The military is really expensive
January 26th, 2010 | Personnel Washington | Posted by Phil Ewing
People, including these students at Naval Air Station Meridian, Miss., are the Navy's most expensive weapons // MC1 Jennifer Villalovos / Navy
Here are some great factoids from a presentation this morning at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments given by Todd Harrison, their senior fellow for defense budget studies. They’re all interesting, but if you don’t have time, here’s what you need to know: Running the Navy, and the rest of the military services, costs a ridiculous amount of money.
- Although overall end-strength across the four services has stayed relatively constant from 2000 to 2010 — with increases in the Army and Marines offsetting draw-downs by the Navy and Air Force — the over-all cost for personnel has gone from $90 billion in ’00 to more than $150 billion in ’10.
- Funding for personnel and operations and maintenance accounts for about 60 percent of the DoD budget, or about $322 billion in fiscal 10.
- Military health care costs grew at an annual rate of about 6.3 percent over the decade — that’s base cost, not including the expenses for care related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
- Over the past decade, here’s how the Navy’s spending on shipbuilding has broken down: 29 percent for submarines; 26 percent for destroyers; 21 percent for carriers; 15 percent for amphibious ships; and 9 percent for “other.”
- Harrison said he thinks it’ll be “difficult” to achieve a fleet of more than 300 ships with what he called “the fiscal realities of the future.” As in, it’s gonna cost more than the U.S. wants to pay.
- Six of the seven largest DoD satellite programs are over budget; together they are $35 billion over budget.
- The cost per troop — including Navy individual augmentees — in Afghanistan is $1.1 million per person, per year. Of that, only $66,000 goes for her or his pay, benefits and health care. The rest, Harrison said, is for the logistics to feed, fuel and house the troops.
- Of the cost per year for an individual sailor, less than half — 48 percent — is for her or his actual paycheck and immediate remuneration. Most — 52 percent — goes for long-term deferred expenses such as pensions and health care.