Revised Pay and Open Door, But We Can Do Better

President Medvedev recently announced that a three fold pay increase would follow for the military. A lieutenant would now earn approximately 50,000 rubles or $1,500 or so USD. Quite a few in the Western press started laughing at this, which is rather interesting considering that a US Army lieutenant's pay is only $2,400 and the cost of living is much more expensive.

Of course this is not enough, salaries must be increased so that a Captain makes at minimum an equivalent pay of a mid level manager, at least $2,500+ or more and salaries must increase accordingly. This is, after all, the only way to retain good talent and also weed out the slack from the armed forces.

It was also interesting to note that the doors were officially opened to foreigners serving in the Russian army for 5 year initial terms, and ability to receive citizenship after 3 years. Of course, good health and proper education are a must but so is good command of the Russian language. In this, it is a mistake.

We do not promote Russian effectively around the world and thus we limit heavily potential recruits. As of this year there were 350 foreigners, most from the CIS but others from such places as Germany and Israel. Some 700 had applied but were turned away, most due to language skills. This is simply stupid. We need to open up military grade language schools: let them enlist, study Russian for 6 months, while doing some manual work. If they pass a basic requirements after six months, they move on to the actual military, if not, they are returned to their home countries.

Anyone willing to fight for Russia and may as needed die for Russia, should not be stymied because we, as Russia, failed to address their language needs. This is stupid.