Those pesky democrats supporting our troops again. . .

[wildbill]

You can't base military pay on a 24/ 365 basis- it just doesn't work. How do you factor in all the 96 hour special libs utilizing that- or how bout when they break it down to duty section at noon on fridays and everyone goes home?

You have to look at military pay by examining the entire compensation package to include medical/dental, housing, comrats, etc.

By looking at a base pay scale you may see that an E4 with 5 years in makes 25,000 dollars but when you factor in all the above they probably sit right around 40K or so. Health benifits cost money in the private sector--so does housing. (estimates, not looking it up)

Underpaid? Nah--probably just about right. I was in Iceland getting wic based on base income, but really, we all used to joke about it because we were receiving 1400 dollars a month in COLA that didn't figure into base salary. So of course when you go to apply for WIC they don't see it.

Same in Okinawa and now in Yokuska- people claim the EIC tax relief based on base salary that doesn't include the additional 10K they're receiving in COLA.

Public servants in general struggle but people do it because of the stability, benefits, and retirement systems.

I've know some folks that serve that wouldn't last 2 months in the private sector but will do just fine in the military and receive a pension at 20. that's why a lot of people go back in after they get out.

Love the military---I'm just sayin'

[Seabee1973]

I stand by my position. If it comes to feeding money into the beast that is the military industrial complex the GOP is all over it. If it's raising the pay or benefits of the men actually doing the fighting the GOP is no where to be found. Look at McCain's record on military benefits... those were all attached to Iraq deadlines. The GOP has a terrible record when it comes to the PEOPLE in the military. They don't mind making million dollar missles though so long as their getting some lobbying money and golden parachutes out of it.

Republicans have been the best at raising our pay from 00-2006 we have recieved the some of the largest pay raises given to the military.

[chomerics]

Republicans have been the best at raising our pay from 00-2006 we have recieved the some of the largest pay raises given to the military.

Military pay is linked to civilian pay, and it has been for decades, what ever the base adjustment in salary is, the military gets a corresponding raise. It was not you that just got the raise, but every single person working for the government got the exact same raise. If you want to say that the republicans paid everyone in government more than they should have, sure I'd agree, I got on average 3.75% a year increase just as a base, not to count step and grade increases. In other words, I got almost $4K a year more even if I did a crappy job, hence the problems with government.

Now, they HAVE changed the laws which state that people in the military will be paid and tied to the defense budget instead of the same government system that everyone else is. I believe that change was in 08.

[Fergasun]

Republicans have been the best at raising our pay from 00-2006 we have recieved the some of the largest pay raises given to the military.

Thanks for serving... I'm guessing you're a member of 3-4-5-40... I'm currently working at NEMESIS... but we don't have too much interaction with you guys... when I started working there we would play basketball next to the McDonald's and occaisionally there would be a seabee there, one of whom seemed to play every time we were there... went to the bank the other day and the cadance while some of you guys were marching was impressive (although that could've been the Air Force tenants?)...

[Seabee1973]

Thanks for serving... I'm guessing you're a member of 3-4-5-40... I'm currently working at NEMESIS... but we don't have too much interaction with you guys... when I started working there we would play basketball next to the McDonald's and occaisionally there would be a seabee there, one of whom seemed to play every time we were there... went to the bank the other day and the cadance while some of you guys were marching was impressive (although that could've been the Air Force tenants?)...

Ill be rolling into 40 in june

[Seabee1973]

Military pay is linked to civilian pay, and it has been for decades, what ever the base adjustment in salary is, the military gets a corresponding raise. It was not you that just got the raise, but every single person working for the government got the exact same raise. If you want to say that the republicans paid everyone in government more than they should have, sure I'd agree, I got on average 3.75% a year increase just as a base, not to count step and grade increases. In other words, I got almost $4K a year more even if I did a crappy job, hence the problems with government.

