"The Greatest Battle Civilization Has Ever Known"

But it's not worth a pay raise, of course.

Troops don’t need bigger pay raises, White House budget officials said Wednesday in a statement of administration policy laying out objections to the House version of the 2008 defense authorization bill.

The Bush administration had asked for a 3 percent military raise for Jan. 1, 2008, enough to match last year’s average pay increase in the private sector. The House Armed Services Committee recommends a 3.5 percent pay increase for 2008, and increases in 2009 through 2012 that also are 0.5 percentage point greater than private-sector pay raises.

The slightly bigger military raises are intended to reduce the gap between military and civilian pay that stands at about 3.9 percent today. Under the bill, HR 1585, the pay gap would be reduced to 1.4 percent after the Jan. 1, 2012, pay increase.

Bush budget officials said the administration “strongly opposes” both the 3.5 percent raise for 2008 and the follow-on increases, calling extra pay increases “unnecessary.”

I would think that the noble cause of fighting for freedom and saving us from certain doom would rate 3.5%, no? I think some Americans would gladly sacrifice our tax cuts to give soldiers in the military a little more money for them and their families, right?

If you're in the military, as a new hire you may make as little as $14,000 a year.

The truth is that this Administration doesn't want pay raises for ANYONE unless you make millions.