Military pay nickled and dimed
Just like when, a few years ago, the President told America that he was going to make healthcare more affordable, he was planning on making it more expensive for members of the military and retirees, now while he’s trying to get Americans a higher minimum wage, he’s letting military languish below civilian pay, according to the Military Times;
All of it is necessary, officials say, to help offset unsustainable costs. Yet as service members’ wages lag behind those in the private sector, what’s known as the military-civilian “pay gap,” several small cuts add up can add up quickly. And that too comes at a cost.
“The Defense Department keeps saying they’ll protect readiness by asking families to pay for it, and thinking that families will suck it up and take one for the team,” said Joyce Wessel Raezer, executive director of the National Military Family Association. “It’s a spiral that’s going to end up hurting families and hurting the military.”
Today, military and civilian pay is about on par. In the 1990s, the pay gap topped 13 percent, said Steve Strobridge, government relations director for the Military Officers Association of America. That era saw a host of changes on par with those being debated now. Housing was shifted off-base. Personnel programs were slashed.
Like when Obama told The American Legion convention that he wasn’t going to balance the budget on the backs of veterans while his secretary of defense was raiding the Tricare healthcare surplus and he was conniving to raise out-of-pocket expenses for retirees, now they’re expecting active duty troops to suck up lower COLA allowances while paying for their dependents’ healthcare and paying more for their groceries.
The troops sacrifice in war only to end up sacrificing more when they come home, while the majority of America goes to the mall.
Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden
State tax on food in my state is 1.75%. I manage by using coupons at Walmart and going to Aldi. I don’t know what they pay at the Navy commissary, but if they pay higher prices than I do, they’re not shopping around.
The military won’t get a raise that amounts to a hill of beans until that idjit in the White House is gone for good. Yes, people who see opportunities outside the military environment are going to take their job skills with them to the civilian world. Then what?
As much as the Clintons detest the military, don’t put that cow in office. Period.
That money needed to integrate transgender troops needs to come from somewhere.
That was sarcasm, in case nobody noticed.
I noticed
This is why I am not encouraging my g’son to join any of the services. Too much political BS to the overall detriment of the fighting forces.
Anyone know how civilian and military pay is compared and contrasted? Since military pay is based on grade and years of service, how is one military job (e.g., firefighter or nurse) set against its civilian equivalent, where one exists, that is.
It’s usually comparing minimum qualifications for a job and years vs pay. For instance, they usually compare specialists with 2 yrs to other jobs with only a high school diploma and 2 yrs experience. Never heard of them comparing military to skilled trades, which would be more fair in many cases.
A registered nurse in the US earns an average of $27.03/hr. On a 40-hour week, 52-week year, that is $56,222.40, plus whatever bennies may be offered.
http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Registered_Nurse_(RN)/Hourly_Rate
The pay scale is an average based on a pay scale ranging form $43,403 to $83,171.
You can find the equivalent pay scales at that link. Enter the job title and the rates come up below that search block.
And think about what a slap in the face that nurse will have when Obummer and the boys raise minimum wage for unskilled labor.
Way to place an incentive on education and helping folks.
I wonder how many of Obummer’s “voters” will be able to pass drug tests to get that $15 an hour job?
I’d actually support placing less of an incentive on higher education. The education bubble will burst soon, as everyone and their dog is running around with a Bachelor of X these days, effectively turning the BS into the new GED. If fewer people have degrees, that raises the value of mine, which in turn means more money in my pocket. >:D
Professional education.
BSN.
Hell, I’m a Blue Collar Working man and I make more money with my background and job skills than I would have made with the Bachelors Degree I was after. A skilled Plumber or Electrician with a valid Journeyman’s Card can do the same.
Fort Jackson hospital downgrading to a health clinic. No worries Fort Gordon is an 85 mile drive for nearest healthcare.
http://www.wistv.com/story/31993176/moncrief-army-community-hospital-transitions-to-army-health-clinic
Well, there are always those nasty civilian health care providers. I am sure there is a civilian witch doctor or two closer than Ft. Gordon. Of course you might have to rub shoulders with a nasty civilian or two in the waiting room.
