Originally Posted by shackone
That's the problem...people confusing money with service.
I'm not trying to preach to anyone...I'm just expressing the opinion that service to one's country used to be a sufficient reward by itself. For some. Maybe even most.
Are you Kidding Me. Its statements like this that are just as inflammatory. Your position is that you only served for country. You NEVER took a pay check? Are you telling me you donate your retirement check every month to the USO? If serving your county is reward enough then you should not need to be paid! If just serving is not quite enough then maybe you might want to be paid for your time. Or are you maybe confusing the issue just a little bit.
The amount you are paid in the military is much more than what is required to survive on. For example, did you have a TV when you were on active duty, a car, maybe a family? All of these things are not survival items. They are luxury items that we want. Our desire to serve, to be a part of something bigger than ourselves, our need to stand on the wall in whatever capacity we could is why we were interested in the military. The opportunities provided, the experience gained, the potential self fulfillment is why we signed up. The pay guaranteed we could afford a normal life when deployments and war allowed, and gave us the opportunities to have a wife and kids or toys. There is always a balance between pay and service. Always has been, always will be.
Very few people can afford to serve without getting paid. Many more could live in the dorms or tents, walk every where, and have nothing and still serve, but for some reason the services have had difficulty signing people up for that type of service. Now we have too many in a few slots and the services are offering up cash to see if they can interest some in leaving. By definition, the military is saying that the best way that the people targeted can serve is to leave. Oh, and we'll pay you for doing what we want because we recognize that you might not be prepared to leave or want to leave. But we need you to leave, so, what is the price that might make you separate? Right now these same people can walk away. The fact that they haven't means they want to serve.
So, if while you were on active duty: you ever went to finance to fix a pay problem, ever refile’d a travel voucher because you weren't paid correctly, ever cashed a retirement check, then you also placed money before service. If it was not important you would never have needed to be paid. Just a thought, but aim before you shoot. You’ll have much better chance of hitting the mark. Always better then beating down the fellows.