Military Pay Halted....F'd up

[Quantum Windbag]

Alarmist nonsense, the military will be paid in the event of a shutdown. They were, last time.

The Examiner's accuracy and veracity has been called into question many times before.

Really?

If government shuts down, so would troop pay

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Mar 11, 2011 12:08:58 EST

U.S. troops could be required to report to work without pay if a budget clash in Congress results in a government-wide shutdown, according to draft planning guidance circulating in the Pentagon.

A shutdown could happen as early as next week, as the government is set to run out of money at midnight March 17. A bill that would keep the government operating temporarily has been prepared in the House of Representatives, but it is not clear when or if it might pass.

The government has been operating under a series of temporary appropriations, known as continuing resolutions, since Oct. 1 because of lawmakers’ inability to agree on how much money to provide federal agencies. Budget discussions have become increasingly complicated since the November general elections resulted in a divided legislature, with Republicans controlling the House and Democrats controlling the Senate.

When the government was shut down in 1995, military personnel continued to report to work and were paid, but the planning guidance sent to the services and defense agencies says a shutdown this time will be different.

“All military personnel will continue in normal duty status regardless of their affiliation with exempt or non-exempt activities,” says the draft planning guidance that was prepared for the services and defense agencies. “Military personnel will serve without pay until such time as Congress makes appropriated funds available to compensate them for this period of service.”

If government shuts down, so would troop pay - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Yanno.......I was stationed in Newport RI at the Naval War College when it happened. For 3 weeks, the civilians all went home, and we carried the load while they were gone.

Oh yeah.....it also took 3 weeks to get our paychecks (back pay we were owed) and there were lots of people contacting Navy Relief to see if they could get loans for rent.

Nope......and what's worse.......if the government shuts down........that means veterans who are retired (like me) won't get their check, and people like my roomie won't get their unemployment benefits.

Wanna see a French Revolution against the rich? Let the GOP shut down the government.

Guess what, I saw articles like that in the Navy Times during the Clinton/Republican budget dispute. Didn't happen then either. The Army Times is not an official Pentagon news source, it is fully owned by Gannet.

I hereby make a prediction.

If we have a government shutdown that extends into April Congress will pass a separate bill that authorizes any money needed to continue essential services, and no member of the military will miss a single paycheck.

 

[SFC Ollie]

From 1979 to 1995 every time the Government threatened to shut down the military got told they may not get paid. Under Reagan it happened several times. They always managed to pay us.

Just remember, IF the Government shuts down it is because of Democrats in the Senate.

Uhm, not really. It will be the Repubs who will shut it down, just like before.

Sarah,

Get fucking real. It is the Democrats who have caused all this by not passing a damned budget prior to 1 October 2010. That was their job. They failed to do it and now are preventing the Republican run house from doing the job for them.

As for the main part of this thread. BS The military will be paid. Civilian workers may be told not to come into work at the military posts but the military checks and social security payments etc. will go out as scheduled. I'm not going to spend the time looking for the article I read about this but trust me. The pay will go on.... To include Military retirement checks. Simply too big of a voting block.

 

[ABikerSailor]

Ollie, in 1994 we were working for 3 weeks without paychecks. The military is supposed to get paid on the 1st and the 15th of each month (that changed because of Bush Sr.'s "voodoo economics).

So yeah.......if the government does shut down, get ready to do without your retirement check or your military pay until they finally decide to re-start it.

I know you retired in 94, but, apparently, you missed out on the whole paycheck missing for three weeks thing. I retired in 2002, so yeah, it DID happen.

 

[SFC Ollie]

By the way, I have been collecting either a military pay or a Military retired pay since 1971. I have never had a short or late pay check.

That is all....

 

[High_Gravity]

This whole no pay thing is making me nervous.

 

[ABikerSailor]

Maybe that's because you were retired by then and got your check on the first like I did, but because retired pay is only once a month, you missed out on noticing it.

We missed out on our 15th paychecks, and it was at that time Navy Relief in Newport started handing out loans so that people could buy groceries and such. Good thing about it was that it was only a loan, and Navy Relief was counting on it only being a month or two at the most. It turned out to be 23 days total, and yes, we did get back paid for the check we missed.

But I can tell you......for a lot of people, missing out on that check was a big deal. Lots of people had decent landlords though, and they worked it out.

 

[High_Gravity]

Maybe that's because you were retired by then and got your check on the first like I did, but because retired pay is only once a month, you missed out on noticing it.

We missed out on our 15th paychecks, and it was at that time Navy Relief in Newport started handing out loans so that people could buy groceries and such. Good thing about it was that it was only a loan, and Navy Relief was counting on it only being a month or two at the most. It turned out to be 23 days total, and yes, we did get back paid for the check we missed.

