White House 'Strongly Opposes' Proposed 19.5% Pay Hike for Junior Enlisted Troops

[Anonymous]

Pay the military. The fact we paid off billions of dollars in student loans is ridiculous and we are paying some illegals thousands a month.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:As the military is facing a "once in a generation recruitment crisis," the White House said it "strongly opposes" a proposed nearly 20% pay raise for junior enlisted troops.

"The number one priority for our military is getting that recruitment crisis under control and increasing pay is a good way to do that," said Veterans on Duty chairman Jeremy Hunt on "Fox & Friends" Thursday.

"The administration is strongly committed to taking care of our service members and their families, and appreciates the [House Armed Services Committee's] concern for the needs of the most junior enlisted members, but strongly opposes making a significant, permanent change to the basic pay schedule before the completion of the Fourteenth Quadrennial Review of Military Compensation," the White House said in a statement.


Hunt slammed this opposition, saying, "It's truly remarkable to me. … President Biden has approved over $100 billion in student loan forgiveness. But when it comes to our troops, America's most precious resource, he's complaining about an increase in military pay?"

https://www.foxnews.com/media/embarrassment-white-house-blasted-opposing-pay-hike-troops.amp

That’s actually a great point. Millions for student loan forgiveness; Military families paying oop for their housing costs.

No wonder recruitment is in the toilet.

+10000
What completely screwed up priorities this administration has.

This is where the billions that went to pay off college loans SHOULD have gone.

100%
Absolutely this.

Exactly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pay the military. The fact we paid off billions of dollars in student loans is ridiculous and we are paying some illegals thousands a month.

+1
Incredibly insulting.

[Anonymous]

We need to shrink the military. They are barbaric. We have no need for a large standing army any longer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We need to shrink the military. They are barbaric. We have no need for a large standing army any longer.

Then move elsewhere. Sane Americans most definitely want a large, powerful, competent military.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Im not sure I understand what the issue is....they are doing a military wide compensation review and want that completed BEFORE signing a 19.5% pay hike correct?

"While Tuesday's statement from the White House suggested Congress should wait until the administration's review is done to make any significant changes to military pay, the senior enlisted leaders for all the military services earlier this year urged lawmakers to act immediately to boost service members' pay.

Additionally, a House Armed Services Committee staffer told reporters last month that a 15% raise for junior enlisted service members is among the options the administration's review is considering.

The White House's statement Tuesday cited cost as a concern with the House's plan. A Congressional Budget Office analysis released Monday estimated the increase in pay for junior enlisted troops would cost $24.4 billion from 2025 to 2029.

The administration also argued that service members have already received significant raises in recent years, citing the 5.2% troops got this year and the 4.6% increase last year.

"If the president's FY 2025 request is enacted, service members will have received a 15% basic pay increase in just three years," the statement said, though it would actually add up to 14.3%."

Senior military leaders recommend this. They know lower enlisted troops are struggling.
Bipartisan leadership in the House Armed Services committee recommends this. They have examined the issues.

Lower enlisted troops can’t afford housing. How do you think that’s not problem?

Then housing allowance should be adjusted. Let the formal review be completed and then push this forward. This is all delayed from previous administrations.

Ill also add that the bill the House Committee is trying to push through REMOVES MARIJUANA TESTING FOR RECRUITMENT AND ENLISTED!!!!!

Do you have a citation that this was delayed by previous administrations?

https://www.navycs.com/charts/ https://www.military.com/daily-news/2022/12/07/2023-military-pay-raise-will-be-largest-20-years.html
You can see year by year. President, year, increase. It usually matches fed increases.

Obama recession, no one got raises. Clinton balancing the budget- no one got raises. But Bush and Trump both pro-military and the raises were eh.

And you are uneducated if you think that the base pay is all they get. https://www.navycs.com/military-pay.html And most of the allowances are untaxed. So when you talk about 2000 BAH you need to increase it to what it would be for taxed rate because its untaxed.

Dude I retired after 27 years. I am shocked Biden talks about his son and Dr. Jill talks about military families needing support and lower enlisted are struggling to pay their rent.

They arent struggling to pay their rent. They are struggling because the bases are in HCOL and the government doesnt properly adjust for COL. The government also wont regulate housing and who is purchasing housing. The Ft Carson example was talking about people wanting to buy homes because of VA loans and equity but buying a home isnt a guarantee and shouldnt be what we are increasing pay towards. They have 26000 personnel but only 3100 housing units. Why was base personnel expanded without housing expanded? The base command is now advocating for reduction in builder liability so that they can get more condos built......they are all over the place. And then commenting about how some of the families have to have dual incomes to survive........ermmm yes so do most families. I didnt realize that being an enlisted meant you got a SAHP. Are we subsidizing that now?

