The truth about military service.

[LibraLabSoldier]

I have been Active Duty Army for nearly eight years. Here are some things I have seen and experienced.

We were made to wear a black felt beret, at great expense to the Army, even though my family was having to live in overpriced off base housing because there werent enough units on post.

We got more pay raises under Clinton. However, your average Repub. thinks that Bush is doing more for us.

Bush has systematically tried to cut our benefits, to include hazard duty pay, and family seperation pay for soldiers serving in harms way.

I spent a year stationed in Korea. I saw large numbers of prostitutes, poverty and filth in the towns outside the bases. THe official line was that soldiers were not allowed to consort with the prostitutes. THat was not the case.

I have been moved all over the country several times with my family in tow. Not only does this put a heavy strain on my family (kids jerked out of school, wife unable to keep a job) but at enormous expense to the government.

I have been passed over for promotion more than once due to an antiquated and subjective promotion process.

Airforce soldiers living on an Army base get supplemental pay for living in sub standard housing.\

The divorce, spousal abuse and alcoholism rates for those of us in the military are many times higher than the national average.

Our pay continues to lag behind the national average.


On base facilities are usually run down.

PX and Commissary benefits are hardly worth talking about. While technically the prices for things on post are lower, the On post retailers figure their prices based on off post prices plus tax, so they basically pocket what would otherwise be spent on paying state sales taxes.

[msmcghee]

1. Thanks for filling in . .

. . the picture on this. I've always wondered what a career in the military is like for a family. I've heard 3rd person accounts but never from someone living the life.

IMO we should spend what it takes to support our military decently and I'll bet most liberals agree. We should also develop a long range foreign policy that would minimize the need for a huge military in the first place. And I know all liberals would agree with that.

When your foreign policy is centered around the desire to do whatever the fuck you want, wherever and whenever you want to do it, then I guess you better have a lot of boots ready to start kicking ass.

The general preference for Republican administrations by military personnel seems to be a good example of tricking people to vote against their own interests - similar to what happens to many others in the lower economic levels.

I wonder if anyone has done a study on that.

[LibraLabSoldier]

2. Its a joke that isnt funny

That gets told alot in the Army, how if the army was really like the recruiters tell you it is, no one would ever want to get out.

[MadProphetMargin]

3. Wait til you get a load of the VA.

[Jokinomx]

16. Thanks for the Insights LibraLabSoldier

I am sorry msmcghee ... I meant to respond to LibraLabSoldier:-)


I just missed being drafted in the early seventies. My concern is.... with an all volunteer service at least everyone that is there made the choice to join. How is the moral going to be improved if and when the government re-instates the draft, when a high percentage will NOT want to be there?

I Salute you and your Family for the sacrifices you have made over the last few years. You deserve so much more. :toast:

:dem:

[hadrons]

4. I hated my brief stay in the military ....

I was in basic at Fort Sil in the late 80's and it took a week for me to sour on the whole experience ... the training was absolutely horrible (I'm surprised anyone learns anything there) and the environment seems to encourage passive-aggressive (I remember reading in a military newspaper that was lying around about some private who was cutting holes into parachutes because he was mad at his C.O.)

[LibraLabSoldier]

6. HAHAHAHAAH

I am currently writing these posts from the Lab at Reynolds Army community hospital, FORT SILL OK!!

[qazplm]

5. i think you

are wrong actually on the spousal abuse part, but most of the rest i would agree is more or less accurate.

[LibraLabSoldier]

7. I would agree with you,

if I havent seen it more than once with my own eyes. How many times can an Army wife walk into the same door?

[anarchy1999]

8. Thank you for speaking out and welcome to DU.

I visited several bases last year and I had to quit my job as a result. I could not reconcile my belief system with selling to the government/industrial complex and I was selling environmentally friendly products. The level of corruption and the degree to which I saw our soldiers not being taken care of was more than I could handle.

There was no amount of money worth it.

[LibraLabSoldier]

9. The thing is, Soldiers are like Orphans....

Everyone thinks someone else should take care of us. And more often than not, those who speak the loudest about wanting to help us out are most likely wanting to screw us over...........

[anarchy1999]

10. Guess you need to check out www.dallaspeacecenter.org

And yes, you may be correct. Those who seem to speak the loudest are the most responsible. I'm sorry, my husband, myself and many, many others are trying to make a difference.

[LibraLabSoldier]

11. Thank you.....

I have always thought that people should give something back. Not necessarily through military service. Volunteerism was on the rise during Clinton, but Bush had to try to push that bogus "faith based initiative" in order to find a way to publicly fund religion, and all the scandals about how the 9/11 donations were being diverted have also taken their toll. Once I am out of the service, and have a bit of a freer rein on what I can say, and where....I plan on becoming active in the many causes I hold close to my heart.

[jonnyblitz]

14. ...and those who are gung -ho to send you off to war

would NEVER consider enlisting themselves. (Desert Storm navy vet here :hi:)

[lottie244]

12. You are now like Kerry, speaking out about military abuses during war.

Hang you head and shame and shake my hand.:hi:

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

13. Sounds like things haven't changed much since 1965.

On that most glorious day when I was finally able to make my less than fond farewell to the U.S. Marine Crotch. My pay was $79. per month when I joined in '61 and a magnificent $165. per month in '65.

You left out the sheer boredom of it all, the incredibly stupid officers and NCO's, and the "mission" to kill people on command.

[LibraLabSoldier]

15. I work at the Hospital....

If anyone dies while I am performing my mission...I go to jail! Especially if I make a mistake in blood bank.....

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

17. There were 9000 disabled veterans from Gulf War 1 not getting

the services they desperately needed while the Pentagon was dragging their feet on allowing Gulf War Syndrome to become a diagnosis...after this war, there will be tens of thousands of vets needing long term health care...this is why it staggers the mind to have seen Vets applauding * the other day while giving Kerry a cold response...disabled vets fared better under Clinton but Bush was allowed to stand there and lie about how he has expanded VA care when in fact he has no where NEAR expanded it to what it will need to be to accomodate all the disabled vets he has created with an ill conceived war plan.

[SpaceCatMeetsMars]

18. LLS,

I saw the post about your stepbrother on the other thread. there is a guy on Unfiltered on Air America right now talking about this issue - PSTD etc. (It's 10:48 EST right now, he's still on.)

He said if the person you are concerned about won't listen to you, give him pamphlets and literature on the services that are available. I'll let you know what else the guy says, if he gives any other suggestions.

Add: They said he is from The National Gulf War Resource Center

[LibraLabSoldier]

19. The worst thing about having to sleep in the daytime

Is that I miss so much, and then spend all night trying to catch up. Thank you all for your posts, but this isnt about me. As I have said many, many times, I am no hero, and am nobody special. I just do my job. The people who are actually trying their hardest to make Iraq and Afghanistan a better place with no real support from our CIC deserve your thanks, praise, and support. I just wanted to show a little slice of the other side of the military. There is a lot of stuff I have left out......