...for as long as it takes
By Jim Garamone ELMENDORF AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska -- Defense Secretary William S.
Cohen said he was going to "inflict" a speech on 5,000 airmen
and soldiers here, but it was clearly a message they wanted to
hear.
Speaking in an insulated hangar Feb. 19, Cohen thanked the
members of the 3rd Wing here and the 172nd Infantry Brigade from
nearby Fort Richardson and praised them for their service and
dedication. He said the United States cannot remain a great
power if it cannot attract and retain the best and the brightest
Americans to military service.
During his trips around the military in 1998, he said, service
members told him the pay gap between the private sector and the
military and the Redux retirement system were driving them from
the military. "We're going to change that," he said.
Cohen said the military will never be able to match private
sector salaries, but the fiscal 2000 budget request sent to
Congress, if approved, will go a long way toward addressing the
most glaring imbalances. The compensation package in the request
includes a 4.4 percent pay raise on Jan. 1, 2000, a targeted pay
raise effective July 1, 2000, and repeal of the Redux retirement
program.
"We were surprised that the retirement system we thought would
encourage service members to stay in longer actually had the
opposite effect," Cohen said.
Redux affects more than two-thirds of the force. The retired pay
of members who joined after Redux became law in 1986 would start
at 40 percent of base pay after 20 years of service. By
scrapping Redux, the fiscal 2000 budget proposal would restore
formulas that started at 50 percent of base pay after 20 years.
Just before his speech, Cohen presented the Bronze Star, the
Purple Heart and the Combat Infantryman's Badge to Roy Bailey,
an Alaskan native of the Sitka tribe. Bailey, then an Army
private, earned the awards during fighting around Wiesbaden,
Germany, in the closing days of World War II.
Cohen told the assembled soldiers and airmen they inherited the
legacy of the World War II generation. "The spirit behind Roy
Bailey's service from so long ago calls to mind the spirit
behind your service today," he said.
He quoted Alaskan poet Robert Service, who wrote, "Give of your
best, because there's great work to do." "All of you who wear
the uniform 'give of your best' every day," Cohen said. "You are
the best-trained, best-equipped, best-led fighting force in the
history of the world. You are the pride of our nation and the
envy of the world."
He said when he travels the world and meets with ministers of
defense and world leaders they want to emulate the U.S.
military. "They always ask, 'How do you do it?' And I tell them
'people.'"
The people of the U.S. armed forces must be prepared for a range
of missions from noncombatant evacuations to peacekeeping
operations to disaster relief to combat in a major regional
conflict. Too few Americans understand or appreciate the
sacrifices involved, he said, and that's one reason he speaks to
"nontraditional" audiences, such as his talk the day before with
Microsoft employees in Redmond, Wash.
"It is important to remind [Microsoft employees] of who you are
and what you do," Cohen said. "They need to know that you are on
duty 24 hours a day and stand ready to risk life and limb to
protect the freedoms and liberties we treasure as Americans."
Related Site of Interest at: DefenseLink
Secretary of Defense William S.
Cohen,
Sent in by Veterans News and Information Services
American Forces Press Service
Remarks as Delivered to Military Personnel, Elmendorf Air Force
Base, Anchorage, Alaska, February 19, 1999
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