GI's and Food Stamps

[Salty]

GI's may loose food stamps
If GI's need food Stamps - then their pay is not enough.
Lets see - an E-1 starts off at more than 1 grand a month, now if he is married, he receives housing - somewhere around one grand a month - he also receives Sep Rats, free medical ,ect.

WHY does he need food stamps. Now, I have heard, when figuring out the gross pay of an individual - ONLY his Basic pay is considered - IF that is the case - then NO Food stamps ARE NOT needed.
Open for discussion

 

[saved41199]

GI's may loose food stamps
If GI's need food Stamps - then their pay is not enough.
Lets see - an E-1 starts off at more than 1 grand a month, now if he is married, he receives housing - somewhere around one grand a month - he also receives Sep Rats, free medical ,ect.

WHY does he need food stamps. Now, I have heard, when figuring out the gross pay of an individual - ONLY his Basic pay is considered - IF that is the case - then NO Food stamps ARE NOT needed.
Open for discussion

You've obviously never tried to live off military pay. It SOUNDS like a good deal..but...base housing is NOT guaranteed. At one point there was an 18 month waiting list...so you have to live on the economy. So, now you absolutely need a car, and insurance and gas and repairs (it's not like you can really afford a brand new car off the lot). Sep Rats are only if you are SINGLE and either TDY or deployed. Your "free medical", thanks to the GOP, is no longer free. You have to pay for dependent tri-care which has co-pays and deductibles. So...again, your 1 grand a month pay doesn't go that far at all...

 

[Salty]

Saved - My first Basic pay check as a married man was 180 dollars a month (B4 taxes) + 60 for housing - and 30 dollars for food.
I have an ideal what it is like to live on military pay. When I lived in Germany - I was NOT authorized govt housing - We did live on the economy. Guess what - we made it financially.

If you are authorized to live off post - you DO get Sep rats!



Oh, one other thing - when I served in the State Guard - we did NOT get paid!
In fact, we often had to pay for several things out of our pocket.

 

[TCassidy]

You've obviously never tried to live off military pay.

LOL! ROFLOL! Telling a man who served in the military for well over 20 years that he "never tried to live off military pay."

Now that's funny. I don't care who you are. That's funny!

You may want to check out this thread:
My military service

 

[Squire Robertsson]

Tom, I believe she meant for junior (E-4 and below) enlisted with families. That gets tough. It also depends on the location, the availability of on-base housing, and the sufficiency (for the local housing market) of the BAQ.

 

[Salty]

Tom, I believe she meant for junior (E-4 and below) enlisted with families. That gets tough. It also depends on the location, the availability of on-base housing, and the sufficiency (for the local housing market) of the BAQ.

Now days BAQ amount is based on the local market.
For example - for an E-3- w/ Dep
Ft Hood ----------------1,128
Ft Drum-----------------1,584
DC-----------------------2,124
Grand Forks, AFB----1,212
Camp Pendleton------2,229

Naturally, as your rank increases - so does your BAQ

 

[rsr]

Lets see - an E-1 starts off at more than 1 grand a month, now if he is married, he receives housing - somewhere around one grand a month - he also receives Sep Rats, free medical ,ect.

WHY does he need food stamps. Now, I have heard, when figuring out the gross pay of an individual - ONLY his Basic pay is considered - IF that is the case - then NO Food stamps ARE NOT needed.
Open for discussion

An E-1 with more than four months service (in this locality) receives $1,600 a month in pay and just about $400 a month in Basic Allowance for Subsistence. If he or she lives off post, there's another $1,000 or so for Basic Allowance for Housing. (The service member who lives in privatized base housing also receives BAH, but it all goes to the contractor.)

All are counted as income for food stamp purposes.

Because food stamp eligibility is determined by state data, eligibility varies widely.

The military for a time had a program that provided supplemental allowances for food, but it was hardly ever used and it was discontinued last year in favor of using the food stamp program.

The number of service members who receive food stamps is much lower than in the general population (although no one knows what the real number is) and is largely confined to very new soldiers and those with large families.

I am unclear whether the administration is proposing a ban on food stamps for military personnel or a restructuring of the program in which, because of their pay, they would no longer be eligible. I suspect it is the latter.