Now, they HAVE changed the laws which state that people in the military will be paid and tied to the defense budget instead of the same government system that everyone else is. I believe that change was in 08.

Military pay has never been linked to civilian pay Never has never been Our pay raises are always included in the military budget thats why the government Almost went on strike in 96 when the the budget was vetoed.

It has at different times been adjusted to the rate of inflation so if inflation is 4 perecent we get 4.5 percent or 3.5 percent but they are allowed to go so much above and below the rate of inflation.

[81artmonk]

Whoa, you mean democrats wanted to raise taxes to pay for something?? Surprising! Not only that, do so to the Rich and make them pay for it?? Even more surprising. Go figure, that doesn't sound like democrats........

[PokerPacker]

Fail RickRoll. Fail.

seriously? RickRoll was your filler space? :laugh:

[Thiebear]

I believe in CONUS the COLA is factored into the BAH(Basic Allowance for Housing). Probably known as BAQ(basic allowance for quarters) and VHA(variable housing allowance) back when you were in. All of which was not taxable.

After getting out of the military did i realize how much they actually make.

When you take all of the non-taxed stuff.. it's not too shabby.

My 25000 in the military was the same as making 42000 on the outside.

My ex-wifes husband gets 2300 a month in housing, in Alexandria.

it ain't all rays of sunshine though

[Thiebear]

So now when good things happen to GI's we can no longer be proud because we're not doing ****. Only the top 1% can take credit?

[Destino]

Whoa, you mean democrats wanted to raise taxes to pay for something?? Surprising! Not only that, do so to the Rich and make them pay for it?? Even more surprising. Go figure, that doesn't sound like democrats........

Higher taxes during a time of war?!!! DEAR GOD WHAT'S NEXT?! Personally I think taxes should be higher for everyone during war so that war can remain as unpopular as possible. The last thing we need is a cheap war no one has to worry themselves about. At the very least however we could take steps to actually take care of the guys fighting it and pay for the damn thing.

[Thiebear]

Higher taxes during a time of war?!!! DEAR GOD WHAT'S NEXT?! Personally I think taxes should be higher for everyone during war so that war can remain as unpopular as possible. The last thing we need is a cheap war no one has to worry themselves about. At the very least however we could take steps to actually take care of the guys fighting it and pay for the damn thing.

I thought it was our job to make the other side think the war was to unpopular and expensive to continue?

[Burgold]

I agree with Destino's thought except I think that taxes should be higher during war because:

A) Everyone should pitch in and be asked to.

It's the most serious thing a nation can do and so to camoflauge the costs of war (either by denying the right to photograph caskets or by not letting citizens feel the financial burden is misguided)

[Sarge]

When is the last time you saw republicans do anything for enlisted men in the armed forces? Before the war DEMOCRATS argued that the troop levels were too low. After the fact we found out that generals were making the same point while Bush and Rumsfeld ignored them. Duing the war DEMOCRATS made a stink about body armor and armored vehicles, two things Rumsfeld's defense department was slow to provide. Now DEMOCRATS are the ones pushing through pay increases and supporting shorter tours of duty.

Republicans pay lip service to the war.

It's pretty damn clear which party SUPPORTS the troops and which SUPPORTS a war.

I would say since Bush has raised our pay by over 30% since coming into office, your statement is just ignorant

[Sarge]

Military pay is linked to civilian pay, and it has been for decades, what ever the base adjustment in salary is, the military gets a corresponding raise.

Do you never get tired of being wrong about all things military?

Pot smoking GS civilains have been whining for years everytime Bush wanted to give the military a higher raise than civvies get. It was back in 02-04 that the military raise was higher then the civilians

Of course, if pay hadn't gotten so far behind civilains and the private sector in the 90's, there wouldn't have been a need to do that

[wildbill]

Pot smoking civilians is about as accurate as dumb-ignorant soldiers.

If you're in, I hope they have waivers to keep you in to up to 60 years, cause it's a different animal once your out.

