Political Chowder's NUMBER OF THE WEEK - Sponsored by www.no-deal.org



October 14, 2007
NUMBER OF THE WEEK
 6
Source:



Six-Figure Bonuses Retain US Commandos

By RICHARD LARDNER, Associated Press Writer|

The Pentagon has paid more than $100 million in bonuses to veteran Green Berets and Navy SEALs, reversing the flow of top commandos to the corporate world where security companies such as Blackwater USA are offering big salaries.

The retention effort, started nearly three years ago and overseen by U.S. Special Operations Command in Tampa, Fla., has helped preserve a small but elite group of enlisted troops with vast experience fighting the unconventional wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Defense Department statistics.

Overall, more than 1,200 of the military's most specialized personnel near or already eligible for retirement have opted for payments of up to $150,000 in return for staying in uniform several more years.

The numbers gathered by The Associated Press and other Pentagon research indicate there has not been an extended exodus of commandos to private security companies and other businesses that value their talents.

"Back in 2005, we saw quite a few exits," said Rear Adm. Michael LeFever, director of the Navy's military personnel plans and policy division. "What we're seeing lately is just the opposite. We've become very aggressive."

Defense Secretary Robert Gates remains so concerned over the lure of high salaries in the private sector that he has directed Pentagon lawyers to explore putting no-compete clauses into contracts with security companies that would limit their recruiting abilities.

While special operations forces are by no means the only candidates for security jobs in Iraq that can pay hundreds of dollars a day, they are the most attractive because of the unique training they receive.

In addition to being proficient with weapons, many of these troops have advanced education, the ability to speak the languages of the Middle East and other regions, and the cultural awareness that comes with living among the local populations.

For those same reasons, the military wants to hold on to them as long as possible, and at the same time demonstrate to younger enlisted troops that there's a financial incentive for an extended career.

The stress of repeated deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan and the opportunities for financial stability outside the military have heightened the urgency of the military's retention efforts.

Gates said Wednesday the Army must focus more on training foreign militaries and fighting insurgent groups — methods essential to success in the type of irregular warfare U.S. forces now face. Troops with these skills "need to be retained," Gates told the annual convention of the Association of the U.S. Army.

With the Pentagon expecting to spend an additional $43.5 million on commando bonuses in fiscal year 2008, which began Oct. 1, statistics show the military is building a more mature special operations force.

In addition to retention bonuses, enlisted special operations personnel ranging from corporals to sergeants major also qualify for a special duty pay of $375 a month above their normal salary.

The Special Operations Command bonus program was approved in late 2004 and targeted noncommissioned Army, Navy and Air Force commandos with 19 years or more of service. After 20 years, military personnel are eligible to retire at half pay and have lifetime access to military medical care and other benefits.

At the 19-year mark, an Army sergeant first class earns about $63,400 annually, a figure that doesn't include what the Congressional Budget Office calls "noncash" benefits available to military members such as subsidized child care, lower grocery costs at base stores and free access to recreational facilities.

The "critical skills retention" bonuses work on a sliding scale and are offered to senior enlisted personnel and warrant officers who form the backbone of the force.

Those agreeing to stay an extra six years receive $150,000; five years is worth $75,000; four years, $50,000; three years, $30,000; two years, $18,000; and one extra year, $8,000.

Since January 2005, 2,326 have been eligible and more than half took bonuses, statistics show.

Those who didn't opt for an extension may have retired, or they may be waiting for the right time to take the bonus: accepting it during a battle-zone deployment makes the payment tax free.

Within the Army Special Forces, the largest U.S. commando branch better known as the Green Berets, more than 900 have traded time for money. More than a third of these troops agreed to six-year extensions.

Overall, at a cost of $75 million, the Pentagon bought an average of 3.3 additional years from Green Berets with nearly two decades of experience in combat engineering, communications, intelligence and field medicine, figures show.

Just over 300 Navy SEALs — Sea, Air and Land commandos — have signed up for longer tours at a cost of $27.6 million. More than half agreed to six additional years.

The Air Force pool of combat controllers and pararescuemen with at least 19 years of service is the smallest; 32 of these troops opted for bonuses costing $3 million. Half took the six-year package.

While Special Operations Command officials view the results as positive, retention figures probably will do little to settle the heated debate over recruiting tactics used by private security companies.

"The disgraceful cycle works like this: Contractors hire away military talent. The military finds itself short of skilled workers, so contractors get more contracts. With more money, they hire away more uniformed talent," wrote Ralph Peters, a retired Army officer and a frequent commentator on military issues, in a recent opinion piece in the New York Post.

Blackwater USA has a large contract with the State Department to guard U.S. diplomats in Iraq. Since a Sept. 16 shooting in Baghdad that left 17 Iraqis dead, the company has been sharply criticized for the way it operates.

At an Oct. 2 congressional hearing, Democratic lawmakers accused the company of poaching from the military's ranks. Erik Prince, Blackwater's top executive, defended his company, saying not every one wants to stay in uniform for 20 years.

"At some point they're going to get out after four, six, eight, whatever that period of time is, whatever they decide, because we don't have a draft. We have a voluntary service," Prince said. "Yes, a lot of them come to work for companies like us, but not at any higher rate than they ever did before."