Id love to see the numbers on how much base housing costs the military to run versus BAH

With skyrocketing rental costs, military personnel being forced to pay out-of-pocket for place to live

The Defense Department's Basic Allowance for Housing hasn't kept pace. The Blue Star Families and House Armed Services Committee called for an increase.

https://www.13newsnow.com/article/news/national/military-news/with-skyrocketing-rental-costs-military-personnel-being-forced-to-pay-out-of-pocket-for-housing/291-7dce187f-52bb-45d4-90fa-3d0abd71c68b


NORFOLK, Va. — Because there simply isn't enough military-owned housing for the nation's 1.3 million military active-duty members, many of them have no choice but to live off-base.
73% of military personnel who live in civilian housing pay well over $200 per month in housing costs out of pocket—beyond the Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) they receive from the government—according to a 2023 survey from Blue Star Families.


A 2022 Blue Star Families survey found that 98% of respondents said finding rental housing within $200 of the service member's BAH was "somewhat difficult" to "extremely difficult."
The findings are drawing the attention of Capitol Hill.
"These housing shortages force military families to strain their budgets and pay more than they can afford or to undergo long commutes," said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts), during a hearing last week of the Senate Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee.
At the same hearing, Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel Ashish Vaziarni said: "Access to affordable housing certainly will improve the quality of life for military families. We're very focused on that."
Currently, the BAH is calculated at 95% of the local market cost.
Blue Star Families says the allowance needs to return to 100%.



Military families’ housing benefits lag as rents explode: ‘That could be $20,000 that we’re paying out of pocket above BAH’


https://fortune.com/2022/08/20/military-families-housing-benefits-lag-as-rents-explode-bah-housing-bubble/

When Kristin Martin found out her husband was being transferred to Naval Base San Diego, securing housing for their family of five quickly took over her life.

On-base housing wasn’t an option — the waitlist for a four-bedroom home in the neighborhoods they qualified for was 14 to 16 months.

Neither were the military-only hotels near base where new arrivals can pay low rates as they get their bearings — those were full, too.

So Martin cast a wide net across San Diego and started applying for rental homes, all sight unseen.

“I was waking up and the first thing I was doing was looking at properties,” Martin said. “I was looking at it midday, before I went to bed. I had alerts set. It became a full-time job.”

More than 30 rental applications later and hundreds of dollars in application fees down the drain, the Martins finally found a home.

But there were caveats. They’d have to start paying rent a month before they actually moved. And, at $4,200 per month, their rent was nearly $700 more than the monthly basic allowance for housing, known as the BAH, that her husband, a lieutenant, receives.

“We’ll probably be here two or three years, so that could be $20,000 that we’re paying out of pocket above BAH just for rent,” Martin said after completing her family’s fourth move in 15 years last month.

“It’s affecting us personally but then I think about how we were a junior enlisted family at one point. I cannot imagine the struggles (they) are going through.”

Housing has long been a major benefit for service members, a subsidy to salaries that trail the private sector. But, amid record-breaking spikes in rent, the Department of Defense has neglected its commitment to help military families find affordable places to live, service members and housing activists say.

That’s forced many to settle for substandard homes, deal with extremely long commutes or pay thousands out of pocket they hadn’t budgeted for.

“We have families coming to us that are on exorbitantly lengthy waiting lists and sitting in homes that they can’t afford, like an Airbnb rental, or they’re at a hotel or camping in tents or living in RVs,” said Kate Needham, a veteran who co-founded the nonprofit Armed Forces Housing Advocates in May 2021.

“I don’t think civilians really understand — they might think we’re living in free housing and just having a great time, making lots of money. And that’s not the case at all.”

[Anonymous]

They're Not Able to Cover Their Rent': Housing Top Concern as Congressional Panel on Military Life Starts Work

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2023/04/25/housing-costs-top-troops-concerns-chairman-of-military-quality-of-life-panel-says-after-offutt-visit.html?amp

Enlisted personnel and junior officers are very concerned about being able to afford housing, the chairman of a new House panel focused on quality of life in the military told Military.com in an interview Monday after a pair of listening sessions at Offutt Air Force Base.


"On the enlisted and the officer [side], the housing allowances have been the number one unanimous concern of both," said Bacon, who spoke to Military.com by phone after two of three planned closed-door sessions Monday. "What I'm hearing from the enlisted and officers -- CGOs, company grade officers, in particular -- is that they're not able to cover their rent, which means they're digging into their other pay, their salary for finishing their rent and also doing utilities."


