American Amicable

[WinoBlues]

They pay for a crap load of stuff out of pocket. For that free food they have to be by the one chow hall on base. Including Saturday, Sunday and holidays. They get a scuff on their shoes doing what they are told to do they have to buy new ones. My son was told to buy new Whites because he was doing colors when his ship deployed. The after he bought them he did colors and his new whites were destroyed by grease, Then had to buy new whites so they could man the rails passing The Arizona monument in Hawaii. He currently works 8-24 hours a day. Housing if they are lucky is a 3-4 four man room, a 50 man open bay barrack, a rock pillow under a tank in Afghanistan, a 3 by 6 rack on a war ship where the other guys feet are about 18 inches from your head and you have to tuck your shoulder to roll over.

This does not affect 99% of the nation. Just the 1% that covers their and their families ass.

Military use of food stamps rises again - Feb. 17, 2014

 

[MIM]

That was great, up until they make less than minimum wage.

An E-1 makes 1500 a month and is quickly an E-2 at 1700. That doesn't seem like much until you realize they get food and housing for free on top of that (a junior enlisted is almost certainly not living off base and getting allowances). An O-1 is marking 2900 a month, plus allowances. Oh, and that O-1 just had college paid for, either through ROTC or a service academy. I have no doubt they earn every penny of it, but I'm pretty sure that compensation wise, lots of Americans would gladly trade places.

Military members aren't getting rich, but they aren't starving either. The ones I feel sorry for are senior NCOs. For what they do, they really aren't paid very well. At least higher ranking officers can jump ship into civilian work as a director or other nice job based on their experience. I don't believe that really works for senior NCOs.

Mr Vol, like many of the other seasoned posters on here, I respect and give great weight to what you say simply because you have great insight into the insurance industry and even though you really have no incentive to post what you do, you still do so for the betterment of your readers. So for that, thank you. However, on this post I respectfully and humbly disagree. There's a lot to being in the service regarding sacrifice that most people do not understand. (Which is why they call it service. You give up practically everything and get little to nothing in return.)


Let's take it from the point of view of someone that's got a few years in, a lance corporal in the Marine Corps or E-3 let's say and gets maybe around 1700 to 1800 a month after taxes. I may be off a bit but let's just go with this number. It sounds super great that you COULD be pocketing this money but it's almost impossible. (Trust me, I've tried.) Yes, you do get offered food without having to pay for it but you'd have to be willing to eat at the chow hall every meal. If you've ever eaten at one then you'll know most of the time it's abysmal and maybe on the Marine Corps' birthday then it's ok. If you still disagree with me, ask Mr Wino Blues and see if he'll comment on how wonderful the food is. Most of the Marines I have known most of the time either ate off base or something like McDonald's or Subway's on base which you don't really get compensated for unless you're on comrats (which isn't much). On living expenses, yes you get somewhere to live at 0 cost. That sounds great right ? Junior enlisted Marines won't have the money to live off base so usually they will live in wherever their unit puts them. They will go into a very small room (unless it's an open squad bay) usually with one or two others. It's usually small or cramped and most Marines have no incentive to stay cooped up in there unless they've got a tv, a computer, and/or an xbox and even then still gets boring after a while. (Which leads to a lot of Marines getting into trouble.) So now, if you need some other way to constructively and non destructively spend your free time, you will need a vehicle (which obviously is not at the military's expense.) I don't think I really need to go into how much it costs to purchase and maintain one. Then don't forget uniforms. As Mr Wino Blues mentioned we are required to maintain multiple sets of not only workable uniforms but also inspection ready ones. While the service does give you a modest allowance on uniform maintenance, it isn't much and I've spent many dollars I didn't have on buying new things I needed for personnel inspections. There are also other inspections that take more time and money. But back to the amount that seemingly doesn't get touched. That amount may seem like a good amount to save, but the amount that service members put in workwise is ridiculous. There is no overtime. Liberty is a privilege and can be suspended at any time simply because your unit doesn't like you (which happens often). You work until they decide you can stop for the day. A lot of times, weekends go too especially if you're either deployed or preparing for a unit inspection.


The GI Bill, the commissary, and Tri-Care are probably the only 3 things that make it remotely worthwhile (two of which you can only get through retiring but that's another post). The GI Bill is really nice but I think they've made cuts on it. I'd have to double check.


There's way more I can go into but this post is probably the longest I have ever typed. Ask any Marine. Any of them. Ask a sailor or a soldier too if what they get paid is worth what they go through and see what they say. Most of them will say they joined because they love their country and wanted to serve. Others will say that they needed to find some way to feed their families. While I would tell you that I needed to change as a person and the Marine Corps helped give me that way.


