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Housing Allowance Shouldn't Stop Hungry Troops from Getting Food Stamps, Senators Say
Military.com ^ | 10/21/22 | Rebecca Kheel and Konstantin Toropin

Posted on 10/24/2022 5:46:46 AM PDT by Blood of Tyrants

Heather Campbell has been a military spouse for years. She walked away from a full-ride Ph.D. when she met her husband and later became a mother to three kids.

Campbell was once even selected as Eielson Air Force Base spouse of the year but she also faced unemployment as the family moved to remote locations such as Alaska. As a result, Campbell, who is now a registered dietician, and her family joined the nearly 25% of military families this past year that struggled to feed themselves, according to the Department of Defense.

"We get told to do more with less often in the military, but this is one of those things that we are not going to be able to do [alone]," she told Military.com in an interview Thursday. So, Campbell turned to advocacy and eventually made her way to Congress, where she helped persuade several lawmakers to try and close one of the biggest problems for service members struggling to put food on the table.

(Excerpt) Read more at military.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: foodstamps; lowpay; military; snap
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Low military pay is near and dear to my heart as I have been forced to rely on food stamps to feed my family when I was in the Navy.
1 posted on 10/24/2022 5:46:46 AM PDT by Blood of Tyrants
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To: Blood of Tyrants

I don’t get it.
Don’t you get housing,healthcare..meals?


2 posted on 10/24/2022 5:50:21 AM PDT by Leep (Hillary will NEVER be president! 😁)
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To: Blood of Tyrants

Married E1 to E7 should get supplementary food allowance, across the board, immediately...............


3 posted on 10/24/2022 5:50:38 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegal aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
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To: Blood of Tyrants

I never understood how we could allow this to happen. As a nation, we should be embarrassed.


4 posted on 10/24/2022 5:51:31 AM PDT by Vermont Lt
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To: Leep

Not for kids. For a single soldier it’s probably OK. When you start adding wives and kids…


5 posted on 10/24/2022 5:52:31 AM PDT by Vermont Lt
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To: Blood of Tyrants

70 billion for Ukraine while our brave service members are forced to go on food stamps. Yet the Ukrainian government gave themselves a 70% pay raise with our money. This is unconscionable.


6 posted on 10/24/2022 5:52:37 AM PDT by circlecity
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To: Blood of Tyrants

Ditto.

That’s why I never liked DC. So rich I couldn’t afford a decent place to live and family housing had an 18 month waiting list.

So spent 18 months, as Elvis sings, “In the Ghetto”. Worried about my bride every minute when she was home and I was on duty...


7 posted on 10/24/2022 5:52:39 AM PDT by Alas Babylon! (Rush, we're missing your take on all of this!)
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To: Blood of Tyrants

70 billion for Ukraine while our brave service members are forced to go on food stamps. Yet the Ukrainian government gave themselves a 70% pay raise with our money. This is unconscionable.


8 posted on 10/24/2022 5:52:39 AM PDT by circlecity
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To: Blood of Tyrants

Complete garbage, they get housing assistance and food. They make good money in the military. Unless you never achieve anything above E-1.


9 posted on 10/24/2022 5:54:49 AM PDT by JoSixChip (2020: The year of unreported truths; 2021: My main take away from this year? Trust no one.)
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To: Blood of Tyrants

Before Reagan corrected pay and allowances I knew more than a few families with 3 and 4 children on food stamps, they didnt necessarily like it. Me? I paid taxes and viewed it as a good use of my tax dollars.


10 posted on 10/24/2022 5:54:53 AM PDT by Clutch Martin ("The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right." )
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To: JoSixChip

“Complete garbage, they get housing assistance and food. They make good money in the military. Unless you never achieve anything above E-1”

When I was in high school I humped a paper route, mowed, raked leaves, shoveled snow was a dishwasher at an industrial kitchen part time and pumped gas on Friday and Saturday nights. I made more money than an E4.


11 posted on 10/24/2022 6:00:19 AM PDT by Clutch Martin ("The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right." )
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To: JoSixChip

How I can tell you were never in.


12 posted on 10/24/2022 6:00:58 AM PDT by GeneralisimoFranciscoFranco (I love liberals. They taste like chicken.)
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To: JoSixChip

You are clueless. It is disgusting how are service men are treated.


13 posted on 10/24/2022 6:01:03 AM PDT by Xenodamus (The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. -TJ)
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To: Red Badger

“Married E1 to E7 should get supplementary food allowance, across the board, immediately...............”

In the civilian world you do not get extra pay for being married. Everybody has the same pay rate if they are single or married with a family.

BAS (food) is for the individual serving not the family. BAQ(housing) should be treated the same way, but it is not.


14 posted on 10/24/2022 6:01:29 AM PDT by DEPcom (Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules)
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To: Red Badger
Married E1 to E7 should get supplementary food allowance, across the board, immediately

Married E7s can make over $71,000 a year base pay, plus over $24,00 a year housing allowance with dependents (as I recall, adjusted for HCOL markets), plus $4800 a year BAS. Plus benefits of shopping at the PX or equivalent instead of on the economy.

I don't really think the American public will get behind additioonal supplemental pay for folks making $100k a year. Make your demands realistic, not greedy. On the other end of the scale, an E1 shouldn't be expected to support a family - and shouldn't have a family living with him or her at that level. They should be in barracks. At the other end of the scale (

15 posted on 10/24/2022 6:03:14 AM PDT by PAR35
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To: Blood of Tyrants
This is a travesty but as my old Gunny once sarcastically said: If the Marine
Corps had wanted you to have a wife and kids, you would have been issued
them.
16 posted on 10/24/2022 6:04:00 AM PDT by major_gaff (University of Parris Island, Class of '84)
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To: Vermont Lt

BTW i don’t have a problem with people getting temporary help.

Including people with serious health issues.

To be honest I’m not sure how lower income people..especially with kids.. are making it.
The cost of houses are crazy.
And now food and gas..and utility bills.


17 posted on 10/24/2022 6:04:01 AM PDT by Leep (Hillary will NEVER be president! 😁)
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To: DEPcom

That is how military pay scales are set up. It compensates single folks for lower living costs by paying them less in total compensation. It’s a perfect socialist system actually.

Otherwise you can take your anti-military whining and go to hell.


18 posted on 10/24/2022 6:05:02 AM PDT by AndyJackson
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To: Xenodamus
You are clueless. It is disgusting how are service men are treated.

Almost enough to want you to hit the streets to end the draft and go to an all volunteer force, isn't it.

How is life back there in the '60s anyway?

19 posted on 10/24/2022 6:05:15 AM PDT by PAR35
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To: Blood of Tyrants

Funny we can’t take care of our military, but we can take care of a gazillion illegals who cross the border with the blessing of the deep state and WEF and European Union.


20 posted on 10/24/2022 6:07:36 AM PDT by AndyJackson
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