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So I just got off the phone with my buddy in Japan and apparently the enlisted ratings are taking a paycut and also having their GI Bill benefits cut? I know they still get the post 9/11 GI Bill but I'm pretty sure at least parts of the original were cut. Out of everything they could have cut, this is literally the worst possible decision. Most don't go career, and while the military might teach some lovely practical skills in a good number of cases it certainly doesn't prepare veterans for rehabilitation into society and the modern workforce. Hence the need for the GI Bill, because it seems to me that throwing troops who served right back into the [poo] storm of the modern economy without a good bit of insulation seems rather silly to me.

Not to mention that this will reduce recruitment both in terms of quality and quantity by cutting out pretty much the main benefit that most see to joining up.

From what I read, the GI bill is unaffected. It was the tuition assistance program for active duty members. Basically while I was in the Army I was able to attend college courses on my own time and was reimbursed for 100% of the cost. I completed about half my degree while on active duty. Once I got out of the Army I then switched over to using the GI bill which was more than enough to cover my school. In fact, I hate to admit it, but I left several thousand dollars on the table when I completed my degree.

Anyway, I would say that in a unit of about 100 guys, maybe three of us would use the program, whereas the GI bill was there for the majority of us. The tuition assistance program was pretty awesome but is probably very under used. Also, there shouldn't be any pay cuts for any enlisted guys. I know the PX will be closed on Wednesdays from April thru September which would affect any service member who has family working at the PX. Maybe that's what he meant?

Don't get me wrong, there's a zillion other things that need to be cut before any of this should've been touched. It pissed me off to no ends when I saw it, I just wanted to clear up the differences.

http://www.stripes.com/news/army-suspen ... s-1.210999

http://www.stripes.com/news/us/some-def ... y-1.210878

Ah yes, he was trying to attend AMA or whatever it's called. American Military something. He was also pretty pissed off about being misled about some things in particular. For example he works off time shifts so a good number of benefits that he was told would be there aren't.

The Post 9/11 GI Bill is like 3 years of full tuition cost and living stipends if I recall our conversation correctly. Which is still in place.

Cut infrastructure before actual military spending. The American way...

(=DK=)Samonuh wrote:Cut infrastructure before actual military spending. The American way...

Imagine if a 2% part of the budget of building a needed bridge across the Mississippi was being used for a drug and alcohol rehab facility run nightly and exclusively for the bridge workers and their immediate families. If the tax payers can't afford the bridge budget as proposed, do you buy lower grade cheaper steel? Slower older rivot guns or thinner, lower grade concrete abuttments? How about we cut the part that doesn't belong. (and fire the alcoholic junkies working on the bridge!)

In the case of the tuition assistance, the program is not only not germane to the core missions of our military, but redundant to the GI Bill. Instead of reducing readiness or our current technical superiority on the battlefield the branch chiefs sacrificed a program that gives the benefits of the GI bill not only ON TOP of the GI Bill, but before those benefits are successfully earned (after completion of active duty enlistment).

These Generals are being fiscally responsible, by cutting programs that are not strategically redundant or core to their defined responsibilities.

I wish Congress could follow their example.

Military is a dead cost anyways. You get very little economic return from the billions spent on foreign "wars" each year. I'd rather the money go toward education or infrastructure over our Armed Forces. It'll lead to greater economic expansion.

(=DK=)Samonuh wrote:Military is a dead cost anyways. You get very little economic return from the billions spent on foreign "wars" each year. I'd rather the money go toward education or infrastructure over our Armed Forces. It'll lead to greater economic expansion.

when the goverment puts money into the military they spend it by buying more tanks, jets and weapons... all those are made in factories by american companies here in the U.S. These factories hire engineers and scientists and also hire other companies to make parts or to bring raw materials. Those other companies also hire other companies and so on... So, it does bring jobs and economic expansion, it's a fact.

However I still prefer for investment in education and infrastructure but we can't deny the economic effects of the army.

CommanderOtto wrote:

(=DK=)Samonuh wrote:Military is a dead cost anyways. You get very little economic return from the billions spent on foreign "wars" each year. I'd rather the money go toward education or infrastructure over our Armed Forces. It'll lead to greater economic expansion.

when the goverment puts money into the military they spend it by buying more tanks, jets and weapons... all those are made in factories by american companies here in the U.S. These factories hire engineers and scientists and also hire other companies to make parts or to bring raw materials. Those other companies also hire other companies and so on... So, it does bring jobs and economic expansion, it's a fact.

However I still prefer for investment in education and infrastructure but we can't deny the economic effects of the army.

This is true. I would dare say that the military is the best stimulus package our government has.

Dread, I know what you're saying and yeah, the military is doing what it has to do as they didn't ask to be put in this situation. It's just hard to accept knowing that with all the other billions upon billions of dollars the government wastes and continues to waste, that this has to be one of the first casualties. Programs should've been cut through out the government years ago, but instead we continue to kick the can down the road.

Get rid of some of these agencies that are not needed. Homeland security first. Cause' the FBI, NSA, CIA, and a few other security agencies aren't enough to keep us safe . I've also read articles where the Gov't built buildings to house staff that were never used... sitting empty upon completion.

Military spending certainly does affect the economy. It's worse for the economy than things like infrastructure or education, though, since those have further benefits to the economy beyond the initial spending. (Military spending does have further benefits too, in the form of security, but we're well past the point of diminishing returns.) Any cuts made to the military should be used to fund initiatives like those. And cutting education spending by disguising it as a cut to military spending is just spectacularly pointless.