In the end, service members get the shaft which is why when one vet meets another (even if it's online), there's a certain inherent respect there that civilians will never understand. If you still think that the grass is greener on our side of the fence then I highly encourage you to talk to a local recruiter (the silver tongue) and join a branch of service. In about 6 months or less, you'll be singing a different tune.


Vol, once again I will say that I greatly appreciate your contribution to this forum. Please continue to do so and understand I value you as a regular and seasoned poster. Thanks!


MIM


P.S. For those of you that are veterans (maybe currently active or reserve), please know that I have a ridiculous amount of respect for you. Never forget that you are loved and appreciated! Thank you!

 

[rugerred]

That was great, up until they make less than minimum wage.

An E-1 makes 1500 a month and is quickly an E-2 at 1700. That doesn't seem like much until you realize they get food and housing for free on top of that (a junior enlisted is almost certainly not living off base and getting allowances). An O-1 is marking 2900 a month, plus allowances. Oh, and that O-1 just had college paid for, either through ROTC or a service academy. I have no doubt they earn every penny of it, but I'm pretty sure that compensation wise, lots of Americans would gladly trade places.

Military members aren't getting rich, but they aren't starving either. The ones I feel sorry for are senior NCOs. For what they do, they really aren't paid very well. At least higher ranking officers can jump ship into civilian work as a director or other nice job based on their experience. I don't believe that really works for senior NCOs.

Did you serve and are these observations from your life? I would love to discuss them with you because I lived it with a wife and young son. You have absolutely no clue as to what your talking about and I don't give a damn how long you have on a forum. Your post is insulting.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy

 

[tins]

Did you serve and are these observations from your life? I would love to discuss them with you because I lived it with a wife and young son. You have absolutely no clue as to what your talking about and I don't give a damn how long you have on a forum. Your post is insulting.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy

Maybe his number were a bit off, but nothing in his post was insulting.
The tone seemed (although who knows with typed word) pretty even keeled.

 

[rugerred]

Maybe his number were a bit off, but nothing in his post was insulting.
The tone seemed (although who knows with typed word) pretty even keeled.

I get ya tins but I am a good judge of what insults me.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy

 

[tins]

I get ya tins but I am a good judge of what insults me.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy

I understand that and thank you for your service to our country.

 

[WinoBlues]

Couple points. Just to be clear I am not a Marine. In was Navy. I have two sons that are Marines and one son Navy.

Vol and I communicate daily and we talked after the post. He is a big boy and can speak for himself. However, I am sure that his post was not meant to be disrespectful of our warriors. Most people that have not walked the walk do notknow the life.

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On things we/they spend money on.

When my oldest got to the sandbox I had to ship him construction tools so they could modify their quarters/tent, gloves, ballistic grade sun glasses, laundry detergent, fans and hygiene products. Then when he moved from Ramadi to Fallujah it all got left behind. When we got back most of his gear was trashed so he had to buy all new plus replace issued gear lost in Iraq. In could go on for ever just on that one son. Dry cleaning and mandatory weekly, or more, hair cuts alone eat up money and time.

The families of deployed warriors spend money over and above what the member spends in support of our family members.

Did I mention these guys pay taxes on their pay. Which I think is stupid. They should pay zero tax and the 99 percent that do not serve pick up the difference.

We have served during WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and have one deployed and one at MCT today. Only the first two were drafted. The rest of us enlisted. We serve because we see it as duty to our Country.

 

[rugerred]

Couple points. Just to be clear I am not a Marine. In was Navy. I have two sons that are Marines and one son Navy.

Vol and I communicate daily and we talked after the post. He is a big boy and can speak for himself. However, I am sure that his post was not meant to be disrespectful of our warriors. Most people that have not walked the walk know the life.

I know how proud you are of your boys as am I. The simple fact is our sailors and soliders, especially the ones with family are the most under paid people in this country. We have men and women going to the front and coming back losing their house or going into bankruptcy. Anyone who thinks they are paid well for what they do needs to do a few shifts of night ops on the flight deck, that's how I made my living. If that's too hard I have family in Afghanistan that I am sure would be willing to give them a tour of the office. If someone that never sold a policy came on here spouting about how much an insurance agent makes they would be lit up like a Christmas tree.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy

 

[WinoBlues]

As you can see many of us take service to our Nation seriously. But that us doubled for our brothers in arms. Hard to explain.

 

[rugerred]

As you can see many of us take service to our Nation seriously. But that us doubled for our brothers in arms. Hard to explain.

You can't explain it and those that speak off the cuff have no idea how deep their comments cut.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy