Senate plan would eliminate one housing allowance for married military couples

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Last edited Wed Jul 22, 2015, 10:50 AM - Edit history (2)

Source: Hampton Roads, Virginia, Virginian-Pilot

By Bill Bartel
The Virginian-Pilot
757-446-2398
[e-mail]
© July 22, 2015

A proposal on Capitol Hill to significantly cut the monthly housing allowances for married couples who both serve in the military is making many in Hampton Roads see red.

The proposal, part of a 2016 defense spending bill passed in the Senate, would cost affected couples more than $1,000 a month for off-base housing. Under the bill, only one person would be allowed to receive a housing allowance instead of both. If approved, the limitation would not kick in until a couple moves to a new duty station.
....

The 2016 National Defense Authorization Act is being negotiated in Congress. It is a complex policy bill that addresses ship construction, weapon systems and almost all things related to defense. The version passed in mid-June by the Senate includes a provision that cuts the housing allowance, beginning Oct. 1 for some.

The House version does not include the reduction. Negotiators for the two chambers have been meeting privately to reach a compromise on many parts of the bill.

Read more: http://hamptonroads.com/2015/07/senate-plan-would-eliminate-one-housing-allowance-married-military-couples

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Due to the four-paragraph fair use limit, I had to cut details. See post #10 for some numbers.

[Roland99]

1. Cut payments to Blackwater et al, cut the losing F-35 program.

has to be *something* besides screwing over the not-so-well-paid active duty members.

[tazkcmo]

2. Awesome!

I love this almost as much as when I was in and they made me buy insurance for my wife and children because of a cut in benefits! Then there's the reductions in retirement benefits that have been made! America sure knows how to support their troops! Free bumper stickers to everyone!






Sarcasm

[Gormy Cuss]

4. Well, can't have benefits that are better than the average private citizen gets, ya know.

Watch for more cuts in retirement benefits and for new recruits, 401Ks rather than defined benefit pensions.

[tazkcmo]

7. And buying your own weapons and ammo! n/t

[erronis]

25. This was the only way to up-armor those pos jeeps in Iraq

The soldiers had to buy/steal/borrow sheeting to cover the underbelly. Who would of thunk that the natives would object and plant bombs against us? Not one of those chicken-hawks who thought the waltz would only last 1 or 2 or perhaps a few weeks.

Other stories about getting food and other supplies sent from home. Next time, make sure every armchair pos has some flesh in the field.

[CANDO]

14. The Republican way....

Everyone reduced to the lowest common denominator. And when that succeeds, accuse them of lack of character and work ethic and poor choices.

[fasttense]

9. Yeah, like the time I was in and they made us all get special auto insurance

to cover us when we drove military vehicles. So when we got blown up in a jeep, Humvee or whatever, the military got paid for the damage to the vehicle. We would die, but at least they got their money from our insurance company.

[Javaman]

11. For real? nt

[JonLP24]

12. Second the question

and also add when was this? I was 88M so driving military vehicles was my job and that certainly wasn't the case for my unit.

[fasttense]

18. Ok, so now you want my age?

I'm retired for over 10 years so go from there.

[JonLP24]

21. No I mean where and when did have this policy

I certainly acknowledge the possibility so I was just curious because it wasn't the case in '05-'08 in the unit I was with. Nothing more than that so I'll say 90's?

[fasttense]

24. I was a Lieutenant (o-3) in the Navy at the time

I worked for an Army Colonel who was the biggest idiot I ever met. He was very excited about the whole idea. I got the insurance (and am still with the same insurance company.) But I don't believe the Col. ever got it since he rarely drove himself. I suppose his driver's (usually an E4) insurance would have covered the vehicles he sat in if he ever got shot at.

[fasttense]

13. Yeah, it only lasted for a couple of years

Too many people complained about it and some enlisted members could not afford it.

[Javaman]

16. that's really screwed up. nt

[turbinetree]

3. Let's see how a $174,000 a year senator would feel if...................

they got there pay cut.
And had to stand on the street corner with a uniform on and having a card board sign saying will work for food--------------God Bless you.
Maybe some of these twits should go and see what it is like to live on beggars pay-----------I did for over 18 years and it was not pretty.
Family was on food stamps, waiting for the cost of living adjustment to go up, going to the food pantries -------------this is reality.
But these twits will give defense contracts to for-profit mercenaries to protect embassies and a fighter program that has had cost over runs of close to 900 million dollars and having a aircraft that is presently costing around 135 to 145 million apiece to produce on a production line and there only in Block C for combat readiness and that's not complete-------they still have sqawks that are being deferred.

