Outrage

Did you know that a US Soldier:

-- May not swim in any body of water where no life guard is present. If he does and dies, there will be no life insurance payment to the family.

-- May not cross a street outside of a crosswalk. If he is injured or dies while doing so, he will not be compensated since it was his fault.

-- May or may not be issued body armor in a combat zone. If he is not issued body armor and his family provides their own privately funded body armor and that Soldier dies while wearing that privately funded body armor, there will be no life insurance payment to his family.

Private security companies are charging as follows:

According to data provided to the House panel, the average per-day pay to personnel Blackwater hired was $600. According to the schedule of rates, supplies and services attached to the contract, Blackwater charged Regency $1,075 a day for senior managers, $945 a day for middle managers and $815 a day for operators....

An unmarried sergeant given Iraq pay and relief from U.S. taxes makes about $83 to $85 a day, given time in service. A married sergeant with children makes about double that, $170 a day.

Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Baghdad overseeing more than 160,000 U.S. troops, makes roughly $180,000 a year, or about $493 a day. That comes out to less than half the fee charged by Blackwater for its senior manager of a 34-man security team.

Salary information is from the Washington Post.
Contract information concerning life insurance is in every US soldier's contract.