Military use of food stamps rises again - Feb. 17, 2014
In 2008 the use was only 31 million dollars.. TODAY 103 million.. Another example that Obama hates the military and they are way under paid!!
Actually, this reflects on the people receiving the food stamps more than anything. Truth is, there's no reason for this to happen save for the irresponsibility of those who end up in this situation. It's true that the lowest enlisted ranks don't exactly make big dollars. But they do make salaries on par with anything they'd find in the civilian world if they hadn't joined the military, if not better. If you're a low ranked enlisted person, you
should come out of training with several thousand dollars in the bank. You've been living bill free, with three meals a day provided for you. Then there's your signing bonus, half of which you'll get when you finish training, the other half you'll get a year later. And when you get to your first duty station you're going to be living in the barracks rent free, again with three meals a day provided for you. You won't be able to get a place of your own until you've achieved a certain rank (with higher pay). And then you'll get BAH.
What drives this explosion of food stamp usage is the fact that those collecting them have been very irresponsible. Many of them before they even joined, some of them since they joined. Some people don't want to live in the barracks, so they get married for no other reason than to be allowed to live off post. They figure they'll get more money since they'll get BAH, but they don't think about the fact that they'll also have higher expenses. They take on more than they can afford and end up struggling. Then someone ends up pregnant, and now they need food stamps to get by. Some people join the military because they became parents and/or got married at far too early of an age and they are looking for a steady paycheck to take care of their families.
Military personnel are somewhat infamous for being financially reckless. Most people join right out of high school or shortly thereafter. They have no real world life experience. Those who don't have families to support get out of training with anywhere from $4000 to $15000 in the bank and the first thing they do is spend their money extravagantly. Everything from escorts, high end electronics, and cars they don't realize they can't afford in the long run. They think they're rich so they spend until they're broke, and then end up in debt they can't pay off. Then they get Article 15s for being delinquent on their bills. Many become frequent flyers at Payday loan shops. Instead of learning to become more responsible, many end up learning all of this as a way of life. Because they've never known anything else. And they're surrounded with people who are doing the same thing.
