How weak pay can produce force cuts by attrition

How can low military pay contribute to post-Cold War force reductions?

Weak pay depresses recruitment, allowing forces to shrink through vacancies before governments formally remove the unfilled posts.

Entry-level military pay can fall below the legal minimum once working conditions are considered, a situation described here as a scandal. Linking military pay to a civilian scale with bargaining power could address that weakness. One interpretation of the post-Cold War peace dividend is that low service pay reduced recruitment and shrank personnel numbers without a formal recruiting halt. Governments could later remove already vacant posts and describe the change as administrative tidying, even though the force had been allowed to become understrength.