Marine Commandant Amos: "There are 144 same sex couples in Marine Corps"

[haele]

28. Actually, it does. Married Pay, Married rations, and spousal benefits. Spouses get VA benefits.

Gen. Amos counts "couples" as married couples in this report, not as "relationships". It's very obvious when he discusses basket leave so that couples in states or areas without equal marriage rights can go to states to get married.

A dependent spouse (and any other dependents) costs almost as much as a military member for purposes of budget in the departments of Personnel, Medical, and Morale/Welfare (which includes Housing, Base Social Services, Educational Services, Exchange, and Commissary). When commanders plan manage their manning, they also have to take into account spouses and dependents. Spousal separation is a concern if you want to send someone off into combat, because of the dependency and relationship factor and how it affects both of them emotionally. If two people cared about each other enough to contemplate being life partners, that potential distraction must to be taken into account if there is going to be a danger of one of them not coming back. Yes, the military does plan and provide services for those situations, too. And those services have a price per member that needs to use them - they're a benefit, but they still need to be budgeted.

So, 144 more "dependents" - whether or not the dependent is also in the military - is significant to those commands where these new couples are located.

Haele