Military 'Entitlement'

Yay! I found something non-baby related that inspired me! I started this blog to remind myself that 'Perception Is Everything' no matter what we go through during our military life, and this is the perfect example of just how important that is. This post may be geared towards the military, but I think you may find that it can translate based on the entitled society that seems to be taking over these days. Unfortunately, entitlement is a problem much larger than this particular article, but that's a topic for a different day.

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Someone posted this article on Facebook knowing that it would incite a wildfire among military families, but it did the opposite for me and I think I'm the only one that agrees with it. As the title states, I do think that {some} military families need to reevaluate their sense of entitlement, and this Carl fella made some good points. As I discuss these points, remember that none of you lovely bloggers fall into the entitled category. You are all the most amazing military spouses that I have come across, and I think you can agree that there is a difference between appreciating community support and demanding it.

Point #1: Civilians don't 'owe' service members anything. Sure, a 'Thank you for your service' goes a long way with the soldiers, but Will would never even expect that and half the time we forget to ask for the discounts available to us. He receives a paycheck and some pretty okay benefits, and that covers what we are 'owed' by this country. On top of that, I don't know many jobs that foot the bill for things like career training and flight school. The flight school alone would cost us beaucoup bucks out of our own pockets if he trained in the civilian world, and he's also had countless other training and schools in the last five years. That adds up to a lot of extra compensation the way I see it, and for that we are thankful.

Point # 2: 'Toughest job in the Army/Navy/Air Force/Marine' stickers aren't cool. I would NEVER think that my military...er...situation is harder than Will deploying, training, or going through flight school, so the thought of displaying one of those stickers makes me cringe. Plus, as Carl stated: Are there sacrifices involved in a military lifestyle? "Yes. But especially when that military family chooses to re-up for another tour, they are like the hunter going after the bear the second time. They have voluntarily chosen that life with full knowledge of what they are getting into and decided that the pros outweigh the cons." I hadn't ever thought of it that way, but it's funny how many families you see that have re-enlisted, and yet still have the same complaints. The only reason I can think that people would do that is if they are the type to complain about any situation they are in.

Point #3: Military families complaining about not making ends meet are causing their own financial hardship. It's public knowledge that the soldiers receive a decent wage when you include BAH, BAS, Benefits, etc., and that wage even goes up during deployments. You can't put a price on being separated and the soldiers being in harm's way, but the military isn't the only career field that has a dangerous environment. Barring that, if a family, any family, can't live off one salary then I suggest the spouse goes and gets a job. I managed to find jobs each time we moved, worked until we could save up enough money to have a decent savings and investment money, and we also learned to live within our means. WE control our financial situation instead of complaining about what the military pays or demanding support from others. "The hard, unpleasant truth is that many of the problems some military families have are at least somewhat self-induced- by having kids too young."

I think the main point that is lost in the article while he brings up such hot button issues, is that we shouldn't be looking to civilians or communities for our 'entitlements'. The government signs up soldiers at such a young age that they need to be mentoring and preparing these soldiers for the deployments and hardships to come. Getting married and starting a family right before you deploy is romantic in the movies, but in real life love {and/or lust} is not enough to carry a family through without proper strategy.

I'm a firm believer that it's not what you say, but how you say it. Should this Carl character have had a better, more compassionate approach to this topic? Of course. But he wanted a reaction and he got it. With my opinions, I hope to show that if you want more, go out and get it. If you don't have enough 'support', go out and find it. There are jobs out there, and there is more support within the military community than any other community I've ever seen. Be grateful for what you have, and if it's not enough...what are you going to do about it?