Camp Pendleton marines given surprise pay cut

http://www.military.com/NewsContent/0,13319,74425,00.html

Way to support the troops....

Deeply.
Severely.
Repeatedly.

:grr:

How revolting.

;)

Assholes. "Support our troops"????

have they completely lost their minds?

have they completely lost their minds?

Our most powerful antibiotic.

and I suspect that is probably a majority of them.

But to any Marine who voted for Kerry, my condolences for this outrage.

Most military types will never figure this out. I know my dad never gets it -- and he has been so screwed by the GOP so many times.

"Well, it's not like the other guy's going to raise my pay."

Not saying anyone in the military "deserves" to get screwed over like this, but at the time, all I could think was, "are you fucking kidding me?" What I tried to tell them was, "I don't know why you would believe that, I really don't."

And it's from a reliable source.

Last year I did a google search and only found three results. Two out of three groups voted for Kerry.

...haven't realized what was happening to them until the Rove scandal became public.

I don't wish death or crippling wounds on anyone, particularly those that are ORDERED into combat situations based on the lies of those far above them in the pecking order.

I live on post (and hubby is army) but I know people that count on the difference between their BAH and their rent to get by. Sucks bad enough that BAH goes up with a promotion and they take ALL of it while you still live in the same shitty house. Now, they are going to start charging for electricity and gas in about a year on many posts.

We saw BAH as oh rent to uncle sam for the house in Hawaii

What's to worry about?
:sarcasm:

n/t

but hey, a lot of our soldiers are on food stamps. Shame we waste all the money on worthless tech and not on the troops.

three such cuts totalled that, under bush so far.

US wealth is 1O9 Trillion.
-- say Fed reserve. for link, see demopedia page "capital"

GDP is ten Trillion.

average family has 6O K in savings and house value,.. 2O cash, 4O house value... said AARP ten yrs ago.

73 million such ideal four member families in a pop. of almost 3OO million americans.

200 mill. of voting age.. 15O million of them are registered to vote.. sometimes as many as 12O million actually do vote.

13 % of workforce of 15O million are union. Cut in half since 195O. RR was the one who got laws allowing slashing wages and benefits so much, that many/most housewifes had to get jobs.

Few are aware of that.

One income was plenty, before RR. Not now. GOP is out to destroy the middle class. Wages down, then profits up. Mexico is their goal.. a sea of poor people, working for bare survival. Good profits in that situation. Mighty nice.

Where is it written that there HAS to be a middle class?
In a mexico set-up,
the educated will just work for five percent more than the poorest. Still not a middle class life. Just upper-poverty class for engineers, ITech, accountants, editors, chemists... like in India today. ///////

We have enough citizens to sustain the infrastructure, that is until the BFEE ultimately destroys it. Keeping people poor and uneducated is the hallmark of corporate pirates/robber barons. Outsource the workforce and marginalize the population with cheap goods and spectacles the likes of which Roman generals threw to keep the poor in line. We are poor already and allowed it to happen. Reaganites and corporate lobbyists worked day and night to destroy worker unions. They stopped spending money on society.

No one is going to stop this new bunch of goons.

with the help of an energized AAR air america radio.

and new leaders.

and thousands of us calling for

PAPER BALLOTS HAND COUNTED.

it can be done, and will be done.

History has many cases of it.

Dont get depressed. Stay positive, and you will achieve much more. Look how much more you do on days of a bright mood, vs. how little you do on days of gloomy mood.

Eventually they will run out and we will all be stranded. I so totally agree with you - until we actually count votes by hand again and have both party reps there to watch AND a recount by the UN (why the hell not) with all the world watching!!!

Thanks for the positive talk, I need it! :hi:

They want us all poor so we can "voluntarily" join the military so then they keep saying there's no draft. :eyes: It really pisses me off.

http://www.defenselink.mil/militarypay/pay/calc/index.html

input different pay grades, lengths of service, geographic locations. You may be surprised.

It's difficult to assess how this story relates with some idea of what they make...

when I was in the Army, all the supposed 'benefits' I received. After 3 years in, my 'salary' (everything factored in) was around 27,000 dollars. I have to laugh, because I've made 27,000 in the civilian workforce and their is no comparison. If they really gave a rats ass they would take better care of vets and make military paychecks tax free.

http://www.defenselink.mil/cgi-bin/rmc.pl

Defenselink website - Overall Regular Military Compensation for an E4 at three years - $2,986.14

http://www.dod.mil/dfas/money/milpay/pay/paytable2005-rev1.doc

E-4 1,612.80 1,695.60 1,787.10 <--- 3 years

$2,986.14 is NOT $1,787.10, no matter what the military groupspeak(BFEE) wants people to think. No wonder the military loses billions when Repukes are in charge. :eyes:

How do they sleep at night?

Just not, you know, economically and stuff.

Housing allowance in the military is partially determined by geographic location. It obviously cost more for housing in CA then say TN.

