Can someone explain the wealthy military officer phenomenon?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Straw man. Base officer housing might not be that nice (though why you brought up enlisted housing I have no idea), but BHA definitely is.

Married to an officer. We don’t have access to base housing. Many in the Bethesda area don’t.

This isn't true at all. You have access to base housing on other bases, but you choose to live in Bethesda. You can go to Ft. Mead, Andrews, Bolling, etc.

I actually can’t. Husband has to live within a certain radius of the hospital.

You can live where ever you want. The rule is for your husband, not you and you can live in a cheaper area and not just Bethesda.

Shut up. Even the military, for all its MANY faults, prefers to keep the servicemember with their civilian spouse. Hell, they try to keep dual military couples together.

You were blessed. We were separated two years because of it. Sure, it's nice to stay together but it's not realistic for everyone. Check your privilege but you were probably an officer family.

Um. Enlisted or not, the military never expected your husband to live within a certain radius of his place of employment and for you to not.

Actually, yes they did. We couldn't afford it, so I stayed behind. See how that works.

Troll. You can't "not afford" to move on accompanied orders.

No, we could not afford it. I had a good job and close to retirement. We needed my income till my husband could retire and get a job and start over working their way up which isn’t easy to do in your late 30s.

This really isn’t relevant and you’d think you’d know better than to tell someone just to live apart from their spouse because you chose not to. It’s not that you couldn’t afford it. It didn’t make financial sense.

No, we could not afford it as I did not have a job where he was going and we could not afford to live on just his salary. Enlisted don’t make that much.

Please stop. An E-7 currently makes around $65k a year, plus BAH, plus BAS, but whatever other incentive pay they're entitled to. E.g., enlisted aircrew AIP can be up to $600 a month.

Very few make it to e7 and my spouse did not. You think $65 is a lot of money? Can you live off that? So, no, we could not afford for me to give up my job.

What? Anyone who makes it to 20 years makes E-7. Are you in your early 20's? You sound like you might be, in which case you probably need to adjust your expectations regarding...life.

Nope. It takes about 25 years or really pushing your career which is hard if you are getting your education or have a family.

I am very sorry to be the one to tell you this, but the average time in service for E-7 is 12 years.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Straw man. Base officer housing might not be that nice (though why you brought up enlisted housing I have no idea), but BHA definitely is.

Married to an officer. We don’t have access to base housing. Many in the Bethesda area don’t.

This isn't true at all. You have access to base housing on other bases, but you choose to live in Bethesda. You can go to Ft. Mead, Andrews, Bolling, etc.

I actually can’t. Husband has to live within a certain radius of the hospital.

But don’t they still give you lots of money towards your housing costs??

For officers yes, enlisted no and it depends on rank. If they can afford Bethesda they are higher ranking officer.

When I married my husband, he was an O-2. He would be getting $1600 a month for housing now based on our location then. How is that lots of money? He would have been getting the same as an E-6! (Because you're wrong, and enlisted DO get money toward housing. Please stop spouting off your ignorance.)

Your ignorance is showing. You have no clue about enlisted. It is a decent amount of money. You don’t have to live in Bethesda and most live in cheaper areas like us.

You know these numbers are public, right? Here, I reduced the rank a bit.

E 5 with DEPENDENTS:
$ 2880.00
E 5 without DEPENDENTS:
$ 2538.00

But keep going about how you can't afford Bethesda.

Have you purchased or rented in Bethesda in the last decade? That's not a lot. I don't think your numbers show what you want them to.

I just did a search on Zillow for rentals. If you don't have dependents, you get a roommate. If you have dependents, you live in a 2 bedroom apartment. It's not tough.

So you acknowledge you can’t get an apartment rental on your own or ever purchase a house at that amount? Stop acting like it’s so much money.

BAH is a housing allowance, not a means to pay your mortgage.

They do it to reduce your pay so you get less in retirement benefits.

Ok. And?

Stop whining about how the military get sooooooo much tax free housing allowance that they are scum sucking off the taxpayers all while they live large in retirement.

I'm a military spouse. The housing allowance helps us, so I'm not sure what your point is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is just another hate on military. Feel free to sign up or encourage your children and then maybe you all can enjoy the cushy benefits.

DCUM is not know as military friendly. Shocker there are wealthy people in the military, there are also wealthy civilians.

I'm OP, I'm a military spouse, and I was simply curious about the wealthy families we've run across.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s not that they’re so wealthy. They’re more along the lines of lower end of UMC. They avoided a lot of debt due to military benefits. They’re not flying business class and sending kids to private school.

Yes they are. There are military schools that give scholarships to military children. Then they also get college free.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is just another hate on military. Feel free to sign up or encourage your children and then maybe you all can enjoy the cushy benefits.

DCUM is not know as military friendly. Shocker there are wealthy people in the military, there are also wealthy civilians.

Don't know what you mean. DC is full of military people. It's a hub.

[Anonymous]

Some wealthy families have a tradition of at least one per generation choosing military service. Some wealthy families have daughters who marry military officers. Either way, they got the Benjamins.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:This is just another hate on military. Feel free to sign up or encourage your children and then maybe you all can enjoy the cushy benefits.

DCUM is not know as military friendly. Shocker there are wealthy people in the military, there are also wealthy civilians.

Don't know what you mean. DC is full of military people. It's a hub.

I think the PP means this forum is not generally military friendly.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:It’s because the taxpayer funds a huge portion of their expenses (housing while on base, no down payment for Va loans, the list goes on). Welfare queens to the max

+1. Even one of Reagan's hires (Stockdale, I think his name may be) wrote a book a few years ago describing the US military as socialistic. But if you dare question it, you're labeled a "communist" or worse. DH has several retired military in his family, and when they start bragging about their free health care and whatnot at Thanksgiving, I say "you're welcome."

