Lurking below the surface of better integration with domestic and foreign militaries is one of the last paragraphs in the news announcement Marines get OK for Special Forces:
Also, many veteran special forces troops have been lured into the booming private security industry, where their skills can command salaries of more than $200,000 a year.
This commanding statement alludes to a real problem of highly trained professionals: pay or honor. This doesn’t have to be the dialectic it is. I believe the drive for special operations is an effort to reinvigorate the institutional aspect of the military, away from the occupational, while combing greater pay and skills.
