effort to train arabic speakers. Seriously folks, if the choice is between not having arabic speakers and paying market rate, there’s not much to argue about, now is there?
The anti-gay policy is of course moronic. Though I suspect that with the retention bonuses as high as stated, we’re talking about more than 58 openings.
August 6th, 2008 at 9:08 am
How is this “buying our way out of the problem” exactly? You have an in-demand skill that few have….hmmm….low supply + high demand = high salary. What occupation doesn’t work that way?
Plus, I’ve never once heard someone in the military complain about the difference in pay for special ops folks. Individuals work their butts off trying to get into those units, and often wash out. Not everyone is cut out for elite units and the troops accept it. Same here…not everyone is going to be able to pick up a difficult to learn language like Arabic…although they are all welcome to try.
I’m sure the US was paying a premium for Russian speakers in 1947 too. We adjusted and by the late 1980’s we had too many to employ.