But I can tell you......for a lot of people, missing out on that check was a big deal. Lots of people had decent landlords though, and they worked it out.

That sounds like a real mess, but we still have the money to bomb the pants off of Libya right?

 

[SFC Ollie]

Here are the facts as we know them:

Mil*i*tary pay was exempt from the ten shut*downs that occurred between 1980 and 1996, and only the 21-day shut*down in 1996 lasted more than three days.
Con*gress passed another extension, which if agreed to by the Pres*i*dent will buy another three weeks (April 8) – the fifth con*tin*u*ing res*o*lu*tion for the FY2011 bud*get.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz), recently called on Con*gress to pass a bill that would fund the mil*i*tary regard*less of whether an agree*ment can be reached on the full fed*eral bud*get.

http://militaryadvantage.military.com/2011/03/does-shutdown-mean-no-pay-for-military/

 

[ABikerSailor]

See? You just proved that the military did without a paycheck.

Like I said, same thing could happen again.

 

[SFC Ollie]

See? You just proved that the military did without a paycheck.

Like I said, same thing could happen again.

Never said that you didn't miss one.

I said I never missed one. And I don't expect anyone to miss one now. But if we do, or if those on active duty do. Then the fault still lies with the Democrat run 111th congress which failed to pass the spending for this year.

 

[High_Gravity]

See? You just proved that the military did without a paycheck.

Like I said, same thing could happen again.

Never said that you didn't miss one.

I said I never missed one. And I don't expect anyone to miss one now. But if we do, or if those on active duty do. Then the fault still lies with the Democrat run 111th congress which failed to pass the spending for this year.

If I were in Afghanistan taking gun fire from some fuckin Talibs and I missed a payday I would be fucking furious.

 

[ABikerSailor]

Shit......I was on shore duty at Newport RI when it happened. First thing that happened was that all the civilians (about half of the command) were told to go home without pay, and they would be called back when the budget was passed.

The military was then assembled and we were told that even though the civilians went home, we still had a job to do and all of it still had to be completed.

We were working 10 hour days for a while.........

Then, on the 15th, we were told that the budget still hadn't passed and that we would be given back pay when the budget did pass, but for now, go to Navy Relief and get a loan and tell them you'd pay it back when you finally did get paid.

Yeah.....that month sucked.

 

[High_Gravity]

Shit......I was on shore duty at Newport RI when it happened. First thing that happened was that all the civilians (about half of the command) were told to go home without pay, and they would be called back when the budget was passed.

The military was then assembled and we were told that even though the civilians went home, we still had a job to do and all of it still had to be completed.

We were working 10 hour days for a while.........

Then, on the 15th, we were told that the budget still hadn't passed and that we would be given back pay when the budget did pass, but for now, go to Navy Relief and get a loan and tell them you'd pay it back when you finally did get paid.

Yeah.....that month sucked.

I would have been steaming.

 

[Lumpy 1]

Well.. I guess we'll see what happens..

 

[editec]

I have checked what I will be getting paid. 17,604$ (E-1 with 2 or less years of service) isn't (accidentally, added a extra "i", corrected I believe) exactly high-living, but eh. I didn't join the military to make money, or go to college. I joined to be in the military, and I guess this is another thing our recruiter can't say rocks about joining the military lol.

The only good thing I could see coming out of halting military pay is keeping people out who join for the paycheck, although I have yet to meet someone joining for the "big money" haha


~Edit~ I want to see how the recruiters react to this, because their having a insane time convincing people to join, they should say their getting rid of the GI Bill, doubt half the people joining from my school would stay in it.

~Edit~ Honestly, I don't know if I'd quit (yes I can quit as a DEP'er) even if they cut the pay in half. I mean, I just really want the military. I doubt I'd quit then, if they stopped doing the GI Bill and other benefits, I'd start to question it, but I doubt I'd quit, I'd probably serve my contract then just go to farming or something. I hope they don't freeze the pay, but if they do, I guess I'll have to live with it lol. Sorry, I know it's a weird way to look at it, but just trying to share my opinion.

$17,496 PLUS ROOM AND BOARD, HEALTH CARE. 30 DAYS PAID VACATION, UNLIMITED SICK DAY, TAX FREE PURCHASES AT THE BASED STORES, AND ONE OF THE MOST GENEROUS RETIREMENT PACKAGES IN THE USA?

Kid, that's a damned fine starting salary for going to boot camp. And you'll be an E-1 for about 4 months before you get your first pay raise to E2.

