Letter to the Editor

Regarding Mail Zall's "Pay parity" column in the April 9, Federal Computer Week: I agree with his general concerns about the different treatments in retention approaches for federal civilian and military personnel, but there is one key distinction between the two not mentioned in the column.

All military people, at least in theory, are required to place their lives on the line if necessary. Even stateside support personnel may be assigned to duties in war zones and, in extreme conditions, even the cook may have to be in combat.

Also, military personnel are subject to a different legal system than civilians and have limited rights compared to civilians.

This is not to undermine Mr. Zall's point. I did want to make sure, however, that those aspects of military life don't get neglected.

J.D. Abolins