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Greetings! You are reading an article from The Mudville Gazette. To reach the front page, with all the latest news and views, click the logo above or "main" below. Thanks for stopping by! June 24, 2009 You're WelcomeBy Greyhawk
That's the worst-case scenario for a brand-new military member, an E1 - assuming they received no bonus for enlisting in the first place. Then again, promotion to E2 comes before that first year is up, so after a few months they'll actually be making close to 19k a year. By the time they're an E4 with a couple years in, base pay is up to 23-24k. Achieve NCO status and you're close to 30k - in addition to your housing, food, medical care, and any special allowances or bonuses. Not bad for a high school graduate with no additional training or experience, says I. (Official military base pay table here.) Still, you'll often see horror stories citing that 17 thousand/year base pay as if that was all she wrote. But military pay is most likely different than yours, as about.com attempts to explain here:
They show E1 earnings at 35k, and E5 at 50+. And regardless of any other bonuses, they all get free health care for themselves and their families.
Now given the job they do - risking life to keep America safe - I also say they aren't getting paid enough (even with an extra 8k or so for a year's duty in a combat zone). And if you or anyone else wants to pick up the tab for a GI the next time you see one at lunch somewhere that's a great way to say thanks. Likewise, if you're the sort that sends care packages to the troops overseas I can assure you from personal experience they are appreciated. I never received one that didn't contain things I couldn't have bought for myself - but that's not the effing point. The knowledge that folks back home who didn't even know me actually gave a damn was priceless. That said, this annoys me (to put it kindly) - and if you can't see the difference then I'm wasting my breath: WASHINGTON, DC - On Thursday, June 25th, the President and First Lady will join hundreds of Congressional family members and five national nonprofit organizations to prepare 15,000 backpacks with books, healthy snacks, Frisbees and other items for the children of servicemen and women. The service event is part of United We Serve, President Obama's call to all Americans to engage in service projects and create meaningful impact in their towns and communities. The United We Serve summer service initiative began June 22nd and runs through the National Day of Service and Remembrance on September 11th. The initiative is being led by the Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal agency dedicated to fostering service in communities across the country. And frankly, the fact that a military installation is being used as a backdrop for the charade adds fuel to the fire. I think there are plenty of ways to say thanks for your service. I've taken advantage of free days at amusement parks for military members and families, I'm aware of summer camps set up for kids of deployed parents - awesome idea. But healthy snacks? Frisbees? Really? I think charity is a great idea - if there are malnourished kids somewhere whose parents can't afford to give them healthy snacks then I salute the efforts of any charity to right that wrong. I'm not even opposed to Government aid to that end. But if those kids are the children of military members, it's for individual reasons beyond mom and dad don't get paid enough to buy them food. The children of military members sacrifice for their country too, and they don't get a vote on that in more ways than one. So if you want to thank those kids for their sacrifice I think it's a great thing. They deserve it - in fact, you can't thank them enough. (But that shouldn't stop anyone from giving them a gift certificate for an ice cream cone or a free movie. Like me in Iraq they'll appreciate that.) But I'm more than a little annoyed when I see military members treated as poverty stricken charity cases, which I think is the not-too-subtle message being sent here. And it seems to be part of a larger military member as helpless victim signal that increasingly seems to emanate from the home of the Commander in Chief. I suppose there's a fine line between thanking someone and insulting someone, and it's individually defined. But in this case I believe it's been crossed. So I hope none of the folks involved aren't offended if I don't thank them. (But thank you for reading.) Posted by Greyhawk / June 24, 2009 9:45 AM | Permalink TrackBackTrackBack URL: http://www.mudvillegazette.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/16338 2 CommentsLeave a comment |
March 19, 2010Dawn Patrol 03/19/2003 [Greyhawk]
"Welcome to the Dawn Patrol, our daily roundup of information on the War on Terror and other topics - from the MilBlogs and various sources around the world." Mudville was founded in March, 2003. Our efforts to bring the thoughts, words, and deeds of milbloggers to a wider world evolved to become The Dawn Patrol in March, 2005. With today's entry we're going to reset the clock - but not re-write the history - and recreate the world as it was - on a day the world changed...