Maybe when the conversation turns to the safe and free society we live in, your retired military family members can turn to you and say, “You’re welcome.”

Oh, they do, at every turn.

Good, I’m glad you are making sure to thank them for their service.

You are thanking them, right, and that’s why they’re saying, “You’re welcome”?

Thanking them for their service is cringe. They didn’t do it for you.

This.

The elephant in the room is that many people join or stay in the military because it is their best (financial ) option.

That is not politically correct but it is true. (That is why they use bonuses to get them to re-up, not flags or the constitution!)

Come on. That's not true. Of all the officers that got to retirement there isn't a single one I know that did it for a paycheck. Many easier careers that don't totally burn your family and regularly puts you at risk.

My spouse and I both got out at 8 (dual military, both service academy graduates). The majority of our former peers that we know that are staying in until retirement are…very average. Many of them were open about staying in until retirement simply to get retirement pay. Nice people, but very average in intellect, skill, and ambition. This label is true for both the ROTC graduates and the service academy graduates that we know; only OCS and prior service officers defy this trend in my experience. They definitely don’t have many options for stable pay and benefits at the level that they have in the military, although laughably more than a few have commented that they could have been “CEO level” if they had gotten out pre or post company command. Their wives are also to this day, even post GWOT era, the most into the “I am a military spouse! Thank me and my family! We serve too!” culture, way more than the enlisted wives that I knew. There are of course exceptions to every generalization. A small minority are exceptional.

On the enlisted side, it was actually inverse in my observations. My best NCOs and soldiers overwhelmingly stay until retirement. They also did more combat deployments than officers, often deploying every other year for years until they became drill instructors and spent even less time with their families before going back to the deployment cycle. They and their families did this on low pay and in moldy, section 8 quality housing. But similarly I think there were financial considerations in the decision to stay in until retirement for them too. It was a very hard life for both the service member and their family, I’m not sure feelings of obligation towards fellow service members or an abstract patriotism without a financial incentive could sustain the typical person through 20 years of that level of sacrifice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not that they’re so wealthy. They’re more along the lines of lower end of UMC. They avoided a lot of debt due to military benefits. They’re not flying business class and sending kids to private school.

Yes they are. There are military schools that give scholarships to military children. Then they also get college free.

Where are all these military children getting free college? IF the parent has GI Bill benefits available and IF they transfer these to their child, they could have the benefit. But that assumes a few things. One, that they did not use the benefit themselves first. Two, that they want to incur the additional 6 year service obligation the transfer requires. Lastly, the benefit is capped and would really only cover a 4 year school for one child.


If military kids are widely getting college for free in other ways, please enlighten me. I’d love to know for the future!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is just another hate on military. Feel free to sign up or encourage your children and then maybe you all can enjoy the cushy benefits.

DCUM is not know as military friendly. Shocker there are wealthy people in the military, there are also wealthy civilians.

I'm OP, I'm a military spouse, and I was simply curious about the wealthy families we've run across.

You get more of them in DC area because they are more likely to be Academy grads who end up doing a tour in this area. Academy grads are more likely to come from a wealthy family or be married to a spouse who is independently wealthy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not that they’re so wealthy. They’re more along the lines of lower end of UMC. They avoided a lot of debt due to military benefits. They’re not flying business class and sending kids to private school.

Yes they are. There are military schools that give scholarships to military children. Then they also get college free.

Please name these schools.
You are truly clueless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not that they’re so wealthy. They’re more along the lines of lower end of UMC. They avoided a lot of debt due to military benefits. They’re not flying business class and sending kids to private school.

Yes they are. There are military schools that give scholarships to military children. Then they also get college free.

Where are all these military children getting free college? IF the parent has GI Bill benefits available and IF they transfer these to their child, they could have the benefit. But that assumes a few things. One, that they did not use the benefit themselves first. Two, that they want to incur the additional 6 year service obligation the transfer requires. Lastly, the benefit is capped and would really only cover a 4 year school for one child.


If military kids are widely getting college for free in other ways, please enlighten me. I’d love to know for the future!

The benefit is capped, can be split and gets any kid using it instate tuition


https://www.va.gov/resources/in-state-tuition-rates-under-the-veterans-choice-act/

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not that they’re so wealthy. They’re more along the lines of lower end of UMC. They avoided a lot of debt due to military benefits. They’re not flying business class and sending kids to private school.

Yes they are. There are military schools that give scholarships to military children. Then they also get college free.

Please name these schools.
You are truly clueless.

+1. Please name these mythical military schools.

My spouse served the additional 6 years required in order to be able to transfer Post 9/12 GI Bill benefits to our two children.

Each child has 18 months of college funded by the GI Bill. The other 2 years we paid from 529 accounts and personal savings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is just another hate on military. Feel free to sign up or encourage your children and then maybe you all can enjoy the cushy benefits.

DCUM is not know as military friendly. Shocker there are wealthy people in the military, there are also wealthy civilians.

Yes, please join us. You too can enjoy all the benefits such as low pay compared to civilians jobs, moving around every 2-3 years, long work hours, and sometimes, even being in harm's way.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:It’s not that they’re so wealthy. They’re more along the lines of lower end of UMC. They avoided a lot of debt due to military benefits. They’re not flying business class and sending kids to private school.

Yes they are. There are military schools that give scholarships to military children. Then they also get college free.

The Post 9/11 GI Bill benefit is not a scholarship.

The service member had to fulfill extended service obligation. In my spouse’s case, that included living in a safe house in Kabul, Afghanistan, with fighting and explosions regularly occurring around him.

So….it wasn’t exactly a piece of cake for some people.