MOAA Concerned with Pay Gap

During the 1980s and 1990s military pay raises were capped so much that by the late 90s retention plummeted. The Military Officers Association of America says it had predicted the retention problem, and when it happened, MOAA worked with Congress for legislation designed to close the pay gap between service members and their civilian counterparts. The result was six years of catch-up pay increases that brought military pay near that of the civilian sector. The six-year plan has ended, and, as of 2006, it would take an additional 4.5-percent increase to fully establish pay comparability, according to retired Air Force Colonel Steve Strobridge of MOAA. He added that the Defense Department’s plan for a 2.2-percent increase, plus targeted raises at mid-year, is supposed to place military pay in the 75th pay percentile for civilians of similar age and education, but he was waiting to see the numbers.