When people sign up for the United States military they’re promises many things including a pension and lifelong health benefits. What the state giveth, the state taketh away. Unlike private institutions, the state is able to violate any contractual agreements it’s made without consequence and I’m sure this is why active and retried military personnel are getting their health benefits reduced:
The Obama administration’s proposed defense budget calls for military families and retirees to pay sharply more for their healthcare, while leaving unionized civilian defense workers’ benefits untouched. The proposal is causing a major rift within the Pentagon, according to U.S. officials. Several congressional aides suggested the move is designed to increase the enrollment in Obamacare’s state-run insurance exchanges.
So the men and woman in this country’s military have just had their contractual agreement voided as far as I’m concerned and that means they should be allowed to leave the service immediately without paying the early termination fee. Since the state maintains a monopoly on the court system though it is unlikely any military personnel will be able to sue for breech of contract.
Another interesting thing about this is that the health benefits of military personnel are being reduced while said benefits aren’t being touched for unionized government employees. Interesting. It’s almost as if Obama is punishing military personnel for their large support of Ron Paul’s campaign while keeping the unions happy as they’ve been playing ball with the current president. That may just be me being a cynical asshole though.
The sad part is the bulk of the military is only paid just enough to be above the poverty line, actually when my dad was an E6 the hours he worked to the paycheck he took home was under the minimum wage in the early 90s and pay is not much better now. And people put up with this system because the military pays your healthcare and if not all then most of your housing. Still many families are on foodstamps because the pay is just that bad.
Sadly the maltreatment of military personnel will only get worse. They’re seen as merely disposable tools by the state, hardware that can be easily replaced if lost.
They’re fed bullshit about how well they’ll be taken care of and they get substance pay and constantly reducing benefits.
Oh I knew this was happening the moment Obama was elected, say whatever you want about the republican party but the one thing they will never hurt is the soldier. They may scale back the military budget if they are serious about reducing the deficit but it would never have been at the expense of the men and women of the armed services.
And the sad part about this is the Soldiers have no voice outside of their vote, the first thing you give up in the military is your first amendment rights when it comes to all things US government.
That’s one thing I never understood, when somebody believes in the supposed rights of Americans strongly enough to join the military you would think they would be allowed to exercise those rights so long as they weren’t violating any security regulations.
Before the veteran March on DC for Ron Paul a Navy official warned active military personnel that they were forbidden from making partisan political statements and retried veterans couldn’t war their uniform during the march. Supporting a candidate doesn’t violate any security regulations so I have no idea why the state believes it’s OK to stifle said demonstration.