I found this meme on LinkedIn. A civilian commented on it that struck me the wrong way. What are your thoughts?

I personally believe that it is the food servers right to complain, and everyone else's right to criticize them for it. I have no problems at all with that. What I don't like about the meme is the underlying theme there. Maybe I read too much into it, but I don't like it when memes like this suggest that what soldiers do is somehow much more valuable than what anyone else does. That is not for us to say. The American people are the ones that praise or criticize our service -not us. We should serve with honor and selflessness, because that is what service is. I don't mean to preach but I see so many younger vets nowadays who just overtly demand praise and attention for their service --they think they are owed this -and that is not a good attitude.

MSgt Michael Smith - You may have a point, but consider what the E-4 soldier with 2 years in gets paid (just shy of 24,000) and a 15.00 per hour job for flipping burgers full time would be ($31,200). One usually expects higher pay to correspond with higher skills and knowledge. Well, a military person with some A school training has both those things over a restaurant worker, but is being paid significantly less.

SPC David Rosenlund - Totally agree with your assessment. I did McCashier work during college. It was a job, not fun and not great. I moved on too. But it seems that there is a group that wants to make a nest on first base and never move any further.

PO3 Sherry Thornburg - Your $24,000 a year for an E-4 is based on only base pay. What about room and board and medical benefits that the fast food people definitely don't get. I am not saying that they deserve $15.00 an hour for fast food work. IMO they do not, that industry is for kids to work and should not be a profession unless you are in management. I am just sick of people only telling part of the story to make it look like we don't get paid shit.

What is the average Profit after tax (PAT) in the fast food industry? Wages are normally defined by the contributions toward the profitability of a business. Those prices go up and the business must raise their prices to all, including those that use them. I'm betting the customers at Mac's are among them. This is just another way of wealth distribution, unfortunately from the middle class again. These jobs were and are meant to be a doorway into the job market, not provide a living wage as noted by some. Unions pay and bennies are tied to minimum wages in some instances. That and a huge population of new dues paying membership (out of their new found wages) is the goal of labor. That is the goal here. BTW, the military members on AD and retired, for the most part are doing quite well according to the last pay scale I saw.