Short version:
The Javelin is an infrared guided anti tank weapon designed to defeat more modern armor on battle tanks, not an anti personnel weapon.
If you were a soldier in combat facing down an armored vehicle like a tank, would you rather have an $80,000 rocket and a $16,000 salary, or a $90,000 salary, and nothing but what you can find laying on the ground to protect yourself?
There's more:
The tank or armored vehicle it is intended for use against cost far more than $80,000. That vehicle was designed to provide protection for the person inside of it, an investment in their continued survival. I will avoid going too far into tactics, politics, or philosophy of conflict and war; and merely state that war is a reality of our current world, soldiers, and many professions are under valued and under paid, but it's not quite so simplistic as this would suggest.
The Javelin is an infrared guided anti tank weapon designed to defeat more modern armor on battle tanks, not an anti personnel weapon.
If you were a soldier in combat facing down an armored vehicle like a tank, would you rather have an $80,000 rocket and a $16,000 salary, or a $90,000 salary, and nothing but what you can find laying on the ground to protect yourself?
There's more:
The tank or armored vehicle it is intended for use against cost far more than $80,000. That vehicle was designed to provide protection for the person inside of it, an investment in their continued survival. I will avoid going too far into tactics, politics, or philosophy of conflict and war; and merely state that war is a reality of our current world, soldiers, and many professions are under valued and under paid, but it's not quite so simplistic as this would suggest.