Compared to most civilian salaries for equivalent work?

The military's compensation and benefits are very generous.

How many people just starting out do you know that have $17,000 a year in DISPOSABLE INCOME? (disposalble income is incomes after living expenses fyi)

Military recruits START OUT with an income that delivers $17,000 of DISPOSABLE ANNUAL INCOME.

In order to make that much as a civilian one would need to start with a salary and benfits package worth about $65,000 a year MINIMUM.

 

[Cain]

I have checked what I will be getting paid. 17,604$ (E-1 with 2 or less years of service) isn't (accidentally, added a extra "i", corrected I believe) exactly high-living, but eh. I didn't join the military to make money, or go to college. I joined to be in the military, and I guess this is another thing our recruiter can't say rocks about joining the military lol.

The only good thing I could see coming out of halting military pay is keeping people out who join for the paycheck, although I have yet to meet someone joining for the "big money" haha


~Edit~ I want to see how the recruiters react to this, because their having a insane time convincing people to join, they should say their getting rid of the GI Bill, doubt half the people joining from my school would stay in it.

~Edit~ Honestly, I don't know if I'd quit (yes I can quit as a DEP'er) even if they cut the pay in half. I mean, I just really want the military. I doubt I'd quit then, if they stopped doing the GI Bill and other benefits, I'd start to question it, but I doubt I'd quit, I'd probably serve my contract then just go to farming or something. I hope they don't freeze the pay, but if they do, I guess I'll have to live with it lol. Sorry, I know it's a weird way to look at it, but just trying to share my opinion.

$17,496 PLUS ROOM AND BOARD, HEALTH CARE. 30 DAYS PAID VACATION, UNLIMITED SICK DAY, TAX FREE PURCHASES AT THE BASED STORES, AND ONE OF THE MOST GENEROUS RETIREMENT PACKAGES IN THE USA?

Kid, that's a damned fine starting salary for going to boot camp. And you'll be an e-1 for about 4 months before you get your first pay raise.

Compared to most vivilian salaries for equivalent work?

The military's compensation and benefits is very generous.

How many people do you know have $17000 a year in DISPOSABLE INCOME? (disposalbee income is incomes after living expenses fyi)

Military recruits START OUT with that an income that delivers $17,000 of DISPOSABLE ANNUAL INCOME.

In order to make that much as a civilian one would need to start with a salary of about $65,000 a year MINIMUM.

Kid?...

Hmm, do you want me to list the stuff I lose for that "disposable" income? Also, I would not call that 'disposable' because I still have to pay for a means of transportation if I want to go places, that is one reason I wouldn't call it disposable.

 

[Toronado3800]

Military pay is not over generous. Probably about right to make sure folks join to be soldiers not to get rich.

Hell, could you pay me a million a year to go police iraq? Drivr the Germans back to the stone age yes though lol. Just the chance of having to say 'yes sir' to getting deployed to Chad. Ug. Worth the money we pay.

We should cut farm subsidies, let capitalism have its way with them just to teach libertarisns the value of subsidies before we cut military pay.

 

[SFC Ollie]

Cain, consider yourself very fortunate. My first take home pay for one month of service as an E1 was $111. That was the summer of 1971. Not really ancient history. Military pay has come a long way.

 

[High_Gravity]

Cain, consider yourself very fortunate. My first take home pay for one month of service as an E1 was $111. That was the summer of 1971. Not really ancient history. Military pay has come a long way.

Mine was $375 as an E1 in the summer of 2000.

 

[MaggieMae]

And just plain pisses me off...

I would hope all Americans would be up in arms, fit to be tied, totally pissed off, if this government is so F'd up that this could happen...just pathetic..

-------------------------

Military pay for soldiers in the US and abroad could be drastically affected should the government experience a budgetary shutdown in the coming days.

With hundreds of thousands of active, reserve, and national guard military personnel providing front line, or support functions for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a stoppage in pay would add additional stress to soliders, sailors, and airmen trying to focus on missons at hand.

While President Obama has stated that during a government shutdown, essential services would be paid and budgeted for, the fact that military expenditures make up such a large portion of the national budget would mean that halts in money would have to occur in many areas regardless of the President's overtures.

In an article on Friday from the Army Times, soldiers back in 1995 were not effected by the government shutdown, but this time circumstances are different, and pay would be halted even while men and women continue to fight in the active war zones.

https://www.examiner.com/finance-ex...-could-be-affected-with-a-government-shutdown

I'm sure someone will have already explained this later on in the thread, the only NON-essential government programs/offices will be shut down. The military isn't considered non-essential.