I’ve never been one to say that military benefits are inadequate. Just stick with whatever was offered when people signed up to stay on for multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan and we’re good.
Turn the clock back 40 years. It’s 1984. The base commissary is well thought of and is a solid benefit to those who did 20 years in uniform. Go there to shop and you will see WWII veterans. Korean War veterans, Vietnam War veterans and anyone else who stayed for 20 years.
This benefit is an incentive for active duty people to show up for 20 years of unrestricted worldwide service.
It’s the early 80s.
People do time in uniform. No controversy. No thanks for your service (a good thing). This was a period of Cold War era peacetime stability.
The US Armed Forces were on the back burner, right where they are meant to be.
No US Armed Forces recruiting crisis.
Things will change.
2018
The Dept. of Defense was nowhere to be found on 911.
The catastrophic military failure of 911 brings on decades of undeclared/unwon DOD wars.
In the news 2018:
“Surveys show commissaries are the second most valued benefit after health care, Barna said. Both the department and Congress want the benefit sustained.”
“At the same time, the department has set annual targets DeCA must hit to lower its appropriation from $1.4 billion in 2017 to $400 million by 2021. Military leaders have testified they want that that billion dollars in savings to applied to more critical readiness needs.”
It is expensive to manage these wars that drag on for years. Where to cut costs? How about a benefit earned by people who already did 20 years in uniform?
Commissaries are defunded. The benefit has now been altered and is not as good a deal as it once was. Smart shoppers go elsewhere. Uncle Sam says “Why fund the commissary if less people want to shop there?”
“The Defense Department’s top two executives overseeing commissaries — one responsible for all military resale policies and the other for day-to-day operation of 237 commissaries worldwide — have conceded in separate interviews that falling sales are alarming and must be reversed.”
“Falling sales toughen the task and “probably puts the benefit more at risk,” Bianchi said, raising concerns at DoD and in Congress about the value the benefit. “That’s clearly a concern,” Bianchi said, “that ‘Gee, if patrons aren’t using it, is that something we should still be funding?’ ”
We can’t have poor sales numbers. We will not put the benefit back to the way it was when people signed up to stay on for multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.
We will open up eligibility and get more people to show up to shop on base.
2018 Solution- Commissary employees to get shopping benefits
No need to volunteer to go to far away places and maybe never come back again. If you work at the facility-you now qualify for this traditional benefit.
The traditional/pre-2018 group who would shop at the commissary:
2020 Solution- Open the doors to those who did not do 20 years in uniform – 0% disability
“About 4 million veterans with at least a 0% VA-documented service-connected disability became eligible by law in 2020 for commissary, exchange and certain MWR benefits.”
Once an incentive to stay for 20, now maybe an incentive to qualify for a 0 percent disability.
What is a zero-percent disability rating?
Claims agents are standing by:
“So what about zero-percent ratings? A veteran may be rated at zero percent, which means that a service-connected condition exists, but that it does not affect his or her ability to function.”
San Diego area military bases to open gates to thousands more veterans in 2020
0 % disability
Out there in the world, somewhere, there are people who believe military benefits are too generous. Wait until they find out that their neighbor now gets a lifetime shopping on base privilege after doing 4 years in uniform and coming away with a 0 percent disability. Wait until the average person learns what it takes to qualify for a 0 percent disability.
The idea that military benefits are too generous will catch on as time goes on.
If the general public begins to believe the benefits are too generous, it will be easier to make moves to downsize benefits earned in exchange for 20 years of unrestricted worldwide service and save more DOD cash later on.
2024 – That didn’t fix it
At one time: An incentive for people to stay on for multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan/go to far away places and maybe never come back again.
Now: An incentive to work on a local base.
Dec 6, 2024 Stars and Stripes
Pilot program gives DOD civilians 4-month window to shop at 16 US commissaries
“Defense Department civilian employees at more than a dozen locations in the United States can shop at their base commissary for about four months under a pilot program that began this week.”
“Sixteen stores in seven states, from Alaska to Virginia, opened their doors starting Thursday to DOD appropriated-fund and nonappropriated-fund employees, the Defense Commissary Agency said in a statement the same day.”
“The agency is testing the feasibility of expanding commissary access to DOD civilians at all stateside stores. The change is expected to increase sales and allow the agency to pass on more savings to patrons worldwide, DECA said in the statement.”
