How can anyone say they support the troops and not be in favor of raising their pay?

Question

Hey remember George Bush would not sign a 1.5 pay raise. Why can't we raise taxes to pay our soldiers more? they deserve it, don't they?

not true, it was a whole separate bill and he said 3.5 would be too much of a pay raise, I mispoke before, sorry.
and if you read the military times http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/05/military_payhike_whitehouse_070516/ you'll see he called it not necessary

Answer 1

Space Pilgrim you HAVE NO CLUE what you are talking about. As a military wife I would love to know which branch of the service gives out all this "free" stuff. The military has a housing allowance based on their rank that is part of their pay (it's NEVER equal to the cost of living). We lose that allowance if we move into base housing. Have you ever seen base housing? I pay for my groceries like everyone else and also have co pays for medical. If my husband did the same job as a civilian that he does in the military he would be making $40,000.00 more a year. What kind of price do you put on the lengthy deployments, missing their families, putting their lives in danger? What these soldiers miss out on can never be replaced or be given a monetary value.

I don't know of anyone that can say a soldier is in this for the money. I would love to just see the military pay more comparable to what their job would be as a civilian. Obviously, not all their jobs can be compared but it would be a start.

Thanks for thinking about the troops and I'm sorry to rant but I just hate the misconceptions about how easy they've got it!!!!

Answer 2

Mistaken omission or with great intent? Relax Guy is correct. You also miss the point that bills presented for signing are not pure on subject matter. Both the Congress and the Senate like to coat-tail their little addendum's that by themselves would never stand up on their own merit. If you REALLY want to be generous, ask your rep. to pass another pay increase bill but this time make it a trickle up and not down. Per the usual, the generals (and admirals) get the greatest monetary increase -- usually in the thousands of dollars, while the little guy at the bottom -- who needs it most, may only see about $30 a year increase.
And to Samantha (below me), I served (honorably). When was the last time the government ran out of money and couldn't pay the troops? Better look at the Clinton administration for that one sweety. And while we're at it, when did YOU serve?

Answer 3

I think they should pay them more, I am all for it. The money Space Pilgrim saying families get is a little wrong. First they don't get free food if they live off base nor does the family, Housing is provided if open and not always is. Medical benefits, well yeah you have to pay for some of the things. Not all of the soliders get to shoot people. I personally we could cut some of the programs to pay them more for their services. It is not everyday we are willing to pack up for 7-18 months and leave families behind so that America can still be free.

Answer 4

The US has no draft, so every person enlists of their own free will. The pay rates aren't a secret. Everybody wants more money. People that don't like the pay, should either not re- up, or not enlist to start. By the way, supporting our troops doesn't require ANYBODY to want to raise military pay. That isn't what supporting our troops means.

Answer 5

Being a 33 year veteran I can tell you they deserve it. We don't have to raise taxes to pay for it, we just need to cut out some of the pork that congress always puts in the bills. All we really need is a line item veto and and honest politicians.

Be the change you want to see in the world.

Answer 6

I'm all for give the men and women of our military a significant pay raise even if it means raising my taxes or cutting other non essential programs. The people deserve a salary that reflects the importance of the jobs they do for us.

ISn't it funny how th weenies have given thumbs down to everyone who so far supports a pay raise for the military in this question ?

Answer 7

Its funny how you fail to mention that democrats slashed a bill of his that would have increased it by 3% because they thought it was too much money for Iraq.

The reason he rejected it was because it was not enough $ for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, not because of the soldiers pay. You don't understand how bills work hence you should not use fractions of them to justify your hatred of Bush, you will only come off as a fool.

If you want to hate Bush, which is your right, come up with something more relevant and not distorted. Lying is not helping Democrats. Its hurting everyone.

Answer 8

Bush hasn't not signed any pay raise for the troops.

Congress hasn't passed any of the 2008 spending bills yet.

Not even a good try for this Bush bash.

Since nothing you said, has occured in any form.

Answer 9

I love my employees, but I can't always give them the raises they should have, especially if it means raising the cost of our service and thus losing customers.

Raising taxes is a bad thing that hurts the economy and actually lowers government income...not to mention lowering the economic freedom of the taxpayer.

Answer 10

Indeed, how can someone say such a thing and not be willing to put their money where their mouth is?

I guess it's because most of just like to shoot our mouths off about how we feel about situation, but not are ready to lift a finger (or dollar) to remedy it.

Who knows? I don't support the war anyway. Bush doesn't care about the troops. He's on his way out...he's just waiting for the next pres to shoulder some of the blame for HIS war.