> Enlistees are bucketed based on rank and years within the service. It is almost impossible to make a case for Cyber Enlistees to get a separate payscale from other Enlistees because other enlistees can and do get pissed.
I wonder if (and maybe this is already in practice), there's an opportunity for warrant officers in this context. In the United States Army where I enlisted, our helicopter pilots were mostly warrant officers and then you had the staff officers who would always try and get more flying time.
The warrant officers were, I believe, paid less than the staff officers, but there's no reason to think the military can't provide additional pay. Retention and sign-on bonuses for expertly-trained cyber warfare and other compute-related activities warrant officers could be something to consider.
Even as an enlisted soldier since I worked in aviation we'd get extra pay because of the odd shifts we worked which was supposed to make up for/supplement on-base meals. I may be remembering incorrectly but being airborne trained provided some extra money as well, though nominal.
All that to say, if a W-1 is making $50,000 in base pay per year, if we wanted to we could just double that via retention and sign-on bonuses.
Of course you might say, well sure but then you know you really aren't making as much as that engineer who is pulling $180,000/year + bonus/equity, and you're right, but in a similar vein I'd say yea and you can only fly an AH-64 in the military....
> I wonder if (and maybe this is already in practice), there's an opportunity for warrant officers in this context ... The warrant officers were, I believe, paid less than the staff officers, but there's no reason to think the military can't provide additional pay. Retention and sign-on bonuses for expertly-trained cyber warfare and other compute-related activities warrant officers could be something to consider.
Already in practice, but a WO's salary can't compete with private sector pay.
The Marines gives Cyber personnel an officer level, because the marines are very budget constrained so they don't have the money needed to send personnel to upskill, and wants to attract people who can hit the ground running.
> Of course you might say, well sure but then you know you really aren't making as much as that engineer who is pulling $180,000/year + bonus/equity, and you're right, but in a similar vein I'd say yea and you can only fly an AH-64 in the military....
Yep! Imo, there will always be some attrition to the private sector due to the pay differential, but making Cyber roles reservist friendly solves this issue. (<-- already starting to happen)
Also giving the option to enlistees to upskill helps solve the human capital gap, plus builds their loyalty to their service and minimizes attrition to a certain extent. A dedicated Cyber ROTC might help as well, just like how the NSA has a similar program. (<-- slowly starting to happen depending on branch)
Honestly, the best solution is to probably convert CyberCom into it's own branch, just like the USSF, because that at least allows Cyberwarfare to not be treated as an afterthought due to service/branch commitments. (<--- probably not happening in the near future sadly).
I wonder if (and maybe this is already in practice), there's an opportunity for warrant officers in this context. In the United States Army where I enlisted, our helicopter pilots were mostly warrant officers and then you had the staff officers who would always try and get more flying time.
The warrant officers were, I believe, paid less than the staff officers, but there's no reason to think the military can't provide additional pay. Retention and sign-on bonuses for expertly-trained cyber warfare and other compute-related activities warrant officers could be something to consider.
Even as an enlisted soldier since I worked in aviation we'd get extra pay because of the odd shifts we worked which was supposed to make up for/supplement on-base meals. I may be remembering incorrectly but being airborne trained provided some extra money as well, though nominal.
All that to say, if a W-1 is making $50,000 in base pay per year, if we wanted to we could just double that via retention and sign-on bonuses.
Of course you might say, well sure but then you know you really aren't making as much as that engineer who is pulling $180,000/year + bonus/equity, and you're right, but in a similar vein I'd say yea and you can only fly an AH-64 in the military....