Posted on Feb 18, 2014
Are we failing as leaders when our junior folks are forced into having to use food stamps to survive?
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<p><b>I saw this sort of hardship on junior soldiers early in my career. Now it appears the pendulum is swinging back towards this happening again. The fact that any of our younger soldiers should have to use or even qualify for this is humiliating and a national shame. Quote from attached article: "Pentagon officials told CNN that while the military does not track who is receiving assistance, the military members likely to be on food stamps are those at the bottom of the ranks with children, where base pay <font face="Times New Roman">— not including housing or food — for a new soldier with a spouse and child is about $20,000. With housing and food allowances, an Army private with two years experience would make about $40,000." </font></b><a href="http://dailycaller.com/2014/02/17/food-stamp-use-among-troops-skyrockets-during-obama-admin/"><b><font color="#000080" face="Times New Roman"><u>http://dailycaller.com/2014/02/17/food-stamp-use-among-troops-skyrockets-during-obama-admin/</u></font></b></a></p><div class="pta-link-card"><div class="pta-link-card-picture"><img src="http://cdn01.dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Commissary-e [login to see] 10.jpg"></div><div class="pta-link-card-content"><div class="pta-link-card-title"><a href="http://dailycaller.com/2014/02/17/food-stamp-use-among-troops-skyrockets-during-obama-admin/" target="_blank">Food stamp use among troops skyrockets during Obama admin</a></div><div class="pta-link-card-description">Food stamp redemption at military grocery stores, or commissaries, has nearly doubled since the beginning of the </div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="pta-box-hide"><i class="icon-remove"></i></div></div>
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Sacrifice
Sacrifice
Posted 10 y ago
Responses: 32
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What if we take a step back from this discussion a minute and look at the bigger picture? We are opining regarding how soldiers should be living on the wage they earn and how that wage compares to their civilian counterparts. If we take the figure of $48,000 per year as compensation, that equates to approximately $1000 per week. The average soldier works 50 hours per week, so that is $20 per hour. I would respectfully point out that even a private has more skill, more training, and more responsibility than a retail or fast-food employee, so that is not an accurate comparison. More importantly, every soldier has written an uncashed check payable up to and including their life. Can we agree that might be worth more than $20 an hour? The problem is not whether soldiers are living within their means. The problem is that they are not being compensated for the risk, the trauma, and the jeopardy they face every day. Yes, most of us joined to serve, but the notion that one has to suffer to serve is pure nonsense. If we want a motivated fighting force, why don't we pay them better so we attract and retain a higher quality soldier and allow him to focus on his mission instead of how his wife is going to juggle groceries, diapers and buying new tires for the car this month back home while he is deployed 2000 miles away?
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CSM Christopher Irwin
Sir,
Might I suggest you look at the average starting salary of police officers and fire-fighters? They put themselves in harm's way far more frequently than we do. I will not take away that we are exposed to incredible risk but consider that most college-educated people entering the work place aren't making $20/hour.
Might I suggest you look at the average starting salary of police officers and fire-fighters? They put themselves in harm's way far more frequently than we do. I will not take away that we are exposed to incredible risk but consider that most college-educated people entering the work place aren't making $20/hour.
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CPT Lance Cutsforth
Command Sergeant Major-
I agree with you completely! I believe that anyone who dons a uniform and puts themselves in harm's way - whether in the military or in public service - should be compensated better than they are. The decisions for military and public servant pay are being made by those who are oblivious to the perils of service. Monies are spent on 'special projects' that increase their chance of re-election, but not on those who defend their ability to be in office in the first place...
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I believe the problem is twofold:
1.
As leaders, we should know when our Soldiers are having
or placing themselves in potential issues with their budgetary habits. It can
be as simple as discussing the current events in their lives with Births,
Deaths, and return from deployment serving as prime opportunities to breech the
subject and steer them to ACS, AER, and agency to assist, or even to help them
develop a budget on our own.
2.
This could indicate a broader issue that we are facing
as a whole across this country, that despite recovery in the Stock Market etc…
many Spouses that held a well paying job have lost that position and either
have taken a lower paying salary, or have no job at all thus pushing them
toward food stamps.
This appears to be another reason that talk of our pay and allowances must
be tempered with the realities we face, that are not experienced by those
suggesting changes.
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Sir, as leaders I don't think we are failing are soldiers for having them use foodstamps to survive. In fact I see it quite the opposite. If you have a soldier that is struggling to feed their families than us as Leaders should be involved enough to know they are in financial need. Those are traits of a great leader which is to know their soldiers and help them thru their problems or recommend an outside organization that can help. When I was a PVT my NCOIC took me to the WIC office, and told me to fill out a foodstamp application all totalling about $350 a month.
Now a leader is failing if they don't recommend the Family Subsistance Supplemental Allowance program (FSSA). The program has been around for around 15 to 16 years, it supplements soldiers income to give them enough money to not qualify for food stamps. I will post the link for all leaders to take a look at and recommend that all young soldiers fill the application out.
https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/identitymanagement/authenticate.do?execution=e1s1
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LTC Martin Metz
SFC C: You're absolutely right. Leadership, especially NCOs, need to be pretty tight with their soldiers and families. A lot less problems pass through when that happens.