 

[Squire Robertsson]

Think of the difference in the local markets between high priced assignments like Joint Base Lewis-McChord (Tacoma, WA) or any of the San Diego facilities and assignments to some of the lower priced locales.

 

[rsr]

That's (supposedly) taken care of through variable Basic Allowance for Housing. Except for a few locations, food prices are not nearly as variable as housing prices.

 

[Salty]

and keep in mind that BAQ, Sep Rats, ect are NOT taxable - - so if Rats are 400 and BAQ is 1,000 - that is about $250 he is NOT paying extra in taxes-

 

[rsr]

More like 15 percent after the standard deduction and personal exemptions.

 

[saved41199]

I'm married to a 24 year veteran...I know about trying to live on military pay. The commissary ain't as cheap as it used to be either, honestly, we do better on the outside rather than the commissary.

Hungry Heroes: 25 Percent of Military Families Seek Food Aid - NBC News

 

[Salty]

Guess what - back in the 80's we use to shop the Civilian stores - grocery and retail.

Now, will you admit that I know about living on military pay?

 

[Salty]

I'm married to a 24 year veteran...I know about trying to live on military pay. The commissary ain't as cheap as it used to be either, honestly, we do better on the outside rather than the commissary.

Hungry Heroes: 25 Percent of Military Families Seek Food Aid - NBC News

Your link talks about an E-6 over 16 years
Basic pay -3800 dollars a month - + beanies
(that basic pay comes out to $876 per week )

 

[Squire Robertsson]

And I'm thinking in terms of an E-4 (or below) under six. I can remember in the early days of the all-volunteer force the problem was the pay\BAQ charts assumed E-4s and below were single and had no dependents. They were accounting for E-2 Snuffy joining up and marrying his/her high school sweetheart once Snuffy got out of basic. Or Snuffy joins up to provide for his\her offspring.

Your link talks about an E-6 over 16 years
Basic pay -3800 dollars a month - + beanies
(that basic pay comes out to $876 per week )

 

[Rob_BW]

Entry level jobs pay entry level salaries.

And if a private E1 ain't an entry level job, I don't know what it.

 

[Salty]

Entry level jobs pay entry level salaries.

And if a private E1 ain't an entry level job, I don't know what it.

and an E-1 gets a pay raise after 4 months even if he is NOT promoted.
Within a year, most will be promoted to E-3

 

[Rob_BW]

Spending some time as a broke Private is just part of the package.

I'll not doubt the patriotism of any servicemember, but let's be honest, here are also many other motives involved when someone chooses to sign up.

The military is often used as a means of bettering oneself, improving one's station in life. Whether as a career or a stepping stone to something else, the benefits are measured in more than just a paycheck.

Training, experience, and that GI Bill have been the draw, not a fat entry level paycheck.

 

[Bro. James]

Present day military are much better off than the 1776 military and the 1863 military. Pay and promotion was really tight after Korean War. This loosened in the late 1960's.

You make do with what you got and thank The Lord for all the blessings.

Curiously, one can get food and hardgoods cheaper at Wally World and Sam's Club, even with tax exemption. There is a certain captive audience for exchanges and commissaries.

Food stamps for military makes us all look bad.

Bro. James

 

[rsr]

Curiously, one can get food and hardgoods cheaper at Wally World and Sam's Club, even with tax exemption. There is a certain captive audience for exchanges and commissaries.
Bro. James

Commissaries have been required to carry only brand-name products at cost. That skews the prices because more and more Americans have turned to cheaper store-brand products. The commissary system is now preparing to introduce store brands, but it's not clear that commissaries can continue to exist because they require a large subsidy ($1.4 billion a year) that the Pentagon would like to use for other purposes, especially given, as you said, that off-post retailers are competitive (and don't forget the commissary surcharge of 5 percent, which offsets the tax exemption).

Exchanges are a whole different animal. They are profit centers whose business model is to make money to support family and morale, welfare and recreation activities that don't break even. Their big advantage is the sales tax exemption, but often that doesn't make them competitive with online retailers or even off-post retailers.

Food stamps for military makes us all look bad.

Maybe. Military pay has improved markedly over the past several years. The fact that a small percentage of military personnel (brand-new soldiers and those with exceptionally large families) qualify for food stamps is more a reflection of the expansion of food stamp eligibility in the wake of the Great Recession than of parsimonious military pay.