This pay is for housing expenses and housing only. It is not part of standard pay or some type of bonus. If you move to an area with a lower housing market then you need a lower BAH.

There is no reason to retain higher housing pay when it is not needed. Why shoud someone that moves to an area with a lower BAH rating get to keep a higher BAH when the soldier already stationed in the lower area gets less? BAH adjustment is standard practice in the Army.

BAH is a standard payment for a particular geographic location. Previously, if a troop wanted to save money, find a cheaper place, and save the leftover, he could do it. Now there is no opportunity for the troop to do this. This is called fucking the troops.

Please show me a cite to Army BAH rules that says this type of adjustment has EVER been done in the Army. During my career, I had a standard BAH/BAQ payment everywhere I went, without consideration for the actual rent I paid. Sometimes I had to pay out of pocket if I wanted a nicer place.

But if you think the troops are overpaid, then I suppose you will support this 100%.

BAH rules: https://secureapp2.hqda.pentagon.mil/perdiem/bah.html
Read the FM.

The Army does not set or control BAH. When I was active Army me rate changed a couple of times. It all depends on your PDS.

You last statement is baseless. I never made such statements. You are making assumptions that are baseless. I am still National Guard and BAH effects me directly.

You are defining "pay" as only "basic pay." That is incorrect.

Military pay includes basic pay and all other pay including BAH.

A policy that allowed troops to keep any BAH overage has been changed to force a reduction in the troop's BAH. That is a pay cut.

But if you are happy with it, good for you.

Money rec'd is referred to as "pay and allowances" and includes basic pay, allowances for subsistence, housing, clothing, etc.

The allowance for housing is an amount for a geographic area, not a specific address in that area. If a member moves from an extremely high cost area to a low cost area, his/her BAH will be lower. There is no actual money lost, because the housing expense is less. Previously (more than 5 years ago), when moving to a lower cost area to a higher cost area, the BAH paid to a member remained the same. They are not talking about moving to a cheaper apartment on the other side of town

http://www.defenselink.mil/militarypay/pay/index.html

BAH is an allowance to offset the cost of housing when you do not receive government-provided housing. Your BAH depends upon your location, pay grade and whether you have dependents. BAH rates are set by surveying the cost of rental properties in each geographic location. The rates are established such that members in each pay grade, independent of location, pay approximately the same out-of-pocket costs. Therefore, BAH rates in high-cost areas will be much greater than those in low-cost areas. BAH rates are published on the Per Diem Committee web page (https://secureapp2.hqda.pentagon.mil/perdiem/bah.html)

A substantial, but often unseen and overlooked, aspect of military pay is certain built-in tax advantages. Most allowances are tax-exempt. Additionally, certain hardship circumstances will change normally taxable pay into tax-exempt.

Lets say your BAH in Ca is $1,500 and the average apartment cost around $1,500. Then you move to Ga where they average cose of an apartment is $900 and they lower your BAH to $900. How exactly is that a pay cut???????????????

Have you seen the housing costs in California lately?
These marines should be getting an INCREASE instead of a decrease.

Hi is even worse. BAH varies for every location.

It's going to go back to base to base ONLY, regardless of the geographic area. So if you're at one base in So Cal, buy a home based on one BAH, get transferred but stay in the home, you're housing allowance will go down. It's not fair, it doesn't cover the cost of the housing in the first place. It will amount to a cut in pay.

They're eliminating the geographic element.

In the article the example is given of a Sgt who PCS'd from MCRD (downtown San Diego) to Camp Pendleton (an hour away). Because of the proximity, the USMC wouldn't authorise a move. So he commutes.

Now his BAH is being dropped from MCRD levels to Pendelton levels, a cut of $600/month.

That's where the troops are getting hosed. It won't affect a lot of troops, heck, it won't affect most troops, but the Marines here in SD are going to be burned hard.

the fortunes held by 1% of Americans are still safe from taxes. This is disgusting.

to have such a compassionate leader. :sarcasm:

Those marines don't make enough anyway and they are going to TAKE AWAY their pay?
These bastards should be shot.

Cuts in benefits, pay and everything else for the military, and billions of $$ for Halliburton, for fucking up royally.

MAKES PERFECT SENSE, huh? :eyes:

The old "we support the troops" stuff. :eyes: Way to go! First VA's and now the military themselves. Nice. :mad: Sick bastards!

You can't do both.

PS. I'm really mad.

When he gave his his "Ra Ra" speech.

or two in their pockets. Bare subsistance is good enough for our fighting men/women and their families.

get a yellow ribbon

:sarcasm:

:grr:

hell call them tomorrow... I just did to my congress criter and will calll DiFi, (useless in her case she is not gonna care) and Boxer

On a recess?

and in my case I will see about seeing my local rep HERE LOCALLY

Ridiculous that we here at DU know more about the Marines pay than the Marines themselves.

I guess Bush likes to keep them in the dark.