Reply to Can someone explain the wealthy military officer phenomenon?

Forum Index » Money and Finances

Reply to "Can someone explain the wealthy military officer phenomenon?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]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[/quote]

+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."   [/quote]

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.” 
[/quote]

Oh, they do, at every turn. [/quote]

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”?

[/quote]

Thanking them for their service is cringe. They didn’t do it for you.[/quote]

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!)

[/quote]

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. [/quote]

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. [b]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. [/b]There are of course exceptions to every generalization. A small minority are exceptional. 
[/quote]

To be fair, officers' wives are typically more educated (like attracts like), so they do sacrifice more than the high school grad who marries her first boyfriend right after he graduates from basic. For the latter, the military lifestyle is a step up. For the former, it's forfeiting what could have been. [/quote]

That’s a really interesting point that I hadn’t considered.

Your observation actually makes a lot of sense and explains the persistent, perceived sense of entitlement that I saw from so many officers’ wives.

Although, lol, [b]I think maybe some of the wives are as delusional about their forfeited potential as their “I could have been CEO of a Fortune 500 company” officer husbands who choose to stay in until retirement. [/b][/quote]

+1 DP here.  From what I have seen, military wives have an elevated lifestyle, compared to what they would otherwise have (had they not married an officer).  Burial in Arlington Cemetery, for one. She would have had that being a teacher? [/quote]

"Burial in Arlington Cemetery" is part of an "elevated lifestyle?"   You have to be dead to be buried, and if you're dead, you have NO lifestyle, never mind "elevated."[/quote]

You are being obtuse. Would they have had free housing and stipends and additional pay without the military lifestyle?  In the meantime, they get to move to areas and live in places they would not have otherwise been able to live.

It is not the sacrifice you think it is. It is a choice. If they lose someone to war, yes it is certainly a sacrifice. I know, my family lost everything to war. They were given nothing for both parents working 60 hour weeks (hint: not at home). They were not paid for special assignments, et al. [/quote]

+1 
[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics