Military Misconception #1,264

So yesterday we addressed people who think military members get handouts. They make it sound like glorified welfare. Too bad most people on public assistance aren’t putting their lives on the line and dying for their job. And notice I said most, not all. We also addressed how some people think the military is a choice. Well yes it is, just like any other job in life is a choice. And with jobs you just can’t quit willy nilly when you feel like it because you don’t like what your boss said. There’s also this thing where the gov’t basically owns your ass for the time of your enlistment. Or in the case of officers, you have to ASK in writing to leave. And even if they let you leave, in the Army, you’re on the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR) list for 2 years following. And guess what? That IRR list is basically a guaranteed ticket to a foreign land.

So now we have people that STILL in this day and age of multiple unit deployments that think the Ntl Guard and Reserve are still one weekend a month, two weeks a year jobs. And in some cases, I’m sure this still hold true. Not in my household. It never has. There are always extra meetings, schools, extended AT that’s more than 2 weeks, the list of crap is never ending. I couldn’t even tell you what a typical year in the Ntl Guard is because my spouse always has something going on. And deployments. There are Guard and Reserve people who have been deployed almost as much as active duty members. The gov’t even extended the number of days members could be deployed in a 3 year period just to meet their troop numbers they needed overseas.

I’ve been published at least twice as saying that Ntl Guard is expected to perform like they’re active duty soldiers with less time for training and less equipment every time. Maybe someone will wake up and notice one of these days. Sure we get the old song and dance that they’re “working on it,” but until we see results, it’s all talk. And the families. We’re supposed to support our soldiers like they’re active duty, blah blah blah, but we don’t have access to the active duty benefits. Sure, if you live near a post you do, but what about the approximately 60% of us who don’t? Hell, in our case, we’re not even in the same state as my husband’s unit. Yes, another choice me made so that he could be under good leadership and with people we know won’t get him killed for making stupid choices.

And as someone pointed out they would not expect benefits for part time work in the civilian world. Well no, most jobs I wouldn’t expect this. In a job where there’s a much sacrificed as military duty, you’re damn straight we owe it to these soldiers and their families to give them benefits. And just so we’re clear, Ntl Guard and Reserves pay for these benefits out of pocket as well as our deductibles and copays. For active duty, it’s part of the benefits package like any other job. The military health care system is just as messed up as the civilian one.

Any other questions or misconceptions? Because really, the only way to piss me off is to bash the military and/or my family. Like I said before, I’d rather have an intelligent discussion than to see the bashing that’s been going on lately.

Stumble! for WP

Close Bookmark and Share This Page

Save to Browser Favorites / Bookmarks

Ask backflip blinklist BlogBookmark Bloglines BlogMarks Blogsvine BuddyMarks BUMPzee! CiteULike co.mments Connotea del.icio.us

Digg diigo DotNetKicks DropJack dzone Facebook Fark Faves Feed Me Links Friendsite folkd.com Furl Google

Hugg Jamespot Jeqq Kaboodle kirtsy linkaGoGo LinkedIn LinksMarker Ma.gnolia Mister Wong Mixx MySpace MyWeb

Netvouz Newsvine oneview OnlyWire PlugIM Propeller Reddit Rojo Segnalo Shoutwire Simpy Slashdot Sphere

Sphinn Spurl Squidoo StumbleUpon Technorati ThisNext Twitter Webride Windows Live Worlds Movies Yahoo!

Email This to a Friend

Copy HTML: 

 If you like this then please subscribe to the RSS Feed or Email Feed.

Powered by Bookmarkify™

More »

Powered by Bookmarkify™

No related posts.

Category: military