And as a side note: Which isn't being reported--------------think of this as a "National Security Issue-------------------
And what's really classic there is only "ONE" chip maker left in the country called "MICRON" and they are on the block to be sold to a communist government entity in "CHINA", just imagine, the last chip maker in the country being sold to a communist country that is making an island in the South China sea and antagonizing the other countries in the area, the only chip maker left there are no more there over in a communist country or some other place.
Just imagine if they had it all --------------------

And these twits want to cut allowances for military couples because------------they make to much money together, while these guys and girls work in the senate and house only 160 days a year if that

[restorefreedom]

5. wow. way to screw the troops

but keep the cash flowing to the corporate overlords

[alarimer]

6. Good.

There is no need for two housing allowances, not when people live together.

[tazkcmo]

8. Bull.

How much is your life worth? How much is your children's stress worth, knowing their parents are fodder for the chicken hawks in DC? They see the TV news, all this talk of wars, official and unofficial. They can't move their families into the barracks and live. They have to get larger housing than single troops w/o children. Their daily costs of living is higher. I guess we need to go back to the days when our troops needed to ask for permission to marry and have children.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

10. Some actual numbers, from the Virginian-Pilot story:

The monthly housing allowances, which increase with rank, vary by region. In South Hampton Roads, the allowance for a Navy lieutenant commander who is married with children is $2,199 a month. But if that officer is married to a sailor of the same rank, the two get $4,074 a month. ... The Senate bill would eliminate the second payment, and the couple would be left with $2,199.
....

{Navy Secretary Ray Mabus} has publicly opposed allowance cuts. ... So have the seven top enlisted service members of each military branch, who wrote a letter Tuesday to congressional leaders warning that the housing cut "devalues the career and experience" of those in the military.

The group, including Michael Stevens, master chief petty officer of the Navy, calculated that a petty officer second class with six years' experience and no dependents earns an average pay package - including the housing allowance - of $53,805 a year. If that sailor married another service member, he or she would lose $16,248, the letter said.

It could be particularly damaging to women in the service, the group wrote, noting that 20 percent of women in uniform are married to other service members, compared with almost 4 percent of men.

A lieutenant commander is an O-4, like a major in the other branches (right?). A master chief petty officer is an E-9, IIRC.

[JonLP24]

15. That isn't common though

O-4s married to each other. Most married couples are E-7 but I haven't seen any specifics as it is very common for married couples to live at seperate duty stations so if they eliminate one but not the other someone has to be living the barracks. Considering how much money they throw to the fire it troubles me the areas they decide to cut spending.

I was screwed when I assumed BAH came at the first of the month but they split it into two if you choose getting paid every 2 weeks which the vast majority of the military is. I was paying $900+ for rent but getting like $450-$500 at the first. Got myself into a debt cycle I couldn't get out of but my spouse wasn't military and that chain of command horseshit they preached as a solution to every problem was very unhelpful.

[fasttense]

17. Using a LCDR as an example is misleading

because that's fairly high ranking. You have to go through all the enlisted ranks and then ENS, LT and then LCDR to find someone higher in rank. Put another way only CDR, CAPT and Admiral are higher in rank.

It would be more informative if they used a mid level Petty Officer, because there are more of them and they make a less. Their BAH in Hampton/Newport (I could find no South Hampton Roads on the chart) is about $1,400 per month or $16,800 a year with children. Considering their base pay last year was about $24,000 a year, that's a lot of money to take away from them.

[lancer78]

20. Base pay for E-5

according to the 2015 charts with 6 years service is $2,762 a month.

[fasttense]

22. Yeah, I used E4 and I couldn't open the 2015 charts for some reason

Note I wrote LAST YEAR

and here is a link http://www.military.com/Resources/2014-Proposed-Pay-Charts-1-percent.pdf

But even if you use E5, it's a lot to take away from someone and it penalizes women for getting married more than it penalizes men.

[lancer78]

19. Holy Crap

An E-5 with no dependents total compensation is $53K a year? Dang, wish I had stayed in.

[fasttense]

23. Yeah you should have.

I saw so many people in a rush to get out and sometimes they landed in worse situations.

The best thing I ever did was stay until retirement. Besides the retirement pay, my medical is fully covered. When I signed up, medical care was very cheap and I really didn't care about getting full health benefits. Who knew that medical costs would become the leading cause for bankruptcy in America?

[LiberalFighter]

26. If they were living together I could see the possibility.

But still it needs to be crafted with various situations in mind.

It would not be acceptable if they were stationed in two different locations.

[freshwest]

27. More like imperial Rome everyday from what I'm learning on this thread. No wonder GWB recruited

foreigners to do the dirty work.

Whatever they got was a boost for them. For someone trying to make it here, it's been an awful deal. It's under what appears to be not just a mercenary force by name, but in practice.

At worst, they'll be recruiting those wackjobs from parking lots in front of recruiting offices. Maybe they won't care what level of training or procedures they know. It's not like Blackwater, etc. was following the lawful use of force.

Worst case scenario: We are 'old style' and they just want 'warm bodies,' like it was when men were kidnapped to serve on ships. Not willing and not paid. Pressed into service. Shanghaied.