Veterans Day
The veterans day ass kissing and propaganda is over for another year now.
This includes:
Thanking the troops.
Making claims that US troops are sent to distant lands to defend American rights and freedoms– as the US Armed Forces function as some sort of giant civil rights organization.
Sorry guys, we spent so much on undeclared/unwon wars that we can’t pay for the benefits that were in place last time you re-enlisted.
Plus, we needed to send big cash to Ukraine several times over.
New Uncle Sam also needed big cash in 2024 to fund Student Loan Debt Relief.
Old Uncle Sam, back in the 1980s asked young people to sign up with the US Army to earn college money.
1980s Army College Fund – Dad Shows Support
Please help us now by encouraging your own kids and grandkids to go see a recruiter and sign up because right now we are dealing with an ongoing recruiting crisis.
Recommendations
Insert language into recruiting literature and enlistment documents stating that rules concerning benefits may change at any time & that no definite benefit package will be provided in exchange for 20 years of unrestricted worldwide service. No grandfather clause will apply. Have unit leaders refer to this disclaimer when promoting retention drives, giving re-enlistment speeches, etc.
Some will say that this has already been done, and that you will see it if you read the fine print. I say take it out of fine print and make it read like the warnings on a pack of cigarettes.
Stop spending federal money on meaningless support the troops promotions, campaigns and VIP photo ops that are not connected in any way with public policy.
Here is a hand selected lady who was surprised (1:12) to get a phone call of support from The First Lady- even though cameras were rolling in her home when the phone rang:
“Comments are turned off.”
PBS News Video – Experts Deliver Their Report
Decades after the lessons of Vietnam, the Pentagon seems to specialize in undeclared/unwon wars. Understandable why young people & their parents & grandparents would take a dim view on all this.
The Armed Forces recruiting crisis was earned by the politicians, generals, and high ranking civilians who have been running the Pentagon over the past 30 years or so. The crisis is also upon us due to newspeople not asking questions going back to the time the Cold War ended.
Flag officers and high level DOD civilians built careers made of undeclared/unwon wars. Now they must mastermind ways to recruit a new generation.
They are going to tell us how all this works.
Oct 30, 2024 PBS News
WATCH: U.S. military leaders hold briefing on recruitment goals and challenges for 2025
“Comments are turned off.”
If comments were open:
Some will say obese teens and young adults are to blame for the big recruiting crisis. Thousands of young, intelligent and athletic Americans participate in college athletics each year. Certainly, they would qualify to enlist- no rehab/prep program required.
Why are these people not showing up at the recruiting office?
US press plays along by not asking questions and shutting down or suppressing comment sections.
Watched the entire video above. Zero questions on how flag officers and high level DOD civilians allowed for this:
MOAA Sept. 25, 2023
Military Barracks Blasted Over Horrid Living Conditions, Lack of Accountability
Restricting And Suppressing Local Newspaper Comment Sections/Comments On The Web
Years ago, I lived in several different small town areas. Places like Kingston, Port Hadlock and north of Penn Cove.
These areas had small, local newspapers and those papers featured active, online comment sections. Paying for a newspaper subscription was OK with me. There were basic rules for commenting, but it did not seem to matter what name people went by. I never cared.
I used to love the comment sections.
Local papers have stripped away all comments from past articles, and removed the opportunity to post comments to new articles.
Various newspapers in the Puget Sound area have gone with this trend.
Suppressing comments, getting away from asking questions related to public policy and telling us they need more support from subscription and advertising sales.
Got it.
After local newspapers shut down comments, people could still go to Twitter and take a look at what people were posting for comments. Some papers have since shut down posting of their news articles on what is now called X.
Some papers still post to X, but commenting is mostly inactive.
YouTube can be a very good place to view active comment sections, but it may be tricky to find a video that relates to a news story/public policy update you are looking for.
Sound Publishing And Black Press Media
Related:
From 2018:
Sorry Troops – Those Benefits Cost Too Much
From 2019:
New Incentive To Qualify For Zero-Percent Disability Rating
From 2020:
Unsustainable Military Spending
Photo at top of page:
A symbol of various Support The Troops gestures.
A giant flag ritual at the next ball game will make it all good.