ABSTRACT
The costs are high because veterans, despite scandals that appear to point to the contrary, are especially well treated in the United States. The welfare state was slower to develop, and until recently was more limited, in the United States than in most other industrialized nations. This chapter considers the pay and benefits for currently serving military personnel. Prior to the establishment of the All-Volunteer Force, military personnel were something of an exploited class, relatively poorly paid and housed and with not much attention given to their family obligations. Now the military competes for personnel, and politicians compete to show how much they care for those who serve and their dependents. Like veterans, members of the military are now a privileged group in society, but the costs for their benefits, unlike those of veterans, come directly out of the defense budget. Private lawsuits produced little gain for the veterans, but veterans soon found champions in Congress.
