NOTE: Parts of this blog were lated quoted and used in a news report on the subject at Newsy.com. Please scroll to the end for the video.
There are so many things about this that bother me. Not the least of which is that it is affecting soldiers and their famiies at all. What kind of thanks is that to service members and their families, especially those currently in one theater or another? As it is, military families are not rich families. Yes, we have benefits, but even adding those to the dollar amount of our take home pay, we still do not make anything even close to proportionate to the sacrifices and dangers that the job brings. These men and women regularly risk their lives and this is how politicians choose to thank them? That is a slap in the face to both the military members, and the families that support them.
Yes, my family can make it through a shutdown with relative ease. We will have to cut some corners, but, provided it doesn’t last too overly long, we should be fine. We are a larger family with one income, and 4 kids, one of which is in college. But my husband is also an E6 and we have some savings. Not every military family is that lucky. This shutdown could negatively affect some of the lower enlisted families in a pretty severe way. I hear civilians making asinine comments about how “if the military wanted you to have a family, they would have issued you one”. That is such an ignorant comment and ridiculous at that. Guess what? We in the military have the right to families, too, and most people don’t expect this to be a consideration in their future when they are beginning their families. Then I hear comments about all of our benefits. Yes, we have excellent benefits, but they don’t add anything to our bank account in a time of financial need. Yes, we have programs to help families in need, but if we are in a financial shutdown, those programs are not going to be available because they are by and large funded by federal funds.
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