# 99040. New Budget Boosts Pay, Readiness, Modernization

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By Jim Garamone

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON -- The fiscal 2000 DoD budget "reflects the effort we have made to 

listen to the men and women who are serving us," said Defense Secretary William 

S. Cohen. "We hear them, we understand what's on their minds and we want to 

help." 

During an interview with the American Forces Information Service, Cohen and 

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Henry Shelton said feedback they have 

received from service members on the proposed budget package has been positive 

and they expect the package will receive strong support in Congress. 

The proposed budget is the first increase in defense spending since fiscal 1985. 

It calls for an additional $12 billion in fiscal 2000.

Budget highlights include a compensation package consisting of a 4.4 percent pay 

hike effective Jan. 1, 2000, a targeted pay raise to mid-level NCOs and officers 

effective July 1, 2000, and changing the 1986 Redux retirement system so service 

members retiring after 20 years of service will receive 50 percent of base pay 

rather than the current 40 percent.

Cohen said the across-the-board pay raise will start to close the pay gap 

between the private sector and the military. The targeted pay raise, aimed at 

those making a career decision, runs from .5 percent to 5.5 percent and is 

designed to encourage service members with the leadership skills the military 

needs to stay in. The raises are aimed at rewarding performance and promotion, 

not simply longevity, he said.

Shelton said a change in the retirement system is necessary because Redux is a 

"disincentive" to service members making career decisions. About two-thirds of 

the today's force came into the military after Redux took effect in August 1986. 

Members who entered the military before then are covered by a system that 

provides retired pay of 50 percent of base pay after 20 years of service. 

"Retirement no longer serves as the incentive it once did," Shelton said. "We 

want a retirement system that serves as an incentive for service not as a 

disincentive."

Cohen and Shelton said the budget does more than address compensation. "Soldier, 

sailors, airmen and Marines ... have told us pay and retirement is a concern, 

but [they are also concerned about] the operational side," Shelton said.

The fiscal 2000 budget proposal covers a "triad" of concerns, Shelton said. The 

triad is increasing pay and retirement, increasing the operations and 

maintenance accounts and modernization. "We want to take care of the core 

quality of life issues ... but [we need to] also increase the readiness accounts 

and this budget is designed to do exactly that," he said.

He said increasing operations and maintenance accounts would enable the services 

to buy more spare parts. Increases will also fund more flying hours, ship 

steaming days and tank driving miles. 

Shelton said the fiscal 2000 budget request also puts DoD on the path to funding 

future readiness and is line with the $60 billion goal of the Quadrennial 

Defense Review. He pointed out that not only will modernization provide the 

latest in technology, but it will allow service members to get back to training 

instead of spending their time repairing old equipment.

Cohen said the budget also funds two other quality of life factors that concern 

service members and their families: medical care and housing. While 

acknowledging that TRICARE, DoD's health care program, has had some problems due 

to its newness, he said, "funding will be increased, and we are going to cut 

down the waiting lines, and cut down the time for reimbursements for doctors who 

are serving our families."

The budget will also encourage public sector-private sector partnerships to 

solve DoD's housing problems. For every dollar DoD invests in housing, Cohen 

said, he expects private industry to invest four or five dollars. He said the 

department needs to involve private industry "because we have quite a backlog of 

building new housing and renovating old housing."

Shelton acknowledged that while this budget will fix the most critical needs of 

the department, it does not cover everything. He said the need that is not being 

completely met is funding for real property maintenance accounts -- such as 

fixing buidings and repairing utilities. 

Shelton said pay and other quality of life initiatives are important but not the 

only reasons people join and stay in the services. "I think each of us in 

uniform today understands that we did not come into the service to get rich," he 

said. "Ours is a calling of service to the nation. We are in the most respected 

institution in America. I think we have a warrior ethic we need to keep and a 

calling for greater good."

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