Updating... more to follow.... MILBOGSAndrew Olmsted, 19 Mar 2003, Stateside: It would appear that the liberation of Iraq has begun. Greyhawk, 18 Mar 2003, Germany: A united world could have, just maybe, brought down Saddam without firing a shot. We will never know. 19 Mar: We'll never know what a united world could have achieved... the UN could not agree on anything, the situation degenerated, and here we are. Status quo was not working. The French were too desperate for oil and trade at any cost. Well-intentioned Americans were led into the streets by Communists (and others) with an agenda. The media distorted the split. Many in America and abroad thought they could manipulate the situation to their personal gain. They miscalculated. The fire is lit. Pontifx ex Machina, 18 Mar, undisclosed location: Rolling out the gate, the guard gets a quick "hook-em, horns" sign as we weave through the barricades. Then we're off, cruising through the desert in a battered-up SUV. On the eve of war, only one thing passes through our minds: is there going to be any appropriate music on the radio? Lt Smash, 19 Mar, undisclosed location: Read the President's speech today. The clock is ticking. Chief Wiggles, 22 Mar, Kuwait: The war started Wednesday morning for us right after the president gave a speech to the American people that lasted about 4 minutes. We were all very anxious for this whole thing to be either over or get it on its way. Will, 22 Mar, en route: I am going to Baghdad to personally shoot that paper hanging son of a bitch! Lt Smash 20 Mar, undisclosed location: Sgt Stryker, 20 Mar, Stateside: Iraq to File U.N. Complaint About Attack Primary Main Objective, 30 Mar, undisclosed location I Dare Kofi to Come Get Me.
BruceR, Flit, 19 Mar, Canada: AND SO IT BEGINS. Godspeed, Yanks. Come home safe and soon. Andrew Olmsted, 20 Mar 2003, Stateside: The most important thing to remember over the next few days is this: the first reports are almost always inaccurate. First reports are generally submitted in the heat of battle before any real analysis can take place. Therefore, they're highly subjective, based on limited information, and rarely hit the mark. So as the first reports of 'surgical strikes' on Iraqi forces come in, it's best to take those reports with a grain of salt... Iraqi BlogsSalam Pax, Baghdad: The bombing aould come and go in waves, nothing too heavy and not yet comparable to what was going on in 91. all radio and TV stations are still on and while the air raid began the Iraqi TV was showing patriotic songs and didn't even bother to inform viewers that we are under attack. at the moment they are re-airing yesterday's interview with the minister of interior affairs. THe sounds of the anti-aircarft artillery is still louder than the booms and bangs which means that they are still far from where we live, but the images we saw on Al Arabia news channel showed a building burning near one of my aunts house... American BlogsGlenn Reynolds has a ton of links. Newpapers
Updating... more to follow.... |
The Mudville Gazette is the on-line voice of an American warrior and his wife who stands by him. They prefer to see peaceful change render force of arms unnecessary. Until that day they stand fast with those who struggle for freedom, strike for reason, and pray for a better tomorrow.
![]() I like having visitors to my house. I hope you are entertained. I fight for your right to free speech, and am thrilled when you exercise said rights here. Comments and e-mails are welcome, but all such communication is to be assumed to be 1)the original work of any who initiate said communication and 2)the property of the Mudville Gazette, with free use granted thereto for publication in electronic or written form. If you do NOT wish to have your message posted, write "CONFIDENTIAL" in the subject line of your email. Original content copyright © 2003 - 2009 by Greyhawk. Fair, not-for-profit use of said material by others is encouraged, as long as acknowledgement and credit is given, to include the url of the original source post. Other arrangements can be made as needed. Contact: greyhawk at mudvillegazette dot com ![]() |
Here is my idea since it's my tax dollars; take the $5 billion+ which is going to ACORN and the $4 Billion+ which is going to the mandatory-volunteer GIVE (or HOPE, whatever that crap is) and hand it over to active members and veterans instead.
Oh, include all the pork used in the buying politicians and all the Union-thug goodies.
Plus, Big Brother government-friends at GE and NBC/MSNBC should give all their "green" profits to the Wounded Warriors, Fisher House and Homes for Our Troops.
To make the pay equal to the legitslates, would tip the scales to the infantry.