Lawmakers in both parties have been expressing concern in recent years that the Basic Allowance for Housing is not keeping pace with the housing market.

For Offutt, which sits about 10 miles south of Omaha, affordable housing in the surrounding area is scarce, Bacon said.

He said he sees two potential fixes to make housing more affordable for service members. One would be to mandate that BAH cover 100% of housing costs. Right now, it covers 95% of costs after Congress passed a law in 2015 that allowed, but did not require, the Defense Department to reduce the percentage of housing costs the allowance pays for. Earlier this month, Bacon co-sponsored a bill that would bring BAH back up to 100%.

The quality-of-life panel will also look at updating the calculations used to set BAH rates, he added

[Anonymous]

Only 25 percent of young Americans are even eligible to enlist in the military. These young people are the best the US has. Pay them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Only 25 percent of young Americans are even eligible to enlist in the military. These young people are the best the US has. Pay them.

+1 this is true.

[Anonymous]

Only 23% of Americans 17-24 qualify for military service

https://www.ktsm.com/local/el-paso-news/only-23-of-americans-17-24-qualify-for-military-service/amp/

EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – New figures from the U.S. Dept. of Defense show that less than a quarter of Americans of prime recruiting age are eligible to serve in the military.

The most recent data indicates that only 23-percent of Americans between the ages of 17 and 24 would meet the necessary qualifications to enlist.


A group called “Mission: Readiness” suggests this could have major implications for national security.

Many potential applicants would be disqualified due to physical fitness concerns including obesity while others would likely not be able to join the military due to their criminal history or drug-related issues.

“Physical health challenges, including obesity, prevent far too many young Americans from reaching their dreams. For many young people, those dreams include serving their country in uniform,” said Mission: Readiness member Lieutenant General Norm Seip, U.S. Air Force, (Retired).


Now, military leaders are urging the nation to focus more on childhood nutrition and health education at an early age to turn things around.

“These new ineligibility figures are a painful reminder of the urgency around making sure that our young people have the tools they need to grow up healthy and prepared for whatever career path they choose, including military service if they so desire,” said Lieutenant General Seip.

Bottom of the barrel? Ok.

[Anonymous]

Put the fat kids on ozempic if a war breaks out. Problem solved. We have bigger problems at home and around the world we need money for.

Tax payers are already paying for lifetime benefits, food, housing, etc. It’s time we right size our military and focus on more positive efforts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Put the fat kids on ozempic if a war breaks out. Problem solved. We have bigger problems at home and around the world we need money for.

Tax payers are already paying for lifetime benefits, food, housing, etc. It’s time we right size our military and focus on more positive efforts.

Soldiers don’t choose how big the Army is; that’s the Military’s civilian leadership. If you think the Military is too big, talk to them.

What are the bigger problems here at home and around the world that need taxpayer money more urgently than paying our Military members?


Only six tenths of one percent of Americans are retired from the military. One million of them are Soldiers. Only 30 percent of officers and ten percent of enlisted Soldiers retire.


https://soldierforlife.army.mil/Documents/ChangeOfMission/ChgOfMission_Oct2021-v2.pdf

The number of Military personnel who retire with a pension is very small.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Put the fat kids on ozempic if a war breaks out. Problem solved. We have bigger problems at home and around the world we need money for.

Tax payers are already paying for lifetime benefits, food, housing, etc. It’s time we right size our military and focus on more positive efforts.

Soldiers can’t deploy to war and take weight loss medication. You are either trolling or clueless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Put the fat kids on ozempic if a war breaks out. Problem solved. We have bigger problems at home and around the world we need money for.

Tax payers are already paying for lifetime benefits, food, housing, etc. It’s time we right size our military and focus on more positive efforts.

Soldiers can’t deploy to war and take weight loss medication. You are either trolling or clueless.

No dumbass. Either you put them on ozempic or physical conditioning platoon for a month until they are no longer fat.

Then they go to recruit training etc after. It’s not hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Put the fat kids on ozempic if a war breaks out. Problem solved. We have bigger problems at home and around the world we need money for.

Tax payers are already paying for lifetime benefits, food, housing, etc. It’s time we right size our military and focus on more positive efforts.

Soldiers can’t deploy to war and take weight loss medication. You are either trolling or clueless.

No dumbass. Either you put them on ozempic or physical conditioning platoon for a month until they are no longer fat.

Then they go to recruit training etc after. It’s not hard.

You want our government to force American citizens to take weight loss drugs so they can be drafted and fight in a war?