Dunford testifies Dec. 1, 2015, alongside Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter, left, during a House Armed Services Committee hearing. (right) Dunford speaks with a servicemember on board a C-130 in Germany.
Congress and the White House reached a budget deal last fall that provided some relief from budget sequestration. Do you sense leaders both in the administration and Congress will now loosen the budget screws on defense? The current two-year budget was helpful. It provided some predict- ability we haven’t had, and it ad- dressed most of our requirements. Some investments not made over the last few years we need to catch up on. We still have readiness chal- lenges and a signifi cant operational tempo. But sequestration, beyond this two-year deal, is still looming out there. We will be watching the political
process carefully to see if there can be a long-term budget agreement to provide predictability, so we can make informed decisions about al- locating resources. Right now, we’re a long way from the end zone on budget issues.
A worry for the Joint Chiefs has been the proportion of budget dollars going for military compensation versus other needs.
PHOTOS: DOD
Congress last year enacted military retirement reform and is promising this year to reform TRICARE. What’s your view on the need to slow compensation growth? First, let me say our men and women are not overcompensated. The pri- mary reward of service right now is anything but fi nancial. So they’re not getting paid too much. I also believe strongly, we cannot support a plan that would cause them to lose buying power. In this year’s budget, I was very protective of that. I wanted to make sure I could stand in front of a theater or formation of men and women in uniform and say, “This year’s pay raise is going to allow you to maintain the buying power you had last year.” I am well aware of the challenge
we face balancing compensation with training, equipment, and lead- ership to accomplish the mission and bring our folks home alive. That, too, defi nes military quality of life. So I look at compensation holistically, as one thing we need to have a competi- tive advantage over any enemy. But the percentage of budget that compensation takes up, particularly
for medical care, we’ve got to fi x. In the Marine Corps, compensation for military and civilian personnel is 68 percent of the budget. That leaves very little for operations and maintenance, training, modernization, and taking care of infrastructure. So yes, we have to balance compensation within the budget and make sure we have suffi - cient investment across the board. But we can’t lose sight that the
most important thing is retaining high-quality people, and compensa- tion does mean something. I refer to the young sergeant and spouse writ- ing down pros and cons of military service. Cons would include how much you’re gone, how hard you’re working, how much you get paid. Pros include believing in what you’re doing, going to good schools, [and] having good housing and medical care. That balance sheet needs to re- sult in our best sergeants saying, “I’m going to stick around.”
MO
— Contributing Editor Tom Philpott has produced the weekly syndicated “Mili- tary Update” column since 1994. His most recent feature article for Military Offi cer was “Colin Powell Remembers Desert Storm,” January 2016.
APRIL 2016 MILITARY OFFICER 59
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