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Honour! what fucking honour?

Perhaps the Pentagon is able to pay these bonuses because of savings in other departments, supporting the troops! give me a break.

The Department of Defense has been drawn into a bidding war with its own contractors to keep special operations troops in uniform -- a competition that has cost taxpayers at least $100 million since it began in 2004.

The Pentagon’s Special Operations Command is paying reenlistment bonuses of up to $150,000 to Army Green Berets and Navy SEALs to keep them from fleeing the military to take high-paying jobs with private security contractors such as Blackwater USA.

“Ideologues in government have pushed outsourcing with fateful results,” author, columnist, and former Army officer Ralph Peters tells Newsmax. “We ended up outsourcing our honor.”

According to The Associated Press, about 1,200 Army and Navy commandos have accepted bonuses in exchange for agreeing to remain in uniform. Only those service members with at least 19 years of service are eligible for the bonuses, which start at $8,000 for those signing up for one extra year. Two additional years in uniform bring $18,000, three years $30,000, five years $75,000 and six years the top bonus of $150,000.more