Veteran's Day

Mr. Muskrat on 2003-11-11T15:44:02

"...a celebration to honor America's veterans for their patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good." -- History of Veterans Day

I greatly appreciate each and every American service member regardless of age, sex, race, religion, branch of service; Active duty, Reserve or National Guard. You pay a high price for my freedom and I thank you!

You and your families make sacrifices every single day that you are in the military. Most citizens will never fully grasp the sacrifices that you make in order to "protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic".

When you are deployed, your biggest sacrifice is that at any time you may give your life so that others may live. You are away from your family for a long period of time. You may have to sleep in a tent or even a hole in the middle of the desert. You may not have the opportunity to shower or to eat what you like.

Military duty means working long hours for a small amount of money. You will often have to take on a second job or go on food stamps so that you can provide for your family. Just because you are home does not mean that you do not still make sacrifices.

Those of you who are no longer in the military have my undying gratitude as well. You have already endured the hardships that come with military service.

I may not be able to thank you in person but I thank you.

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Your welcome :)

brian_d_foy on 2003-11-12T01:23:43

The active duty pay is really low, but the National Guard and Reserve pay is actually really good. After the first thingy over here, when a lot of reserve component soldiers came back to financial ruin, they changed the rules.

I get a lot of special pays: Family Separation Pay, Hazardous Duty Pay, Hostile Fire Pay, Basic Allowance for Housing (which, for Chicago, is more than some soldiers' whole paycheck), and a subsistence allowance.

All of these pays were increased a $100 or so when the war on terror began. Those increases were supposed to revert to the lower values last month, but we're still here so I think they kept them at the higher level.

Now, all of this money is tax free because I am in a designated combat zone (and it really is), so the pay turns out to be even better than it looks.

Additionally, while I am here, all of my debts interest rates drop to 6% (MasterCard went all the way down to 0%), so that helps a lot too. We have paid off everything we owe with the money I have made here.

Still, it sucks being here, eating mostly the same thing everyday, not seeing my family, missing Buffy reruns, not committing to CVS. War is hell.

Re:Your welcome :)

Mr. Muskrat on 2003-11-12T15:42:23

I would gladly take your place if I could. Sure, I would miss my family and the living conditions are not the best but *sigh* I really miss the military life.

Re:Your welcome :)

brian_d_foy on 2003-11-13T00:49:34

Don't offer unless you mean it! The war is not so bad, it's the people you work with. Same shit, different hostility level. :)