Military budget squeeze limits paid Remembrance Day participation in Ontario

[Halifax Tar]

A lot of money was spent just in pay raises. As much as everyone loves a good raise, it takes a ton away from the budget and really doesn’t do much for what you can do.

Whether I am paid 50k or 70k or 100k the work I am doing is the same.

That must be it...

 

[Furniture]

Makes a difference to me. I'm not doing my job for $50-70K...

 

[Eaglelord17]

That must be it...

Just about 50% of the budget is spent on troops. Not saying it isn’t good money spent or not, just that it gobbles up a lot of the budget very quickly, and generally is the only ‘easy’ thing to cut (in the case of reducing Class A days).

Large pay raises eat into the budget quickly and doesn’t return any actual function (unlike say a capital expenditure on a ship, plane, tank, etc.).

 

[Halifax Tar]

Just about 50% of the budget is spent on troops. Not saying it isn’t good money spent or not, just that it gobbles up a lot of the budget very quickly, and generally is the only ‘easy’ thing to cut (in the case of reducing Class A days).

Large pay raises eat into the budget quickly and doesn’t return any actual function (unlike say a capital expenditure on a ship, plane, tank, etc.).

I know our pay and bennies bug you. You're always welcome back. In fact I am an MOC Advisor and can help make things smooth and fast.

DM me.

 

[Infanteer]

Just about 50% of the budget is spent on troops.

Not anymore. It's less than that now due to increase in spending elsewhere.

 

[Furniture]

Just about 50% of the budget is spent on troops.

Its that way, because Reg Force pay is the only "sacred" part of the defence budget. If we made half what we currently do, our pay would still be one of the largest parts of the defense budget, because it's the one thing that can't be "adjusted"/cut/pushed into future budgets.

 

[Eaglelord17]

I know our pay and bennies bug you. You're always welcome back. In fact I am an MOC Advisor and can help make things smooth and fast.

DM me.

Where did I say it bugs me? I said that it eats up the defence budget, which is a fact. You increase pay substantially, your budget needs to increase correspondingly to get the same output otherwise it has to eat into somewhere else.

I am happy with my civilian career, I do (in my opinion) a lot cooler stuff civvy side than the majority of things you can do in the military on a regular basis. Plus I am in the process of switching workforces to a nice 4/10 schedule (Tuesday-Friday 7-5). Life is good.

Its that way, because Reg Force pay is the only "sacred" part of the defence budget. If we made half what we currently do, our pay would still be one of the largest parts of the defense budget, because it's the one thing that can't be "adjusted"/cut/pushed into future budgets.

I have never advocated for halving salaries, I am just pointing out that increasing wages doesn't increase capabilities. It may or may not retain workers, but it doesn't make those workers perform better, nor does it buy equipment that allows those workers to perform better.

 

[Halifax Tar]

Where did I say it bugs me? I said that it eats up the defence budget, which is a fact. You increase pay substantially, your budget needs to increase correspondingly to get the same output otherwise it has to eat into somewhere else.

I am happy with my civilian career, I do (in my opinion) a lot cooler stuff civvy side than the majority of things you can do in the military on a regular basis. Plus I am in the process of switching workforces to a nice 4/10 schedule (Tuesday-Friday 7-5). Life is good.



I have never advocated for halving salaries, I am just pointing out that increasing wages doesn't increase capabilities. It may or may not retain workers, but it doesn't make those workers perform better, nor does it buy equipment that allows those workers to perform better.

Glad you're happy. If you the door is always open.

 

[Harris]

How zelaous, exactly, can an ARes CBG get ?

Your new here right? The stories I could tell about 36/37 CBG.

 

[daftandbarmy]

Your new here right? The stories I could tell about 36/37 CBG.

 

[Jarnhamar]

, I do (in my opinion) a lot cooler stuff civvy side than the majority of things you can do in the military on a regular basis.

What kinda cool stuff do you do?

 

[childs56]

Just about 50% of the budget is spent on troops. Not saying it isn’t good money spent or not, just that it gobbles up a lot of the budget very quickly, and generally is the only ‘easy’ thing to cut (in the case of reducing Class A days).

Canada spends 34% of their budget on Personal. Which is equal in comparison to most other industries across the board. So their budget for wages and benefits is not tremendous.

Large pay raises eat into the budget quickly and doesn’t return any actual function (unlike say a capital expenditure on a ship, plane, tank, etc.).

The budget gets increased to account for those pay raises normally. Pay raises have a definite extremely important function for recruiting, training and retaining well trained dedicated Soldiers, sailors and Aviators.

 

[Eaglelord17]

What kinda cool stuff do you do?

I make and repair things generally made out of metal as a machinist/fitter. A few particularly notable ones for me are repairing a broken in two 55,000lb shaft back to spec, reverse engineering a train electric motor from scratch with no print, worked on large frames on a giant boring mill, got a stuck coupling with a 18” diameter fit to move the 1” it was stuck to where it needed to be, etc.

Heres two photos of that 55,000 broken shaft being repaired in a 6’ lathe made from somewhere between 1898 and 1926. For scale reference I am standing in the first photo working on the machine and I am 6’2”.