The following is an excerpt from Just The News.
The U.S. army is recommending soldiers apply for SNAP benefits, also known as food stamps, to help cover their rising costs from inflation.
The U.S. Army cites the higher prices on a range of goods because of inflation in its recently released official guidance.
“With inflation affecting everything from gas prices to groceries to rent, some Soldiers and their families are finding it harder to get by on the budgets they’ve set and used before,” the guidance written by Sergeant Major of the Army Michael A. Grinston reads. “Soldiers of all ranks can seek guidance, assistance, and advice through the Army’s Financial Readiness Program.”
Food insecurity for troops is not a new problem, but the recent surge in inflation has put service members in an even tougher situation.
“Based on the Pentagon’s own data, 24% of enlisted personnel are food insecure,” said Mackenzie Eaglen, an analyst at the American Enterprise Institute. “While food stamps are a Band-Aid, they’re also an admission that basic pay for enlisted troops and their families is too low – further exacerbated by unyielding inflation causing paychecks to shrink more.”
Federal inflation data released in August shows that food prices have risen at the fastest rate since the 1970’s.
Eaglen said the answer is to increase pay and be more realistic about how inflation affects service members.
“A better solution is to abandon rosy inflation assumptions, boost basic pay, and request a defense topline above inflation each year so forces and families have predictability and stability,” she said.
Read entire article here.
It took so many years to get enlisted pay where it needed to be to avoid this very thing. My Army career saw this transition happen and they have been destroying my Army for 14 years now. The violence I would wish visited on those responsible cannot be communicated online. They've taken the razor-sharp bayonet to the grinder and in a single generation returned with a butter knife.
Surely they mean for only married personnel, since the unmarried rank and file have always been provided "3 hots and a cot," in house and at government's expense.
ALL personnel, married and single, already have access to subsidized groceries at their base commissary and/or PX (post exchange), and with the pay they now receive--many times higher than when I served--plus subsidized housing for married personnel, I really can't sympathize with their inability to budget wisely.
Why are military personnel paid less than Federal civilian employees?