[isle-hawg]

10% of **** is still ****. if you get paid nothing and someone gives you a 10% raise, it isnt going to matter in the long run. the little man will never see this and this is just for people to try and convince the public that they care about the serviceman.

the military is grossly underpaid and for the job they do this is a slap in the mouth. places like San Diego need to have a Cost of living allowance but they dont. But any place you live overseas has COLA with no questions asked.

Mike, I agree service people (especially the jr enlisted) are grossly underpaid for their sacrifices.

I disagree though that this is a slap in the face. This is a positive IMO.

Kind of like when the Dem controlled congress adding another .5 or 1% for basic pay despite Bush's threat of veto.

Perhaps the D' aren't doing enough but in many cases they are doing more for service people than the R's. Something is better than nothing.

[isle-hawg]

Higher taxes during a time of war?!!! DEAR GOD WHAT'S NEXT?! Personally I think taxes should be higher for everyone during war so that war can remain as unpopular as possible. The last thing we need is a cheap war no one has to worry themselves about. At the very least however we could take steps to actually take care of the guys fighting it and pay for the damn thing.

I agree with your SARC and points but would add that the higher taxes should also be a means of shared sacrifice for all of us, not just those on the front lines.

[Sarge]

Pot smoking civilians is about as accurate as dumb-ignorant soldiers.

If you're in, I hope they have waivers to keep you in to up to 60 years, cause it's a different animal once your out.

22 was enough for me

And in the case of the poster I was replying to, it was entirely accurate

[81artmonk]

Higher taxes during a time of war?!!! DEAR GOD WHAT'S NEXT?! Personally I think taxes should be higher for everyone during war so that war can remain as unpopular as possible. The last thing we need is a cheap war no one has to worry themselves about. At the very least however we could take steps to actually take care of the guys fighting it and pay for the damn thing.

See that's kinda the problem with this. It does nothing for our troops in battle. But boy howdy will we take care of them when their done.

[Sarge]

And I guess with the tax increase, Nasty Pelosi breaks another promise of "Pay as you go".

I mean, God forbid there would be a spending CUT to pay for this

[chomerics]

And I guess with the tax increase, Nasty Pelosi breaks another promise of "Pay as you go".

I mean, God forbid there would be a spending CUT to pay for this

Can you not read? They are paying for it by raising the tax rate on people making over $500K/year by 1%.

Or do you disagree with that too?

[81artmonk]

Can you not read? They are paying for it by raising the tax rate on people making over $500K/year by 1%.

Or do you disagree with that too?

Yeah, I do. That's what democrats do. Rather than cut spending, they are gonna penalize another social class who THEY think are rich in order to pay for this. I call it the Robin Hood syndrome, or Socialism.

[Seabee1973]

Mike, I agree service people (especially the jr enlisted) are grossly underpaid for their sacrifices.

I disagree though that this is a slap in the face. This is a positive IMO.

Kind of like when the Dem controlled congress adding another .5 or 1% for basic pay despite Bush's threat of veto.

Perhaps the D' aren't doing enough but in many cases they are doing more for service people than the R's. Something is better than nothing.

I think the JR enlisted are getting paid fairly decent now about 1400 a month free room medical dental and food.

[chomerics]

Yeah, I do. That's what democrats do. Rather than cut spending, they are gonna penalize another social class who THEY think are rich in order to pay for this. I call it the Robin Hood syndrome, or Socialism.

Wow, so you are actually saying that taxing people who make over $500K a year in order to give benefits to the soldiers fighting is a bad thing :doh:

Does party loyalty hold no bounds? What would you say to a democrat who posted EXACTLY what you just typed out? What would you say if the republicans wanted to give the troops benefits, and the democrats were trying to block it because of a tax on the top $500K earners? What would your platform be?

You see, you are not only a completely blind and partisan hack, you also don't even have the knowledge to understand when you are being used. You, my friend, are a republicans wet dream.