"Compare that to the actual soldiers making a few grand a month, and you get the sense your country doesn’t really give a shit about you and your just a dupe."

"Compare that to the actual soldiers making a few grand a month, and you get the sense your country doesn’t really give a shit about you and your just a dupe." In a sense they are dupes. Plenty of people would be willing to pay money to be "employed" as "SF soldiers". How many military members carefully consider the foreign policies for which they are pledging their lives? If the soldiers think they are being improperly compensated then they should demand more pay or quit when their term is up. That's the whole concept behind the AVF right? If the US Government did not have a ready reserve of people willing to sacrifice themselves for its latest harebrained foreign policy perhaps it would more carefully consider its foreign adventures? Or perhaps in the near future USG will field its first all-contractor brigade?