Chris Taylor, a former vice president for strategic initiatives at Blackwater, said Prince's claim is backed by a July 2005 study from the Government Accountability Office that said attrition levels within military specialties favored by contractors were about the same as before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

More recently, Chris MacPherson reached a similar conclusion in a research project he conducted over the summer in the Pentagon's special operations directorate.

"I found no evidence that (private security companies) have increased the number of U.S. special operations forces leaving the military," said MacPherson, a graduate student at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

Of the estimated 25,000 security personnel working in Iraq, only about 2,000 are Americans and they earn between $350 to $500 a day, said Doug Brooks, president of the International Peace Operations Association.

That means there aren't that many high-paying security jobs available even if a service member leaves the military, said Brooks, whose organization represents many companies doing business in Iraq.

"There's no drain on the military," Brooks said. "This is way overblown."

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www.no-deal.org
THIS WEEK'S NUMBER: 70%

Poll: Verizon-FairPoint deal opposed

By DENIS PAISTE
New Hampshire Union Leader Staff
Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2007

Manchester – Hearings start tomorrow for some rural New Hampshire telephone customers facing a 40-percent rate hike, and continue later this month in the proposed $2.715 billion sale of Verizon Communications' land lines in three states to FairPoint Communications.

In the Verizon case, a poll of 1,500 residents of New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine, conducted on behalf of two labor unions, found residents increasingly opposed to the deal.

The poll found New Hampshire residents had the highest level of opposition to the proposed deal, 38 percent against, compared to 18 percent in favor, the unions said in a press release. When residents learned more about the deal, opposition rose to 70 percent among all New Hampshire respondents, the unions said.

"More than a third at the time we took the poll had heard the FairPoint advertising but even those who had the ads weren't enthusiastic," said Vic Fingerhut of Fingerhut Granados Opinion Research, which conducted the survey Sept. 10 through 12 for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the Communications Workers of America.

Fingerhut said the poll has a margin of error of about 4 percent.

Hearings on the merits of the Fairpoint-Verizon deal begin at the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission on Oct. 22.

In the other telephone case, the PUC is considering a request by TDS Telecommunications Corp. for approval of an alternative form of regulation to set rates for customers of its Kearsarge, Merrimack County , Wilton and Hollis telephone company subsidiaries.

Under TDS proposals, its customers could see their telephone bills could go up 40 percent over four years.

Public hearings are scheduled tomorrow and next week in the TDS case (see related story).

In the FairPoint-Verizon poll, when respondents were asked if they were more or less likely to support the deal if they found out that FairPoint had the highest rate of complaints for six of the past seven years of any independent company in Maine and the highest complaint rate of the past two years in Vermont, Fingerhut said, 77 percent said they would be less likely support the buyout. Six percent said they would be more likely and 17 percent were not sure, he said.

Verizon and FairPoint jointly petitioned the PUC for approval of the deal on Jan. 31.

The unions' opposition to the Verizon-FairPoint deal does not stand alone. In testimony filed with the PUC in August, the state Consumer Advocate cast doubt on whether FairPoint Communications was capable of handling the 1.5 million land lines.

Fingerhut said the poll found that when asked if they found out that groups such as the AARP and the consumer advocate of the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission have opposed the buyout, would they be more or less likely to support it, only 5 percent said they would be more likely, while 84 percent would be less likely.

"People are basically satisfied with the current (Verizon) service," Fingerhut said. Customers are nervous about having to switch to FairPoint, a company with which many are unfamiliar, he said.

In New Hampshire , 84 percent of respondents said access to high-speed Internet is "very important" or "somewhat important," according to the poll. The ability of the Internet to assist in lifesaving medical and first-responder situations was among the top reasons, as was the prospect that the state might get left behind in education and economic development, according to the unions.

FairPoint announced in July a plan to provide broadband Internet access through DSL to 108,000 additional New Hampshire residences and businesses.

The Business & Industry Association of N.H. and N.H. High Technology Council came out in support of FairPoint's broadband access plans plan.

The $13.6 million initiative will focus first on getting DSL to communities that don't have it, then will expand within 18 to 24 months to 55 communities with some, but limited, service, Walter E. Leach Jr., FairPoint's executive vice president for corporate development, said in July.

Leach said FairPoint will add DSL service by putting DSLAM (digital subscriber line access multiplexer) equipment into central offices and remote switches where Verizon has not.

In the poll, when asked whether they would support the deal if they found out FairPoint was borrowing an additional $1.7 billion as part of the deal, and told that debt would seriously limit FairPoint's ability to invest in maintaining quality phone service or providing high speed Internet services, Fingerhut said, 82 percent said they would be less likely to support the deal, while only 4 percent said they would be more likely.

"The one thing I noticed is when people were unaware of what was happening and once they learned the facts, they were overwhelmingly against the sale," Glenn Brackett, business manager of IBEW Local 2320, said in a telephone interview,

"It's significant, too, that 91 percent of Verizon customers said they are happy with their service," he said earlier in a statement.

When customers heard about the company's debt burden or complaint rate, "They say no, no, we don't want this," Fingerhut said.



There are many, many more issues that need to be examined. This is just a snippet of what's wrong with this deal. For more in depth details, please go on-line to www.no-deal.org. This is a bad deal for consumers, tax payers, rate payers, our communities and for the economic growth of New Hampshire.