Don’t Bomb Iran

Remember how Donald Rumsfeld estimated the cost of the Iraq expedition at $60 billion tops, and Nordhaus estimated $2,000 billion if things like combat pensions were counted?   With personnel costs rocketing to over a third of the Defence Department’s $600 bill  budget after a decade of war, and pressure on all budget lines, the DoD is now under pressure to reduce payments to veterans.

extracts from  Military Soon Will Pay More For Former Soldiers Than Current Ones – US News and World Report.

Military Soon Will Pay More For Former Soldiers Than Current Ones

Study Group: As Force Shrinks, Personnel Bills Will Grow

June 12, 2012 The Pentagon soon will spend more on health care and other benefits for former military personnel than on the men and women fighting today’s conflicts, according to a new study.

A Bipartisan Policy Center study group composed of former defense officials is warning that in 2014 the “cost of veterans’ benefits will exceed [the] amount spent on active-duty troops.”

…

“In 2017, the DOD plans to have 100,000 fewer troops, but still spend as much on personnel as today,” states the report.

…

Military officials said they have spent around $245 billion on personnel costs in 2010, more than a third of the $636 billion appropriated that year to the Defense Department. Some analysts put the actual number at more than $300 billion.

Pentagon officials are increasingly concerned about the growing costs, saying health care expenditures alone have swelled over the last decade by over $30 billion, from $19 billion to $50 billion annually.