I have to jump on a plane in a bit, but I wanted to leave readers with an interesting graphic breaking down the cost of personal equipment on American soldiers. Click on the image below for a full-sized version.
Christopher R. Albon is a political science Ph.D. specializing in armed conflict, public health, human security, and health diplomacy.
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Wow, that’s a great infographic. I’m in the middle of reading PW Singer’s “Wired for War” – it’ll be interesting to see what happens when we see soldier augmentation added to this.
Interesting but should say “the Cost to Equip a Combat Soldier,” since the cost of the NVG is about as much as everything else added up. And only combat Soldiers get NVGs.
In addition to the above ovservations, the real cost of a grunt has to include the cost of attracting, recruiting, investigating, examining, classifying and bringing the recruit to basic training. After basic and advanced training you may have upwards of $250K invested in an individual.
If you’re really interested in the public health aspects, you should look into the cost of ‘blighted recruits’ who wash out in the first one or two years (upwards of 15% on a good year) and the public health investment in dental, medical and immunizations expenses.
Good point Leonard. I’ll look into it!
That is a good point Warner.
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