Volunteer troops still look for leaders, not benefactors.

In 1980, Ronald Reagan campaigned for the presidency promised to rearm America and fill out a hollow force. He would begin by closing a "pay gap" between the military and private sector.

On the day of Reagan's inauguration, Iran released American hostages. Soon thereafter, true to his word, the new president proposed—and Congress later enacted—an average 14.3 percent military pay raise.

Because the increase came atop an 11.7 percent pay raise and new variable housing allowances Congress had approved the previous year, for which Jimmy Carter unsuccessfully tried to take credit, the pay gap quickly was closed. What a first impression Reagan made on troops.

From that point forward, it seemed, nothing could sway the positive perception among service people that this was their commander in chief.

It held through troubling times, too, including a terrorist attack that killed 241 U.S. sailors and Marines in Lebanon in 1983, for which Reagan accepted responsibility, and the Iran-Contra scandal, which revealed White House officials had traded arms for American hostages and diverted the profits illegally to support Contra rebels in Nicaragua. Reagan was slow to perceive the depth of that mess.

Reagan's popularity with service people also held despite a string of annual pay raises that soon created a new pay gap. By the time he left office in 1989, military pay had fallen 9 percent behind wage growth in the private sector, a disparity almost as large as when he arrived.

The president also had signed a defense bill that substantially reduced the value of military retirement for future servicemembers.

It was a far different military by then, however. Reagan had backed up his anti-Soviet rhetoric with billions and billions of dollars spent on new weapons programs and technology. A panting "evil empire," with its moribund economy, was unable to keep pace and the groundwork was laid for a Cold War victory.

If military people felt underpaid again by the late 1980s, they tended to blame Congress, not Reagan. Military people bond with a president—at least some presidents—but not with Congress.

That's true even though lawmakers, lobbied effectively by service and veterans organizations, deserve far more credit than do presidents, including Reagan, for the competitiveness of military compensation.

During the post-Cold War draw down, for example, it was Congress that, over objections from the first Bush administration, created a stout transition package for members forced or enticed from service. During both Gulf Wars, it was Congress, not either Bush administration, that pushed for wartime-related special pay increases.

The Clinton administration didn't propose real improvements in military pay and benefits until the services suffered a recruiting and retention crisis in the late 1990s. It did finally commit to phasing out out-of-pocket rental costs with a string of extra increases in housing allowances. But the Joint Chiefs of Staff ultimately had to count on Congress and the work of service associations to win a series of bigger annual pay raises, roll back 1986 retirement cuts, and create TRICARE for Life for older retirees.

Both Reagan and George W. Bush replaced Democratic presidents who had checkered reputations for supporting the troops. Reagan took full advantage of it. Bush has not. Ironically, Congress, in continuing to lead on military compensation issues, hasn't helped the president's image.

The administration message heard often these days is to stop entitlement grow within the defense budget. Like all past administrations, it argued against lifting the ban on concurrent receipt of military retirement and disability benefits. It argues now against proposals to open TRICARE to drilling reservists and to enhance military survivor benefits.

It remains to be seen whether George W. Bush is fusing a special bond with military people. Iraq, with its casualties and costs, makes that more difficult. But the bond was there for the Gipper even as pay raises ebbed.

Tom Philpott is a freelance writer and syndicated news columnist. His column, "Military Update," appears in 48 daily newspapers throughout the United States and overseas.