620,000 Military Families Rely on Food Pantries to Meet Basic Needs

[xchrom]

http://www.thenation.com/blog/181345/620000-military-families-rely-food-pantries-meet-basic-needs


A soldier shops at a food pantry in Kansas City. (Photo by Jenifer Archdekin/Missouri National Guard, CC BY-NC 2.0)

This month, the US military announced that the air force had delivered more than 110,000 meal rations to stranded Yazidi refugees in Iraq, in a mission that prompted President Obama to hail “the skill and professionalism of our military, and the generosity of our people.”

Also this month, a new report found that the nation’s food pantries serve 620,000 families with a member in the military—another troubling indication that service members battling against poverty must often rely on the generosity of our charities.

The stunning figure, which represents roughly a quarter of the households of military members on active duty, the Reserves or National Guard, shows that even as the United States purports to wind down its operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and soldiers return to civilian life, they are resettling into a hostile economic climate, on a precarious landscape of joblessness and debt.

The data comes from an extensive quadrennial report published by Feeding America, a national network of tens of thousands of food aid groups and programs. The study also found that one-fifth of the households served by the food pantry network had a member involved with the armed forces, either currently serving or a veteran.

[Ilsa]

1. Are commissaries only on the big bases now?

My in-laws used to shop at the comm and Px for food and other basic needs. It was how they could afford to live. But I wonder how many are available now.

[haele]

6. They've been closing down commissaries on smaller bases.

And they're talking about getting rid of commissaries altogether in the states, except for at a few bases that are in the middle of nowhere.

Down-thread, there is a comment about how "personal finances" are causing this issue by someone who was in the military. While in some few cases, this might be true, I suspect there's a lot more going on, and having been deployed myself a couple times, I know that it doesn't matter how well they pay you, when one spouse or family member is deployed, that's a short-term shock to the finances that most families can't get their heads around. It's not as bad as suddenly becoming unemployed, but the results are similar. One person who has been depended on is not at home, and there's always a bit less coming in than there was when s/he was coming home almost every night.

I also think the article is not totally clear on the numbers - here in San Diego, when food pantries are being used by military families, it's primarily by active duty National Guard or Reservist families - families where the primary breadwinner had been called up and had to give up a far more lucrative job to go to Iraq or Afghanistan, or to take on a critical billet that is otherwise short-staffed. Where they are paying a mortgage on a home in wherever they were originally from, as well as trying to live here in San Diego. Or the family is still back home trying to pay the bills and payments based on the breadwinner's original salary, but only getting the BAQ/VHA and CoLA for that "rank" in that area.

So, someone in say, Austin, TX, who had been making $80K with a stay-at-home spouse and 4 kids is now making $35K when including the allowances for the family - and having to keep some of that salary for his or her own provisioning because they are now stationed in Minot, or Yokosoka, or Baghram for the next year/year and a half they have left on the contract. That's a hard drop in budget to handle, even in a low cost of living area. Yes, the spouse without the recent work history could always get a job - maybe even more than minimum wage. But the disruption and the snow-balling bills as creditors will always want to get paid and don't care that you've had a financial downturn tends to eat up any gains you could make to rectify the situation.
Happened to my brother, an aerospace engineer and former E-5 reservist; when he got his 6-week notice his unit was going to be activated and deployed for four months (which became a year and a half) back in 2005. His "salary" dropped from an average $92K a year with his travel and OT to $35 or so with allowances on active duty. Even with his wife working as a nurse and being as smart as she could with the finances (and being former reservist herself, so she knew the avenues the military offered), they were a good six months in the hole financially and she was dropping into the local food pantries to supplement their finances by the time he came back and got his job back - and he was lucky to get his job back.
Most of his unit was screwed royally by their employers, despite the Soldiers and Sailors relief act and other laws "protecting" Reservists and National Guard.

Haele

[xchrom]

7. +1

[Ilsa]

8. Thank you for the long and thoughtful post.

There's significant detail in it for leaders to consider before deciding to go to war. War costs the nation's treasury and the personal finances of soldiers.

Even if reservist families planned on deployment during peace time and bought less house, capital goods, etc, it still costs the nation in terms of affecting spending. That's a lot of people buying less house and capital goods.

The cycle of dependency is easy to anticipate with so many, including former SNAP recipients, needing a food safety net.

[delta17]

16. That is a tough situation.

When I was in the reserves, it was almost the opposite. Most people who were true reservists made more money when they were activated. Many of them were former active duty who had trouble finding decent jobs in this economy. Most of them eventually became full time reserve technicians.

I think this is part of the reason there isn't much support. Especially in the Midwest, active military pay is usually considered a decent salary.

[Lee-Lee]

2. Part of this is service members and spouses abusing the system, for active duty anyway

Been there, seen that.

Much like food stamps- because only the base pay and not housing allowances or sustenance allowances are counted as pay for purposes of food stamps and entitlements many are eligible where they wouldn't be if payed the same by any other employer.

A new servicemember will make E-2 within months of finishing training. Base pay for an E-2 with under 2 years is 1716.90 a month.

That is 20,602.80 a year- but if married they will live out of the barracks, so they get Basic Allowance for Sustenance of $357.55 a month, or 4,290.60 a month.

So you have $24,893.40 for an entry level worker in the military, who will get promoted within a year unless they screw up. That is before any special incentive pays.

You might say "nobody can make it one that with a family"- but wait. That assumes they will be living on on-post housing at no cost.

