The rise of a great power: starting with military industry

The compensation that families of soldiers killed in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq can receive is composed of several parts.

The pension begins to be paid a few hours after the soldier's death. The first payment is the "death allowance", which is $6000, not much. This money belongs to the funeral expenses. After the funeral, the US military will pay a large death allowance to their relatives, and ordinary soldiers will receive about $10. Then there is life insurance, and most soldiers can receive insurance worth $25. In addition, there is a compensation plan of the Department of Veterans Affairs. The spouses of fallen soldiers can also receive $948 per month (each child can also receive $237) until death or remarriage. In addition, these families can also enjoy 3 years of free medical insurance and a large amount of college allowances.

Normally, the death pension for an ordinary soldier is about $36. Add to that the monthly compensation to his family, and the conservative estimate is definitely more than $50.

Of course, the pension is also linked to the soldier’s rank. The higher the rank, the higher the pension.

In this case, there is a huge gap between the pension for direct death in battle and the compensation for indirect death such as death from illness.

American soldiers have been protesting the "death in action standards", but with little success.

Every year, families of deceased American soldiers express dissatisfaction and protest, but unfortunately, this "death in action standard" has not changed over the years.

In fact, it is not easy for an American soldier to be "killed in action". It is not enough to just die in the war. A series of review indicators must be met. If any of the factors such as the time and place of death do not meet the standards, it will not be considered "killed in action", even if the American soldier dies one minute later.

The prerequisite for death in action is "after the superior has issued a combat order", that is, if the superior has not issued a combat order, no matter the soldiers are on patrol, fighting the enemy head-on, or being ambushed by the enemy, if they unfortunately die, they cannot be considered "killed in action".

For example, if the superior issued a combat order to attack Guerrilla Group A, but during the march, the US soldiers were attacked by other armed forces, such as Guerrilla Group B, even if the US soldiers died, they would not be considered "killed in action." In addition, being killed by friendly forces by mistake would not be considered "killed in action."

Only if you are in a firefight with people who are classified as enemies in the combat order on the battlefield and unfortunately die, will you be considered "killed in action", but it is only "possible"!
Because the most stringent point is that American soldiers must die on the spot during the confrontation, no matter whether they are combatants, logistics soldiers, communications soldiers, or medical soldiers, no matter whether the place of death is on the front line or in the rear, and no matter whether their side uses weapons or not, the condition of "death on the spot" is extremely harsh.

To give an easy-to-understand example, an American soldier was hit by an enemy bullet and died on the battlefield when he was dying. But at this time, the country's medical team arrived and after a busy period of work, they lifted the soldier onto a stretcher and planned to transfer him to the rear hospital for rescue. As a result, the soldier died just one minute after lying on the stretcher. In this case, it was not considered a death in action, but was regarded as "other reasons"!
In addition, the last requirement for "killed in action" is that the soldier's identity and face must be identifiable. If a soldier's face is severely injured after death and cannot be identified, and the identity card cannot be found, even if the dead soldier is really this person, he can only be considered "missing". Of course, his family will not receive a series of compensation for the fallen soldier.

For example, when the Incirlik Air Force Base was attacked by missiles, the soldiers who died in the dormitory and other places were not killed in action. And those who were burned to death or whose bodies were blown up by missiles were not "killed in action" either, but "missing"!
Liu Tao was watching the news, and a faint smile appeared on his face when he saw tens of thousands of families of deceased American soldiers and anti-war activists gathered in front of the White House to protest.

If the US war in Afghanistan was supported by the majority of Americans, then there were also many voices of opposition to the US war in Iraq. After all, there was no solid evidence and it was an unjust fight.

This can be seen from the polls conducted by Americans themselves.

In 2001, the United States launched the war in Afghanistan. At that time, the United States suffered huge casualties and economic losses in 911/97, and the society was in turmoil. The American people were full of anger and were furious at Afghanistan for not handing over Bin Laden. Polls showed that 98% of the people supported the war in Afghanistan, and George Walton's poll approval rating also soared to %. Almost every American supported George Walton!

But on March 2003, 3, the United States launched the Iraq War because Powell had previously held a test tube at the United Nations and said that it was evidence that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, but was exposed by the media and became a joke. When the Iraq War broke out, 20% of the American public supported the war against Iraq, which was less than half. George Wharton's poll support rate also fell by 46%! Americans are not all fools, and traditional media cannot cover the sky with one hand. With the booming Internet today, young people can get more information online. There are a lot of news about the battlefields in Afghanistan and Iraq on the Internet, as well as various interpretations of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

This makes it impossible for Americans to form information cocoons by relying on traditional media as they did in the past.

The huge casualties made the Americans start to give up.

Not to mention, the war has been in a stalemate, and the United States has invested a lot of money in the war from 2001 to now.

More importantly, the Iraq War was an unjust war, and the Americans did not stand on moral grounds. Moreover, after the outbreak of the Iraq War, international crude oil prices soared, and the lives of the American people were greatly affected.

Oil, as the industrial blood of modern society, has an impact on all aspects.

Even if the United States releases its strategic oil reserves, it will be of no use.

Due to market panic and deindustrialization in the United States, low-end manufacturing no longer exists in the United States, and it has also lost a large part of its mid-end manufacturing. High-end manufacturing now accounts for the majority of American industry.

The United States has to rely on imports for daily necessities.

As oil prices rise, production costs for foreign products have increased, as have transportation costs. Naturally, prices in the United States have also risen.

The wool comes from the sheep!
A principle that has remained unchanged since ancient times.

We are not fools. It is impossible for us to work hard to produce products and then not make any profit but instead give them to Americans at a loss!
It is impossible for American oil and gas companies to sell oil cheaply to the American people just because the United States is at a war. They still sell according to international oil and natural gas prices.

Coupled with the relatives and friends of the injured and dead soldiers, opposition voices in the United States are growing louder.

Liu Tao believes that one day, this voice will be so loud that it will be the last straw that breaks the camel's back. (End of this chapter)