Generals inflate salaries with cost allowance of BRL 300 thousand – 04/13/2023 – Power

With the exchange of soldiers promoted by the Army command at the beginning of the year, general officers of the Force received an allowance for moving to another city or going to the reserve, which ranges from R$ 53,000 to R$ 300,000.

This resource, however, is not calculated based on the expenses required for job transfers – the main factor is salary. In practice, the budget ends up inflating salaries at the top of the career, benefiting officers and soldiers.

The last deployment of military personnel took place at the end of March and was decided upon at a meeting of the Army High Command in mid-February. It was the first change at the top of the hierarchy carried out under the command of General Tomás Paiva, now under Lula’s (PT) management.

The exchanges interspersed changes already foreseen in past administrations (Júlio César de Arruda and Freire Gomes) and new exchanges, tailor-made for Tomás’ objective of reinforcing the non-partisan role of the Force.

The changes affected 75 officers, 11 of the 15 four-star generals (top of career). Of this total, 45 have already received stipends totaling R$4.3 million —an average of almost R$100,000 per general.

Chair dancing is a natural part of the military career and usually takes place every two years. There are, however, cases of generals who changed positions in less than a year and accumulated allowances.

This is what happened to General Ricardo Augusto Ferreira Costa Neves. He was promoted to four stars in August 2022 and received BRL 130,900 to leave the Land Operations Command, in Brasília, and take over the Northern Military Command, in Belém.

In March of this year, he was appointed to the Military Command of the Amazon and will have to move to Manaus, with an allowance of BRL 159,300. Taken together, the resources for moving assistance amount to R$ 290,000.

General Andrelucio Ricardo Couto had a similar experience. He assumed the leadership of the General Staff of the Military Command of the Amazon in 2022 and left the position in March of this year to become the commander of Special Operations, in Goiânia. The two payments add up to R$ 275 thousand.

In comparison, parliamentarians are entitled to an allowance of BRL 40,000 at the beginning and end of the legislature, every four years, to help move to Brasilia.

The law establishes that uniformed personnel with dependents must receive twice the remuneration amount as an aid for each movement in which there is a change in the Military Organization.

If the origin or destination is a city considered Category A, whose displacement is more complex, the value rises to four times the salary of the military. The money will be cut in half if the beneficiary has no children.

The biggest allowance is given to the military when he goes to the reserve. The value, established by law, is eight times the last salary of his last post —a balance that reaches R$ 300,000 in the case of four-star generals.

In addition to the aid, retired military personnel continue to receive full salary, a gross amount that exceeds R$30,000 if they reach the last ranks of their career.

Military personnel are also entitled to compensation for transporting their belongings. The amounts spent on the movements can be transferred directly to the uniforms; or military organizations hire companies to perform the service.

As the tables that define the amounts for compensation are out of date, most military personnel choose the second option, to avoid losses.

The justification presented by generals heard by the Sheet is that the amount of approximately R$ 300 thousand would be equivalent to the payment of the FGTS, to which officers and enlisted personnel are not entitled. The FGTS, however, is paid to workers after deduction from their paychecks, which does not occur with the military.

The Army said, in a note, that the transfers made to the military are all provided for by law.

“Decree No. 4,307, of July 18, 2002, provides for the remuneration of the military. In its item I of article 55, it establishes that the allowance is due to the military and serves to meet expenses with transportation and installation, except transport expenses, which are covered by the transport compensation regulated in article 23 et seq. of the same legal device”, he says.

“The transport indemnity is subject to subsequent verification, and the military may also choose to request the hiring of a company bid directly by the Military Region of origin. Regarding the allowance, this is due to the military to cover all expenses necessary with the change of headquarters and installation in the new destination”, he completes.

A Sheet consulted six generals —four of them active duty— to hear explanations about spending on the changes. All decided to speak under reservation.

The military claim that the costs are usually lower than the values ​​passed on by the Force, but justify that the career is full of mishaps, with constant changes of cities, and that the instability of the profession causes damage to families.

Some of them say that the allowance is only effectively beneficial for those at the top of the career and the payments represent a compensation for the harm inherent in the changes.

In addition, the uniforms claim not to be paid for overtime worked, therefore, they would be paid less than what they owed. The generals also claimed to have changed cities about 20 times during their careers, with restrictions on obtaining other sources of funds.

Ana Penido, a post-doctoral student in political sciences at Unicamp, a researcher on the Armed Forces, claims that it is important to create careers for civilians in the Ministry of Defense and expand the discussion on national defense policy so that the military budget is discussed again.

“When you open up the Defense budget, it’s almost all HR (human resources). You’re spending more on personnel, not on equipment, technology, research or anything else. It’s a bottomless pit: the more they ask for money, the more they spend with themselves,” he said.

She also points out that military careers are already highly sought after, with nearly 100 candidates competing for a vacancy in Aman (Military Academy of Agulhas Negras) competitions.

For Ana Penido, creating or increasing career benefits —such as high values ​​for military movements— should not serve as a compensation for the difficulties inherent in the career.

“There are movements that are painful for the family [do militar]. If you’re going to serve on the border, do you take your wife, child, or not? […] But these are situations that are typical of a military career and should be considered when choosing a profession. Giving financial benefits beyond already good retirements should not be a strategy for a country’s defense policy”, he concludes.

The Ministry of Defense pays around BRL 1 billion per year in expenses with the movement of military personnel, according to budget data. This value only refers to what is distributed when a soldier changes position in any of the Armed Forces, not counting the trip to the reserve.

In 2022, most of the resource was allocated to the Army (R$ 615 million). The government also paid BRL 279 million in movements of Navy personnel and another BRL 145.2 million for members of the Air Force.

This type of resource, in theory, is reserved for the payment of allowances, in addition to the transportation of luggage and furniture and tickets for the military and family members.

The value is calculated from the military’s salary, the destination, if he has dependents and the volume of luggage. The values ​​rise for changes of country.

Budget execution data show payment of BRL 118,000 just for transporting the luggage of a military member transferred from Bogotá to Brasília in 2023.