
Each U.S. Troop In Afghanistan Now Costs $2.1 Million - adventured
http://www.defenseone.com/management/2013/10/each-us-troop-afghanistan-now-costs-21-million/72572/
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ck2
If you know someone that is going to sign up for the military, point out the
worst that can happen to them is not that they are going to die, but they
might live and need continuous medical assistance for the rest of their lives
when they get back home.

Then show them the floor in the VA building that is collapsing from all the
claims that have yet to be processed with some people waiting nearly a year to
get help.

Congress should be forced to put aside $2 million for every recruit just like
they force the post office to put money in a retirement fund for every
employee, decades ahead before it is needed.

Then we'd see the true price of war. Of course this doesn't include the
thousands of innocents killed in each native country.

~~~
mathattack
It does make sense to properly fund wars, though in worst case situations
(WW2?) you need the ability to massively borrow.

The irony of Iraq is there are eminent economists who thought it was worth it.

[http://www.nber.org/papers/w12092](http://www.nber.org/papers/w12092)

~~~
ck2
Yeah they have weekly car bombs now killing all sorts of innocents, totally
worth it.

~~~
devx
But they are not exceptional Americans, so who cares, right? If 1,000 "others"
have to die, in order to save an American's life, then it's all worth it.