Apparently you don’t realize that Tricare doesn’t like to pay for service members to been seen in civilian is medical facilities. They’ll make you drive that 85 miles. “Nasty civilians” have nothing to do with it.
Well, if my experience is any indication, I tripled my income the first full year I was out.
Even after paying for my insurance, higher taxes, etc, take home pay was still nearly double.
And no deployments, duty days, etc., to boot.
Ditto. And that was in 1976.
Tommy I went into a public-‘ouse to get a pint o’ beer, The publican ‘e up an’ sez, “We serve no red-coats here.” The girls be’ind the bar they laughed an’ giggled fit to die, I outs into the street again an’ to myself sez I: O it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Tommy, go away”; But it’s “Thank you, Mister Atkins”, when the band begins to play, The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play, O it’s “Thank you, Mister Atkins”, when the band begins to play. I went into a theatre as sober as could be, They gave a drunk civilian room, but ‘adn’t none for me; They sent me to the gallery or round the music-‘alls, But when it comes to fightin’, Lord! they’ll shove me in the stalls! For it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Tommy, wait outside”; But it’s “Special train for Atkins” when the trooper’s on the tide, The troopship’s on the tide, my boys, the troopship’s on the tide, O it’s “Special train for Atkins” when the trooper’s on the tide. Yes, makin’ mock o’ uniforms that guard you while you sleep Is cheaper than them uniforms, an’ they’re starvation cheap; An’ hustlin’ drunken soldiers when they’re goin’ large a bit Is five times better business than paradin’ in full kit. Then it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Tommy, ‘ow’s yer soul?” But it’s “Thin red line of ‘eroes” when the drums begin to roll, The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll, O it’s “Thin red line of ‘eroes” when the drums begin to roll. We aren’t no thin red ‘eroes, nor we aren’t no blackguards too, But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you; An’ if sometimes our conduck isn’t all your fancy paints, Why, single men in barricks don’t grow into plaster saints; While it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Tommy, fall be’ind”, But it’s “Please to walk in front, sir”, when there’s trouble in the wind, There’s trouble in the wind, my boys, there’s trouble in… Read more »
The more things change, the more the stay the same, eh?
I remember seeing a black&white picture of my Grandpa, taken in Norfolk, Virginia in 1942. He’s wearing his crackerjacks and old-school Donald Duck cover with “US NAVY” on the front, and standing next to a sign that says “NO DOGS OR SAILORS PERMITTED ON PREMISES.” He’s gesturing at the sign with a wiseass Irish grin, as if to say, “Asshole, I dodge U-boats for a living. You think I give a shit about your gay-ass sign?”
I’m a big fan of Kipling. His “Young British Soldier” about one of their wars in Afghanistan still rings true today.
I imagine things will never change. Just empty promises and false adulation.
You should send the photo to Snopes. See here: http://www.snopes.com/military/keepoff.asp
If I could find it now. One of my aunts has it stashed somewhere.
I don’t think anybody has ever summed it up better than Kipling. Thanks Smitty.
All this on the tails of comments from branch representatives who’ve said the troops care less about pay and benefits because they’re more concerned about having better training and tools for the jobs they perform (i.e. VADM Moran, SgtMaj Mike Barrett and Ass’t Deputy Commandant of Manpower/Reserve Affairs Sheryl Murray).
These are same people who made their comments using anecdotes without actually talking to the troops. Sh*t like this happens because it’s difficult to find a leader anywhere who’s willing to step up to the plate and actually advocate the interests of the people they’re supposed to look out for. (Seems to be a lot of that going around lately).
Fuckers.
I see VADM Moron, eh Moran has been nominated for a 4th star to be VCNO – gulp.
