(Newswire.net — February 15, 2016) — During political campaign season, you’ll hear candidates on both sides of the party line try to score some quick points with voters by saying something along the lines of, “Our service men and women don’t get paid nearly enough!” But then, when it comes time to do something about the unfair pay, there seems to be a monumental lack of action. What gives – and why does it matter?
Military Pay Barely Above Poverty Line
When you look at the base Pay Grade E-1 across all branches of the government – military included – it sits at just $1,566.90 per month. If you want to break that out into weekly sums, it’s somewhere around $391.73 per week. This hovers just above the national poverty line and signals exactly what’s wrong with the pay scale system and how it compensates our country’s most loyal employees.
Back in 1982, during the Reagan presidency, a pay raise of 14.3 percent was given to uniformed service members – the highest such raise in history. Up until 2011, the smallest pay raise ever approved was 2.0 percent (which occurred in 1988).
However, if you take a look at the Obama administration, you begin to see an alarming trend. Pay increase approvals have declined virtually every year. Specifically, the pay increases from 2009 to 2016 look like this: 3.9 percent, 3.4 percent, 1.4 percent, 1.6 percent, 1.7 percent, 1.0 percent, 1.0 percent, and 1.3 percent.
While military pay increases are now, by law, linked with private sector growth, these numbers still serve as a major slap in the face from the Obama administration to the people that willingly protect this country.
Military Families Barely Hanging On
As a result of the incredibly low pay for entry-level military members, many are forced to either pick up other civilian jobs or have their spouses accept more hours from their jobs. Still, despite the additional work, it’s hard for some families – especially those with children – to make ends meet.
In 2014, more than $84 million worth of food stamp benefits were spent at military commissaries. In other words, some of the people serving our country can’t even afford to pay for groceries at stores on military bases, where items are already barely above cost.
When deployed fathers want to return to see the birth of a child, many partner with a flight travel service that allows them to make monthly payments on tickets. It’s also not uncommon for young military families to seek aid from food pantries and charitable programs just to get groceries and everyday supplies.
Take Petty Officer 1st Class Adam Yetter as an example. He’s been a Navy sailor for 17 years, donates blood plasma twice per week, and works a second job as a security guard just so his family can live paycheck to paycheck. “We’re doing everything we can possibly think to be doing and we’re barely making it,” his wife Lindsey said.
Despite having been deployed a total of seven times during his career – including a lengthy 19-month tour in Iraq – Yetter still doesn’t earn enough to drop his second job or stop pinching pennies. But it’s not just him. The Yetters are among more than 620,000 military households in the country – or roughly 25 percent of the nation’s total personnel – that are seeking assistance.
Unfortunate and Urgent
With the country drowning in debt, and military pay increases somewhat handcuffed due to growth constraints, there’s little that can be done at the moment. One thing is for sure, though. Many feel disrespected and ignored by an administration that has given military families little reason to be confident or satisfied in its leadership.