Service-members on Food Stamps

CW2 Jonathan Kantor — Tue, 15 Apr 2014 11:07:15 -0400

This has garnered a lot of attention due to the failed votes in Congress regarding the Farm Subsidies Bill and how it affected a large group of service-members.

Have you ever been on a food stamp program? WIC?
Were you affected by the recent voting in Congress, either positively or negatively?

Please share your experiences.

Response by MSG Wade Huffman made Apr 15 at 2014 11:16 AM

MSG Wade Huffman — Tue, 15 Apr 2014 11:16:34 -0400

Fortunately for myself and my family, we have never needed either program, so no direct affect on me.

Response by MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca made Jun 8 at 2014 8:24 PM

MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca — Sun, 08 Jun 2014 20:24:39 -0400

Me personal y no. Our unit went to Bliss 3 years in a row for our AT back in the 90s and I used to see it at PX. It was always young soldiers with young families. Looked like they were barely out of high school let alone basic training. It killed me too see it because these kids are defending our county but couldn't make it on a military salary & benefits??

Granted people all around get in financial trouble due to some bad decisions or vices and granted some of our young soldiers may not have proper guidance on family issues, after all, we all come from different walks of life From my point of view, this was not what I was seeing here. What I was seeing was the system failing our soldiers.

Response by CW2 Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 9 at 2014 10:10 PM

CW2 Private RallyPoint Member — Mon, 09 Jun 2014 22:10:27 -0400

i use to be on WIC when i was a SPC but it only paid for formula and later on milk and cereal. after i made SGT and my wife started working we no longer need it and removed our selfs from WIC. It helped out a lot, my wife was able to stay home with our new born and we did not have to live paycheck to paycheck.

Response by PO1 William "Chip" Nagel made Jun 9 at 2014 10:28 PM

PO1 William "Chip" Nagel — Mon, 09 Jun 2014 22:28:03 -0400

No never but then again I was a CTO2 When I got Married and Had Children. I can't imagine how in hell anyone below E-5 can Manage. It was tough and tight as an E-5. Sad that despite all the wonderful talk about "Supporting our Troops" No one really does. Just another Stupid Catch Phrase.

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 10 at 2014 1:35 AM

1SG Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 10 Jun 2014 01:35:22 -0400

We always qualified for WIC and with 6 children, I had no qualms with partaking of this program. I never envisioned it as a hand out but more of hand up. Have you seen the price of baby formula? It's almost criminal! And one of sons had to be on a special type of formula, which also happened to be the most expensive. And every federal gov't program takes the "total family income" into consideration, so yes, they do count your BAS and BAH. The "food stamp" is run by each state, so that may differ but WIC is federal. It only goes until the child 5yrs old and every 3 months my wife had to turn in a copy of my LES to verify our eligibility.

Response by SSG Jacob Wiley made Sep 16 at 2014 2:18 PM

SSG Jacob Wiley — Tue, 16 Sep 2014 14:18:46 -0400

Never been on it, never will be. Everyone makes a personal choice to have children. If you can't afford to provide for your children, you have no business having them, period. That's YOUR child, not society's responsibility. The person that has kids with the mind set of "it's OK, we'll get government assistance" is dead wrong and is a dredge on society.

That being said...extraordinary situations (death, layoff, injury) are completely different and I am glad there are things in place to help those who truly are in need of help at no fault of their own. Don't get it twisted.

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Nov 27 at 2014 8:04 PM

MAJ Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 27 Nov 2014 20:04:04 -0500

Never got it, but did need it at a time. It's more common for those of us on the Reserve Component side. I came back from BOLC to no job, height of recession, and bills piling. Bills came first, then figuring out how much you can eat the rest of the month. Did try applying for unemployment since I had been working since the age of 16 but was denied. Never liked asking the government for help and hopefully it'll be the last.

Response by SPC Daniel Edwards made Dec 28 at 2014 11:12 PM

SPC Daniel Edwards — Sun, 28 Dec 2014 23:12:48 -0500

I can understand getting food stamps or other support programs because the SM is an E-1 with three kids and two car payments. However, if even after all that support and the SM is still not stable, then I have no sympathy for the SM wasting the help away.

Response by CW3 Kevin Storm made Sep 9 at 2015 12:18 PM

CW3 Kevin Storm — Wed, 09 Sep 2015 12:18:00 -0400

No but I do recall service members back in the 1980's being on food stamps, standing in line getting government cheese from the Chaplain.

Response by PO2 Jeffrey Sheibels made Mar 23 at 2016 4:15 PM

PO2 Jeffrey Sheibels — Wed, 23 Mar 2016 16:15:05 -0400

If you look at today's' base pay, an E-2 makes about $1,500. Add in BAH, and all the other special pay, they are closer to taking home $2,000 or more. Not to mention junior enlisted are usually living on base so deduct BAH. Even if they have family they could still have on base housing. I can only see a person qualifying today if they either have a lot of kids, or are just lying on the forms just so they can qualify. When I first joined in 2000, I did not qualify because I lived on board the unit and was provided three meals a day. Anything other than that, I had to pay for. So it seems like something fishy is going on here that is making active duty service people qualify for food stamps.

Response by SSG Edward Tilton made Jun 10 at 2017 11:06 PM

SSG Edward Tilton — Sat, 10 Jun 2017 23:06:36 -0400

We were supposed to be going from a conscript Army to a well paid all volunteer force. What we got is an impoverished force dependent on Charity.One sure thing is that the gap between ranks has grown every year until it has become obscene. Raises should be so many dollar per year at all ranks.
Another thing is the Carpetbaggers who leach the life out of the force. Prices have risen to the point. Our troops need to be able to afford better