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A better question is if you have a Soldier with children and can not make thier bills, are you failing them by not looking into whether or not they qualify for food stamps so they can survive?
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Just curious, Basic Training is already starting to go soft. How much focus is put on basic life skills? I know there is so much training already crammed into such a short time, but do they do anything to help Soldiers how to live more responsibly? I'm pretty certain a little budgeting and financial advice can go a long way. I can't remember how long it took me to hear about the TSP. I regularly give Soldiers unsolicited advice about it. Even after getting it, it took me even longer to realize that there were ways to modify and diversify it. As much as I hate how soft things are getting, I would really like to see Soldiers actually set up for success and be able to stand on their own 2 feet. They are being coddled too much at home and then come into the military, probably equivalent to what some of us were in our preteen years, as far as maturity. If they are given a chance to be responsible in their own lives, I'm sure it will carry over into better discipline in the military.
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LTC Martin Metz
I have been known to tell folks that no matter how long they stay with the military (I stayed on for 37+ years), eventually life goes on beyond the Army. It's important to have the hobbies, take advantage of the educational opportunities, live the experiences, and network. When you finally leave after one tour or a lifetime, you will benefit from what you did before leaving.
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SSG (Join to see)
already starting to get easy? I love when people who came in within the last 10 years are all like "BCT is easy now" lol, it was easy in 95...
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As I am not in a "real" unit, I do not really know the financial situation of many Soldiers. Of those that I am aware of, only a few are on assistance. I do know a fellow NCO that applied, but was turned down because he made slightly too much. As SPC Dunn stated, I feel it is highly possible. I am single, thus do not fully have the same perspective. I did, however help to support siblings with children and was still able to stay afloat. I know it sounds like babysitting even more, but I do feel it is important to stress financial management to these younger Soldiers.
I do however support those that do need assistance, because at least they are working, unlike many of those in the civilian sector. I do wonder, however how many Playstations, X boxes, Jordans and other non-essentials those on assistance have.
This day in age and even in the military, it is still an issue of keeping up with the Joneses. I'm sure with financial management assistance from ACS, these Soldiers will be able to be like SPC Dunn.
(Sorry to keep using you SPC Dunn, but you are a good example of what is possible with a little bit of responsibillity. Also, do you mind sharing your age upon enlistment, you sound rather mature)
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SPC Dan Goforth
SGT Mickles, don't forget the fact that Monterey is an expensive area. As a single E4, no dependents, my BAH here is $1419. Since COLA is decided by county, not VHA zip code, jr. enlisted soldiers here don't recieve the $200-300 a month extra they need to reasonably feed their family.
A soldier serving in the south or midwest doesn't need the extra money provided. Much lower cost of living. AND, DeCA and AAFES/NEX are required by regulation to charge within a certain percentage of the civilian price. So, in a place like Monterey, CA, a brand new private who does have a family does need assistance.
The point is, take into account all factors. I'm looking forward to Colorado again because of the lower cost of living, and having a room in the barracks and a meal card again.
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SGT(P) (Join to see)
This annoys me to no end. My BAH doesn't cover my apartment, let alone the utilities. Yet time and time again, we are in all of the reports of being one of the most expensive areas. Our cost of living is so much higher than other installations that receive COLA. We will not even go into gas prices. My sisters in GA and SC love to tell me what their prices are and laugh when they hear how much ours is. Is there not a way for the AAFES gas stations to have a country wide uniform price, like they do in Germany? At least in GA, my dollar will stretch much farther.
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SPC David Dunn
SGT Mickles..Sorry for the delayed response, our son was born on the 25th so it's been a little busy here lately. Her name is SGT Thompson and I believe her language is Farsi (could be wrong there). She's an amazing leader and person. Very much missed in our company and we were all very fortunate to spend a few years and a combat deployment together.
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Colonel Metz, I was one of those and I am trying to do what I can do to help veterans, especially when that choice for single vets is their pets or themselves. I am helping on the pet side of things at local race tracks, etc.
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I don't see it as a failure of military leadership, rather as a failure of our government to properly provide for all the needs of our service men and women.
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I would also like to point out that some soldiers join the military for the steady paycheck that they can't find elsewhere. Not that they're expecting a lot of money, but it's decent money that they can live on and not have to worry about getting laid off with the way the economy is. To add onto that, some soldiers made mistakes before joining. I know soldiers who have 500 or lower credit scores so in order to get that car or that phone they had to have huge down payments or have high interest rates. There's always more sides to the story than what may seem evident from the start. I'm one of those that made bad decisions as an 18 year old, and didn't join until I was 21. I make the best of what I have and worked hard to get where I'm at currently. I don't have a great credit score, no, but I am working on it. I have a car with a payment that is a little high, but I also know I can afford it because I budget my money. I have a smart phone that may seem like a "luxury" but again, I can afford it because I budget my money. It also helps that I'm in Kuwait and get paid a little extra so that I can save a little more money so I won't have to worry about anything. It's all in how you take the situation that you are given.
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