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The Economics of Soldiering
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Frieda Gardner, W A M M
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Remember how quickly the Bush Team wanted to move on Iraq? In impatient tones, we were told that our “options” for peace had been exhausted, that Saddam Hussein had to be dealt with immediately—so great was his threat to our national well-being. One minute we heard in detail about the aluminum rods that pointed to nuclear capability, the next was filled with high-level abstractions about our good and the enemy’s evil. Then, of course, after George W. Bush declared our “mission accomplished,” came daily doses of bad news—news so bad that the amazing story of how badly our own troops have been treated by our own government has received little attention.
Think of it! Water shortages, armored vehicles dangerously stripped down for speed, long waits for treatment at Veterans Affairs hospitals, equipment on the verge of disrepair, troops in peril because there are not enough of them. The terms “stretched thin” and “overextended” do not begin to convey the situation of soldiers supposedly part of a “lean, mean fighting machine.”
As usual, the small and ordinary details tell stories that the Bush Administration’s noise and flurry seem designed to hide. Consider the financial lives of those troops on the bottom of the military hierarchy.
Most people are surprised to learn that 40 percent of low-ranking soldiers experience money trouble and that 25,000 military families are eligible for food stamps. Barbara Ehrenreich reports that front line troops get less than $16,000 a year (“less than theater ushers and Wal-Mart clerks”) and second lieutenants “start at $25,000, less than pest control workers and shoe repairers.” Kathleen Gilberd of the Military Law Task Force says, “Active duty pay has traditionally not been enough to help people get by.”
So you would think that Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld would include financial stability as part of their troop support programs. The opposite has been true, although the 2005 war budget does say that monthly combat pay (roughly $150) will not be counted when it comes time to apply for food stamps, and that death benefits will rise from $6000 to $12,000. Ehrenreich says, “Bizarrely enough, veterans’ disability benefits are deducted from their military retirement pay, giving the wounded a powerful incentive to die while they’re young.”
Then there are the 20,000 troops who, as of this April, had their stays in Iraq extended by 90 days. One quarter of these belong to Reserve and National Guard units, traditionally in charge of “domestic unrest and hurricane clean-ups” (New York Times, April 25, 2004). Having often signed up in order to get help with a college education, these soldiers leave jobs, businesses, families, and various funds designed to keep or help them into the American middle class. For many, the Iraq War, which most praise for its lofty intent, means financial hardship and sometimes disaster. To sacrifice six months of income is one thing—a contingency for which one can plan. To live in a state of long-term unpredictability and the steady loss of one-half of the family’s income is quite another.
First may come credit card borrowing, then more than one job for the partner or spouse at home, then dipping into college and retirement funds, then paring down to “basics,” making deals with the gas and electric companies, repossession of a car, possible bankruptcy. Naturally, predatory credit card companies stand ready to move in, with interest rates reportedly as high as 49 percent. And in the background is a military requirement to keep one’s finances in “good order.” How compliance with such an order is to be achieved in a state of economic free fall is hard to picture. There is a bill afloat that will allow these soldiers to tap into their retirement funds without penalty, but such tidbits are not much consolation when, potentially, there is no end of service in sight.
Needless to say, reports of disillusionment and a sense of having been forgotten have begun to circulate.
Sources
Anne-Marie Cusac, “An Army of Debt,”
The Progressive, May 2004, pp. 19-23.
Barbara Ehrenreich, “Bush’s Odd Warfare State,” The Progressive, May 2004, pp. 24-25.
Andrew Jacobs, New York Times, April 25, 2004.
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© 2004 Women Against Military Madness. All rights reserved.
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