AOG Initiative - Armor of God 

This initiative has several integral components similar to that of a spoke and wheel.  Think of the soldier as the hub of the wheel and each spoke running off of the hub is a component that holds the tire onto the wheel making the system work together the way it was intended to.

Recognition

Proper pay and training to justify additional responsibilities: 

Increase the American fighting soldier base pay scale and training to be equivalent to an average peace officer in the United States.  This would essentially double the base pay for our military personnel.  Currently the average base wages for a soldier overseas is under $36,000 a year.  The average base wages for a law enforcement officer straight out of the academy within the United States is over $55,000 a year and requires an Associates Degree or higher to apply. Today’s fighting soldier is expected to conduct their operations no differently than that of a law enforcement officer in the streets of our major city, yet these soldiers are continuously putting themselves in a exponentially more dangerous environment.  We are asking a young 19 year old straight out of high school to be able to identified friendly from foe, engage them without firing on them unless fired upon, contain the situation to reduce civilian casualties and friendly fire, apprehend rather than kill the enemy as they are innocent until proven guilty, interrogate without infringing on any civil or human rights, and conduct these daily operations in an hostile region of the world where there are automatic weapons, tanks, rocket propelled grenades, improvised explosive devices, mines, and a vast number of the population that would feel it was an honor to die in the process of killing one American soldier.

 How it is fair that we expect a young American to perform these same responsibilities as our local law enforcement officers in a more life threatening and stressful environment, yet with less required education and pay them half as much?  There is no justification for this lack of compensation or a commitment to educate our military personnel.    Our governments elected officials have seen fit to pay themselves hundreds of thousands of dollars per year for life for their service, but yet feel it is ok to pay our soldiers on average 20% of their pay to go fight the battles they deem fitting to the security of our nation.  They also feel it is fair that if they serve 2, 4 or even just 6 years in an elected position they should receive full benefits and pay for the rest of their lives, where as our soldiers would have to serve a minimum of 20 years to get just a fraction of their already low pay to continue for the rest of their life.  These things need to change, and need to change fast. 

Achieving this Goal

You may be asking yourself, how are we going to even possibly be able to afford to increase the wages of our military personnel when we are trillions of dollars in debit already? 

Currently the United States overspends billions of dollars on incentives, recruitment, initial training, equipment, rations, and more.  We also have a standing volunteer Active Army that is much larger than is required to perform the operations that we are currently engaged in. 

•     We need to reduce the standing Active Duty Army by half or even as much as two thirds through attrition over time
•   Increase Reserve and National Guard components by an equal amount to the reduction made
•   Active Duty time commitments and standards for entry should be increased
•    Extensive Training on Rules of Engagement, Individual Soldier Responsibilities, Code of Conducts and Ethics should be a mandatory curriculum for all soldiers after AIT
•    Require a minimum of one year assigned duty station state side training prior to any overseas deployment
•    Increase the combat deployable age to 21 

Let’s break this down so everyone can understand how this works, and can be afforded by our essentially bankrupt budget.  

• By reducing the Active Standing Army we would decrease wages paid out by half or as much as two thirds.  
• By roughly increasing our soldier’s base pay by a little less than double what they are earning now, it would result in a reduction in total Active Duty wages. 
• Increasing our Reserve and National Guard components would increase their annual wages, however since each month in the Reserves or National Guard is only equivalent to 4 days Active Duty pay or equal to 62 total days of Active Duty Pay per soldier per year to include the 2 week active duty commitment per year required.  This would still result in a reduction of National spending on Military wages in the neighborhood of -15% to -33% per year.  
• By increasing the time commitments required to enlist into the military the retention rate of soldiers is extended reducing initial entry training expenses.  With higher wages and longer commitments the Armed Services will retain personnel longer which in the long run also reduces the annual National spending on military retention, recruiting and initial entry training/supplies.
• Investment in our soldier’s education by providing extensive training that would be equivalent to that of an Associates Degree before even being assigned to a duty station will decrease civilian causalities and reduce the amount of funds required for college grants and other recruiting incentives.  
• Increasing duty station training to a minimum of one year before being able to be deployed overseas will increase each soldier’s awareness of their unit’s standard operating procedures, and how to more effectively and safely conduct their duty assignments as a team.  
• How is it morally excepted that a citizen of the United States, to include our military personnel are not responsible enough to drink or gamble until they are 21 years of age, yet it is ok for these same people to make a decision to fight for and possibly die in the defense of our Nations freedom.  Is it because the government feels they only way they can fill their ranks in a volunteer Army is to pray on young minds?  This country should not depend on braining washing its youth to build our Army. We as a free nation should provide competitive compensation and education and not be hypocritical in our views of responsible decision-making adults.  If the age to drink and game is 21 then the age for overseas service in a combat environment should be the same.

The Home 1^st Foundation is dedicated to educating the American people of the need for this reform in our Military, and how we as a Nation, and our soldiers can petition our elected leaders to endorse and enact this positive change in our military standards and procedures.  Home 1^st will also push to have any government budget cuts that decrease the safety of our young men and women in harms way blocked.  

We will research and endorse advancements in our individual soldiers protection, body armor, and technological advantages for the battlefield.  Home 1st is dedicated to the creation and implementation of full body armor that is capable of integrating the Land Warrior System, and protecting the entire combat soldiers body from head to toe with armor able to withstand a direct hit from large caliber weapons and explosive fragments. 

There are many wasteful projects that have no bearing on the security of our freedom that our congressional leaders can remove, however it may cost them votes, so they turn to the military budget instead.  Home 1^st will identify these wasteful spending habits, and speak out as a voice for our Armed Forces.