SOCOM (Special Operations Command) has spent $4.8 billion last year. That's for a force of 27,000 active duty troops and 19,000 in the reserves. It's an expensive operation to run because most of the personnel have more time in the service and higher ranks. The average cost, per soldier, for pay and benefits, is $42,800. It's actually over $60,000 each for the active duty troops, because the reserves only serve a month or so a year. SOCOM troops also spend more time in the field, with operations and maintenance costing $1.78 billion a year. SOCOM is also investigating new technologies for it's commandos and specialists, spending $480 million last year on research and development. The same amount was spent on new equipment, and this will be going up in the next few years. Normally, about 4,000 SOCOM troops are overseas at any given time. But now 8,000 are in Afghanistan and neighboring countries for the war on terror. Thousands more are in other parts of the world on similar missions. SOCOM is trying to get its budget increased to $6 billion.