So its $24k a year to cover everything other than housing.

A very livable amount if one budgets responsibly.

If they live off post or one of the new privatized housing setups they will get a housing allowance that is adequate for a decent apartment in their area, as they get promoted that rises and will cover a mortgage plus expenses of a house in most areas.

If an active duty servicemember is at a food bank, barring a few exceptional cases, they either are doing a poor job managing money or are just abusing the system.

Now Reserve and Guard can be a whole different story, I have had several of my troops struggle. We always band together to help whenever we can.

[xchrom]

3. i have to admit to having a lot of contempt for your post.

first -- i think -- is that this isn't new.

and it doesn't take into account how much the costs of things are depending on where you live.

and then there is the whole blaming the victim -- we don't know what these folks are paying for, what their circumstances are, etc.

this was low hanging fruit on your part.

[Lee-Lee]

4. No, just calling it like is

I just retired from the USAR after 22 years, including some stints where I had active duty junior enlisted working for me.

As I said, been there done that, had to help them fix their finances.

The numbers I posted don't lie. And as for you comment about cost of living being varied- the government accounts for that with adjusted housing allowances and with cost of living allowances for places where costs are high, so that isn't a factor.

The numbers don't lie- there are very few legitimate reasons why anyone making that much should be at a food pantry, and most of them are indeed poor management of finances and/or abusing the system.

[woo me with science]

11. +1

Thank you.

[jwirr]

5. And with the cut to SNAP there will be more using them.

[Corgigal]

9. They also cut alot of base housing

My daughter is married to a active duty Coast Guard personnel. They are stationed in Key West, where the average rent is over 2 grand to 2,400. Sure the military pays you to live off base, because they can't provide you base housing but depending on where you are stationed, it's not enough right now. I guess that is why some people think going to the food bank isn't a bad idea. Too much of your cash is going to rent, electric and some toys to include basic cable and internet.

[woo me with science]

10. It is an OUTRAGE. Have you also seen the flood of commercials now...

They are like ASPCA commercials or "Feed the Children," but they are begging for money for veterans. Same sad format (with some soaring patriotic music) and pictures of maimed former service members, with a plea to send $19 a month.

The first time I saw one, I almost threw up. Then I got angry.

If the US government cannot take care of the people it sends into war, it has no business sending them there.

Thank you for this post. K&R

[xchrom]

12. we under pay service people...part of how we pay for hi-tech toys. nt

[daredtowork]

13. Also when soldiers are stationed overseas

I've gotten the impression that there is some issue with getting money back to support their families. This issue is not necessarily the fault of the military: if it goes in the husband's pocket first he can spend it on video games or gambling or whatever, and the money doesn't get back to his family. Anyway, there are ways that the *families* of soldiers do get left destitute, and they do need to make use of food pantries. They aren't gaming the system so they can pay for cable TV: they need food pantries because the money isn't getting to the family.

This is where I, once again, start to question the Republican vision of "the family unit" absorbing all social problems. In an age of small, nuclear families, larger society/community should be doing all it can to take pressure off the family unit because under-care, neglect, and abuse often occurs within it.

[delta17]

17. Honestly, that would be a family issue.

The military only does direct deposit, so as long as a couple shares an account, they should all get the money at the same time. Yeah, I have seen some guys go a little overboard at the bars when they were TDY, usually followed by angry emails from home. Like any other part of a healthy relationship, there has to be good communication and some mutual respect.

[madville]

14. The pay wasn't bad the last time I got called back

From 2009-2011 as an E-6 I was netting/taking home about $4300 a month with pay and allowances, based out of Florida, probably around $4800 gross because I didn;t need to have much withheld. I certainly wasn't starving. When I left active duty the first time in 2005 as an E-5 I was taking home $3100 a month.

I take home about $2540 every four weeks now as a federal employee making $24 an hour, 40 hours a week. That's about what a married E-2 or E-3 would expect to take home these days. I just don't buy the poverty part that much anymore, much of it is very poor money management.

When I joined in the 90's though, it sucked. I was an E-3 taking home $900 a month, we were all broke as hell but pay and allowances really took off in 2003, I think I got a 23% raise that year and then like 17% the following year.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

15. I didn't see a breakdown in the story

As to how many of those 620,000 are Guard/Reserve. I've known many people that take a big pay cut when they are called to active duty, and if their civilian job doesn't offer gap pay, it's incredibly difficult for the families.

As for "regular" active duty members that are deployed, their paychecks are bigger during deployments, not smaller. If they were working part time jobs prior to deployment, that could obviously account for the lower amount of money coming in.

When my ex-wife was in the military, the majority of people we knew that were using food stamps qualified due to family size for their income. And unless something has changed, housing didn't count as income for the purpose of determining eligibility. Also, there was lots of debt in the lower ranks...a single soldier/sailor/airman would go into debt to buy that awesome car, and he or she had no trouble making the payments. But then he or she would get married, have a child or two, and then money became incredibly tight.

I'm not saying that military members are over paid by any means, but if most of these 620,000 are active duty as opposed to Guard/Reserve, I do believe there is a possibility of some of them trying to live above their means, or having bigger families than they can afford on their pay.

[delta17]

18. Good point about family size.

I think the dependant allowance stops at two, so if you have a big family it is pretty hard. I was a single E-5, and I was doing fine, but my friend who was the same rank was struggling with 4 kids.