So do you think the military should be paid the same as law enforcement? By the way, in California "health and safety" employees get 90% of their highest salary in retirement after 30 years. Military get 75% of much lower salaries. CHP is paid overtime for eating lunch because they are still "on duty." They also get OT by arranging to end their shifts as far as possible from their homes. Compare that with a G.I. in Afghanistan...
Certain jobs, yes, and other jobs much more. Being a cop is a dangerous job also. So should cops make more than, say, a Navy chef? Yes. Should an infantryman or Marine make more than a cop who patrols a college campus? YES.
Disparity in cop pay and benefits is huge. Cops in union cities in California, Jersey, ect, make huge pay, and their cities cant afford it. Some areas in the South pay their cops like dirt and coal. A happy medium is around 40-45K starting, in my opinion.
Combat jobs in the military should get paid at least that.
You may be wrong about the lunch and OT stuff. I wont say for sure, because it varies by city. But where I worked, you did get paid for eating lunch, but you also MUST respond to calls and I lost many meals due to getting a call right when I got my food.
As for OT for being far away from home, 99% of PD's solved that years ago by having them sign out at headquarters before leaving.
But they are truly always "on duty". Many cops have gotten killed responding to calls off duty or on their way home.
Im very pro-police. BUT, you are 1,000% RIGHT!!! Our military is vastly underpaid, especially the combat troops. They should make at least the national average for law enforcement.