Danger Pay

Wounded soldiers to lose danger pay. Outrageous! That's the first thing that comes to mind. Perhaps rightfully so. But let's all take a deep breath and really look at this.

Our armed forces are deployed around the world in various capacities. Their outstanding mission at present is to shoot and kill the nasty old Taliban in Afghanistan. They got shot at in Cypress and Bosnia, but those were 'peacekeeping' missions rather than the 'peacemaking' mode they are now in. I don't know if those who served elsewhere were eligible for danger pay or not, but our troops in Afghanistan certainly qualify for it.

The term danger pay may throw some people. After all, did the men and women not know they were signing up for potentially hazardous duty when they enlisted? Sure, and to their credit they went where they were told when they were told. But the guy running the mess hall is not out there facing bullets. The vehicle pool mechanic is not dodging snipers. The mail clerk is not in danger of being taken out by a roadside bomb. So how do we get people to 'take one for the Gipper' (to paraphrase)? Give them danger pay. (Okay, so everyone of them deserves it for going into battle even though the Liberals did their darndest to make them an unfit fighting force, but that is another story.)

Danger pay adds $25,000/yr, tax free, to a combatants salary. Quite a nice bonus when you think the lowest pay is about 30K/yr for a private, rising to 63K/yr for an officer after 5 years duty. The job I have now paid me more than 30 large in its first year and more than 65 grand the second, and the only bullet I had to dodge was explaining to the better half why I had forgotten to pick up the bread and milk on my way home from work. Thirty big'uns to keep your children enjoying the freedom you enjoy in insulting our boys and girls in uniform by demanding our government cut and run from a job they were trained, and more than willing, to do.

However, once a soldier is wounded, he or she is out of action. It is ridiculous to compare a paper cut suffered by the mail clerk to a bullet wound suffered by an infantryman, but all things being equal, they are now on the same page. Neither is facing an enemy who thinks the greatest thing since white bread is to die for an insane cause. So why should the soldier continue to draw danger pay? He is no longer facing danger and perhaps the Liberals had it right when they discontinued the practice so long ago.

But, the man/woman went into battle to fight for all our sakes. They certainly deserve to be compensated for taking a bullet on our behalf. Amounting to the same thing, changing the name from 'danger pay' to something like 'thank-you pay' seems to make sense. This added payment should still be tax free. Perhaps we can add free bus or taxi fare to the deal. Our city forgives parking fines for those cars having a poppy, the sign of the veteran. Maybe this should be a Canada-wide thing. Automatic reduced fares on planes and trains? It is the least we can do for the brave heros and heroines who are willing to die for us. And it must be retroactive. Available to all who got wounded on our behalf since the notion of danger pay came into being.

It will cost the government (us, the taxpayers) a pretty penny to recognize all that these folks have done for us, but it's the least we can do.