Word: nunne
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...Nunn: One important factor is the pay ratio between the sergeants and the people at the beginning levels. It used to be that a top sergeant made two or three times as much as the lowest ranks. Now he makes only about 50% or 60% more. That has eroded the rewards for a military career and the sense of authority of your sergeants and chief petty officers...
...Nunn: The authority of the sergeants and chief petty officers is being eroded. Officers today are charged with getting people to reenlist. Because of this, the officers are not backing up their top noncoms when they crack down on the troops -because the crackdowns hurt re-enlistment rates. When you talk to sergeants out there, the lack of discipline and the lack of being backed up when they try to instill discipline are things they bring up repeatedly...
...Nunn: Theoretically, there is some pay level at which you can get enough quality people for the services. But what level is that? No one really seems to know. And then, could we afford it as a nation? Never in our history have we tried to man our military force at private enterprise rates from recruits...
...Nunn: Spending 7% or 8% of the G.N.P. on defense instead of 5% is theoretically possible, but you are talking about reordering the priorities of this nation in a way that has not been done short of war. I don't know whether or not this country, politically, can do this...
...Nunn: I agree. Pay where you need to pay, not across the board. But then you run into the historic issue of military equity in which soldiers of similar rank traditionally get just about similar...