Military Pay and TRICARE Under Fire

[angi_is_altered]

The first shots over the bow were fired ear­lier this spring when Sen. Webb (D-Va.) floated the idea that mil­i­tary pay and ben­e­fits were unsus­tain­able. A DoD advi­sory panel later rec­om­mended increas­ing TRICARE pre­mi­ums and end­ing the trend of annual across-the-board mil­i­tary pay raises which out­pace the civil­ian sec­tor pay

Comments

[d00ditsemily]

So someone doing their 20+ years to retire doesn't deserve to get pay until they are 60 after serving their country, going on endless deployments, training sessions, missing the birth of their children, holidays, etc.

[entropius]

Lots of jobs are hard. People in the military get paid well for their work, just like anybody else.

The poor bastards working on oil rigs, on merchant ships, in mines, in law enforcement, in medicine, for the Forest Service ... there are lots of folks that have jobs that carry them far away from their families on holidays.

They don't get to retire at 38.

[d00ditsemily]

Lol wat @ they get paid well for it...

Yah totally getting well for being a target for terrorists to shoot at. We have perks like our health care, retirement, and pay raises every year. If they take that away then we have nothing.

Most people that retire do more than 20, and they started when they are 17 and 18, doing their 20 years for retirement is a perk. They did their time with deployments and hardships. They knew what they were getting into as does an oil rigger.

[d00ditsemily]

I've written to everyone I can think of politician wise about this

[erunamiryene]

... hey, maybe THIS will get us out of Iraq and Afghanistan, because there's going to be a stampede for the door if this shit goes through.

But we can't cut out thirty boats from the Navy because OMG LOCKHEED MARTIN WILL LOSE ITS SHIT. Just take the money from the people who sacrifice everything else.

[d00ditsemily]

IKR. Who wants to sacrifice their life for even shitter pay with no benefits?

[erunamiryene]

NGL, if this "proposed benefits" package is what I had, I wouldn't have enlisted.

I was talking to another friend about it once, and privates in the Australian army START OFF with more salary than I was getting as an EIGHT YEAR sergeant. But we should CUT pay AND make them pay for their health care? IDGAF that it's "just a co-pay". What's next, cutting out the GI Bill? Jesus christ, it's a completely thankless job, on BOTH sides of the spectrum, in which you beat the shit out of your body for however many years, miss family events that other people take for granted, and ... they have TOO MANY benefits?

Fuck this. Wow, this has, like, instantly pissed me off.

[miss_nyxie]

So now we're out to screw the people who sacrifice pretty much everything for us? Great. =-\

[maynardsong]

This really isn't what I had in mind by "We can make cuts to DoD."

[thecityofdis]

MTE.

[devil_ad_vocate]

Maybe we could close down three or four of the NINETY-THREE Air Force bases we have around the world, or consolidate a couple of the FORTY army bases inside the US.

[antiotter]

Seriously. They FINALLY consolidated Fort Lewis, WA and McChord AFB, WA despite being right next to each other for decades.

[maynardsong]

When I said slash spending on Defense, I meant on *weapons* and *wars*. Not military family benefits. What is it with Republicans and sacrificing human welfare first???

[serendipity_15]

When I said slash spending on Defense, I meant on *weapons* and *wars*. Not military family benefits.

Seriously. Most of the bloat is in those those weapons manufacturing systems that tend to always run over budget and late and sometimes by the time it's delivered the military doesn't even need that shit anymore but they still have to take it cause it was made. Obviously it would make much more sense cut back on that stuff but I think that hell would freeze over first before congressmen let that happen.

[antiotter]

Grunts don't make campaign contributions. Defense contractors do.

[erunamiryene]

Ding ding ding! We have a winnah.