[quote=spdrun]Handouts. Military-industrial-parasite spending has increased massively since 2001 without tax increases to support it. Problem is that the handouts are not going to the average American, but being pocketed by defense contractor companies who are sitting on quite a lot of money. And/or being squandered in the Middle East….[/quote]
Absolutely true, spdrun. But the avg “uneducated” Joe 6P has also benefited greatly from the “Military Industrial Complex” (MIC). This country has hundreds of thousands of GED-holder enlistees (no college) making bank in the way of COLAs, special combat pay, special war zone pay, free housing, free utilities, “free” college education for themselves and (and now spouse) and later, college fee/tuition assistance for their children (if they are discharged with even a 5% military-connected “disability”). See:
And said military-contractor “Halliburton” is another HUGE beneficiary of our MIC largesse. More than half of the VERY high-paying positions they offer are ALSO occupied by GED holders (with no college).
I’m not saying here that military retirees didn’t “earn” their benefits. And I’m not saying that the conditions many of our soldiers and sailors work in every day aren’t dangerous. Nor am I saying that these often isolated, boring laborer jobs which Halliburton offers GED holders are for everyone. What I am saying here is that practically speaking, a CA vet who was discharged within 2-4 years of enlisting with a 5-25% disability could feasibly get a university fee waiver for ALL of his children. I’ve seen this in practice with vets with 3-5 children, ALL UC graduates! If this same vet was deemed 100% “disabled” by a VA doctor (yes, even ~20 years after his/her discharge), his/her children not only would receive CSU/UC fee waivers but they would each receive approx $831 per month from the VA’s “Chapter 30” program to assist them with living expenses for up to 44 months in their respective college towns.
The military industrial complex is the gift that keeps on giving, even long after the death of the member/sponsor. So much so, that the sponsor’s family members often don’t feel a need to make their own way, as they’ve come to rely on military benefits provided for life.
I just think the current pay/bene structure for E-3 and up is now inordinately high compared to what it used to be. It has the effect of causing young uneducated enlistees to marry and have children very young for the sole purpose of availing themselves of HUGE housing allowances or “free” mil quarters with all utils pd. It also causes them to start their families while still a teen and continue to have children where if they were working civilian jobs and paying for their housing/medical premiums, they would think twice about having families that young and about having that many kids.
When they end up discharged in 4-6 years (due to disability or drawdown activities), these young former mil families often have several kids to support and very often neither parent has even started college yet! That’s when they are moved (by the military) back to their hometowns (to live with parents) and often end up going on public assistance.
Due to the tremendous mil drawdown currently underway, I just see a LOT of these former mil families in dire straights in the coming years. In the last 15 years, the military’s “family first” policies have created their own “welfare state” amongst its jr enlisted personnel.