But JUST LOOK AT the cuts in pay, perks, and taxpayer-funded luxuries the clowns (*OOPS*, politicians) in DC are giving themselves, bless their ratshit hearts. When was the last time anyone in The Great Whorehouse on the Potomac River announced any fraud investigations into any ha out program? An illegal alien gets healthcare and housing far faster than a Vet in need thanks to the Jane Fonda-heads in DC.
suck it up and take one for the team Wow, that’s about as stupid a fucking statement as I have heard for quite some time. As if you don’t take one for the team simply by signing your life away when you join in the first place. Well if they were looking for a way to make sure that people either don’t join at all or don’t stay once they’ve taken what they want from their service that attitude is certainly the right approach to achieve that goal. No offense intended to any lifers here, you have to know how much I admire and respect your commitment to service and country, but I can’t imagine a scenario anymore where I would advise someone that the military is a great option. My own kids served as did I but I would be hard pressed to recommend it to someone else’s child at the moment. Perhaps when the election is over and the military is funded properly by the next president I will rethink that opinion, but changing pay rates lowered reimbursements and less money for school seem to unbalance the equation. To be fair I joined in spite of having a full boat scholarship on grades for music to be part the infantry. I didn’t join for the college benefit or any of that, I felt an obligation to my country. I respect anyone who still does it for that reason, but if someone were asking me do I think they should join for the college benefit I’d probably point out some other financing options that don’t place you where you might get you killed and don’t require you to be away from your family getting fucked out of a fair compensatory wage/benefit package for a college fund. With the way the golden parachutes are handed out to some shitbags and stories like this why would you want to be an enlisted man or woman today unless you felt a serious obligation to the nation? Again my apologies if I’v offended, that’s not my intent and if you are offended it’s… Read more »
I never claimed to want any special privileges or treatment.
All I have ever asked, is that the government live up to it’s end of our mutual contract, just as I lived up to mine.
But in the eyes of many out there, that makes me a whiner I guess.
I’ll join you in that, I hate to have you whining alone.
I guess I’m in the same boat as you Rerun0369…
I have heard more whining about mistreatment of military members from the new, improved All Volunteer military than I ever did from draftees. Inflated expectations, I suppose.
In other related news….
“Federal employee unions and other organizations have been calling for a 2017 raise substantially higher than 1.6 percent.”
Posting for Reb,
I remember her first job as a Paralegal. She came home from her first day and said “son does this make sense”? I get paid $13.75 a hour but bill the client at $50 a hour. More money for the attorney. After a month she quit and only worked investigation.
The military personnel are being screwed. Five of my buddies had their wife’s apply for food stamps. While out fighting, they worry that their families have enough to eat. Mom put that to rest by getting them Vons gift cards before they went back to war. Adopt a military family is something we should all do.
WA State minimum is $15.00 a hour.
Cuts are everywhere. Two years ago, they significantly cut what counts as “Pro(fessional) Gear” when calculating our household goods allowances. All those plaques and awards? No longer pro-gear. My uniforms? Not pro-gear, except my blues. All of those FMs? If you can get it online, it doesn’t count anymore. They used to calculate a box of pro-gear at 40 lbs per cubic foot. Now it is 7. I used to get “credit” for well over a thousand pounds of pro-gear. While that was probably excessive, now I get credit for a couple hundred pounds, which is well under what I’m hauling around by virtue of the army. For instance, now I have both UCP and OCP gear, and can’t turn in the UCP.
Guys, military pay isn’t as terrible people make it out to be. I remember making E-6 pay and aside from the bullshit amount of hours I had to work and the stress I had to endure, it was okay. 4 years later with a bachelors degree (almost done with my masters) and additional experience, my take home pay as a defense contractor is about 700 bucks less than what it was in 2013. Meanwhile the military folks I work next to get to count PT as work hours, get like a two hour chow break, get off early before holidays, come in early later because “I have a medical appointment/need to take my dog out.” Meanwhile we get bitched at if we don’t eat lunch at our desks. You certainly have more freedom outside of the military, but the grass isn’t greener and you won’t be rich after the service even with an education.
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