Tom’s Tidbits- No one cares about the military

Greetings,

As the government shutdown continues one issue is coming to the forefront… military pay. There’s a lot of shutdown-related issues concerning this but I’d like to talk about a more fundamental issue. If (and that’s a volatile “if” right now) our service members eventually get pay and/or back pay after the shutdown, they still won’t be in good shape because their pay has been a national embarrassment for decades under both parties. Now may be the ideal time to shine light on a commitment we’ve all violated.

“Military families are already living on the financial line. A lot of us are paycheck to paycheck,” said Raleigh Smith Duttweiler, chief impact officer with the National Military Family Association. “Less than a quarter of military families have $500 in savings, so we need that money to be able to get by.” That’s a quote from last week, but those military families didn’t suddenly find themselves on the edge. They live in poverty because we, the people who employ them, apparently don’t think their service is worth a living wage.

Pay for the approximately 1.3 million people serving in the military today is about 22% of the FY2024 $874B budget. There’s an obvious pay gap between the loftiest generals and the lowliest privates. In 2025, excluding benefits and allowances, an O10 (highest level) hits around $225,696 a year while an E1 (entry level) can expect about $27,828, a mere $1000 a month over the Federal Poverty Line. Conveniently for math there are about 1.04 million service members E9 and below, so every million dollars saved could mean roughly a dollar in their pockets every year. Every billion means $1000. Remember that when you think of the cost of one B2 bomber ($2.1B excluding operations) or one Tomahawk missile ($2M). Think harder when you consider cancelled programs like BAT or Crusader ($2.2B each) or Comanche ($7.9B), Really feel the pain when you think of the 97-year contract at $2.1 TRILLION for the F-35 (a $100,000 raise for every enlisted service member!). Just moving 3% of the non-payroll Pentagon Budget spending to payroll would DOUBLE all enlisted service members base pay.

Military pay, unsurprisingly, has been a top issue among military families for years. Blue Star Families, an organization made up of and advocating for service members, has issued a Military Family Lifestyle Survey since 2009. From their latest 2024 report,

“Military pay ranks as a top issue for 46% of active-duty families, nearly double the proportion in 2020, and is especially critical for enlisted families (58%). Relocations exacerbate financial strain, as 70% of families report out-of-pocket expenses exceeding $500, and spouse job searches often take longer than three months, with 25% taking nine months or longer. Rising housing costs further stress budgets, with only 37% finding housing within their Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH), down from 58% in 2020. Just 36% of junior enlisted families feel financially stable, compared to 62% of military families overall and 72% of U.S. adults.

And in a national humiliation, miniscule pay isn’t the whole story. Veterans have a suicide rate 72% higher than the general public. VA Medical Care, widely considered good when available, is difficult to access and a bureaucratic mess. Military housing is a shambles of mold, pests, and gas leaks. When it comes to food, “…from 100,000 to as many as 275,000 military families are eligible to receive food stamps. This implies that the Federal Government is paying its military members a poverty wage, a fact that could adversely affect the service’s ability to attract and retain personnel.”

Only the military requires you to sign over your life as part of the job. While a hash-slinger at Fort Mead is unlikely to be ordered to charge a machine gun nest, it’s possible. Every person in the military from generals to privates can be ordered to do things that could literally cost them their very life. They all put it on the line. By itself that is, or should be, worth more than WalMart wages.

As a country, we (and hopefully our government) theoretically want the best for our fellow citizens, but in a capitalist society we have little to no control over pay for individuals out there “in the Market”. The best we can do is to try to build the economy and raise the floor for everyone. Not so in the military. There, we (through our ‘representatives’) have complete control over the pay. If our service members, our mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, don’t get enough pay it’s our fault. The military isn’t and shouldn’t be a road to riches but it also shouldn’t be a path to poverty. We can’t ask people to devote years of their lives, risk lifetime injury or the even death for a pittance. Yet we do, every day, and we have for decades. And now we’re arguing about whether to even give them the pittance they’ve earned. Shame.

Make a great day,