What is the cost of training a soldier in the military?

Answer 1

As is the favorite saying of any pilot "it depends."

Depends on what job the person is being trained to do, as more training obviously costs more. Additionally, more training usually means more expensive equipment, whether that be more realistic simulators, live-fire exercises, or burning gas to maneuver war-machines.

Depends on what military, the base pay of a soldier varies enormously based on the country they are serving. As most folks don't flaunt their budget as openly, lets just look at the always well-know US Military. The US Government pays differently depending on the rank of a soldier and their time in service, with the most recent chart being available here (http://www.dfas.mil/militarypay/militarypaytables/2008MilitaryPayCharts35.pdf)

Basic US military training is anywhere from 3-6 months, which translates to ~$4,000 minimum just to pay a single trainee. Add in food, lodging, and equipment at government-contracted rates and that cost easily doubles. That doesn't include any of the support staff necessary to train, equip, or manage the logistics of a group of recruits. No good source for it, but its generally said that each front-line soldier requires eight additional folks to support them... not quite applicable to basic training so call it a really conservative 2:1 ratio of trainee to support staff, tack on the fact that support staff is probably averages at least four years of service, and three months of training a single soldier jumps easily jumps to $10,000. Once a soldier completes minimum training they're good for... pretty much nothing except wearing the uniform and being able to complete further training.

Okay, so expand the training scenario a level and say that training a basic infantry soldier takes only a year (don't laugh too hard, its a simple analysis), that's a minimum of $40,000. Say that soldier gets shipped over to a combat region, now earns combat pay, serves only one year, comes back to the US and gets out (which is unlikely, as the minimum service commitments are a bit higher then that). That tacks $225/month on to their pay, ramp up all eight of the previously mentioned support staffers, and training, equipping, and fielding 1 each, US-issue Army grunt is going to run you over $250k. Add in healthcare benefits, tax breaks, life-insurance and disability insurance, wear-and-tear of equipment, ammunition, moral and transportation costs and a single soldier training and serving in the most basic capacity costs $400,000+.

Training costs are not amortized over the long-term, as soldiers required continued training as they advance in rank and incur ever-higher supervisory roles and responsibilities.

This is just a very simple answer to a very open-ended and vague question, but hopefully helpful in its point-the-way-to-information vagueness in return.

to whom ever wrote this

there is no such thing as a soldier that is good for nothing, you must be from the far left. Once trained in basic that soldier is ready to fight for your freedom. Also you now have a model citizen one that respects the people that he or she is protecting, unlike you to whom has done nothing for this country but complain.

Do you know that it costs just as much to educate the average child in this country? and they still graduate not even knowing how to do math?. somethings wrong! I guess that's what you call the dumbing down of Americans..... pretty much produced and controlled by the left for the past 30 some odd years. Get rid of the NEA and the bums on the admin level in public schools along with the unions, and now you have some education

Mark Kuznarowis

a trained soldier for life