Dear Gene-Thomas,

We ordered your book to help reduce the number of soldiers who are marrying in their late teens and early twenties only to find themselves divorced a few years later. Many of them seem to be influenced in their decisions by military marriage benefits such as higher BAH rates….Chaplain T

Dear Chaplain,

Can you imagine what would happen if a civilian employer decided to pay his married personnel more than his single employees who performed the same job and worked the same hours? If the employer were able to do that legally, do you think he might end up encouraging some of his workers to marry who otherwise might have chosen to wait? 

In an attempt to promote retention by encouraging first-term single personnel to remain on active duty, marry and make the military a career, Congress endorsed a military pay system that provided benefits to married personnel that were not offered to their single counterparts (e.g., higher basic allowance for housing rates, separation allowances, commuted rations). While this proved effective in promoting retention, it also had the side effect of encouraging countless personnel over the years to rush into marriages that, in many cases, were lucky to have lasted even a few years.

How many military people marry simply to collect more pay and benefits? The Associated Press reported that eight sailors were charged last week with arranging sham marriages to Polish and Romanian women to help the women obtain U.S. citizenship and to collect larger military housing allowances for themselves. An investigation undertaken by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) and Customs Enforcement discovered that none of the women lived with the sailors they married. According to U.S. Attorney Paul Perez, each woman paid $6,000 for the weddings so they could petition for U.S. citizenship.  

As long as married personnel are afforded more benefits than single personnel, not only will many young personnel prematurely rush into marriages that will impact military divorce, abuse and suicide rates, but we will also continue to learn about service members who attempt “mail order marriages” and undertake other schemes to profit from the pay disparity. 

Although the head of one Family Support Agency in the Washington, DC. area acknowledged that military personnel can do a better job of budgeting to reduce financial problems, he also remarked, “It's a sad indictment of society that somebody who's willing to give his life for his country gets paid close to minimum wage." The same Pentagon officials who recently approved an increase in TRICARE premiums for retired personnel are the same ones who support current pay structures by arguing that junior enlisted service members earn more than the general population of high school-educated 18- to 23-year-olds. What these officials fail to acknowledge, however, are the far greater risks that service members face unlike their civilian counterparts who don’t have to worry about being shot, wounded or killed in the course of their workdays.

Even though military installations do not generally track how many troops receive public assistance, it is worth noting that more than $21 million worth of Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) vouchers were redeemed at military commissaries last year. According to the Defense Commissary Agency, D.C. area commissaries at Fort Belvoir, Fort Meade, Fort Myer, Andrews Air Force Base, Quantico and Patuxent River Naval Air Station last year collected more than $800,000 worth of food stamps and WIC vouchers.

If DoD officials are not willing to consider how running the military “on the cheap” can prove harmful to both operational and family readiness, perhaps it’s time for them to be replaced. Affordable medical coverage for retired personnel and equal pay and benefits for single personnel are only two of many issues that need to be addressed if we will continue to have a strong and proud military that can help create for our country a future worthy of its past.

Gene-Thomas Gomulka
“A voice for military families” Columnist and author of The Survival Guide for Marriage in the Military available at www.plaintec.net

Have a question or comment? Write Gene-Thomas at letters@plaintec.net