Reply #72: You were lucky but your experience isn't the paradigm. Nor is mine. Certainly not nowadays.

[MADem]

Servicemembers nowadays aren't getting paid seventy eight bucks a month. Your experience is about as relevant as mine was when I first entered service, and about as relevant as the experience of a Civil War soldier, for that matter. However, I stayed in the service for several decades, and I saw the changes and how they affected people. I saw a couple of "force shaping" drills (drawdowns) and they were badly managed and unpleasant. I never got bitten in any of them, and was happy to be able leave under my OWN steam, but the whole process is difficult if it isn't well managed. It's a recipe for disaster in a contracting economy, too. Even now, I'm not up to speed with the latest info like someone on ACDU is--I do read up if I see an interesting article on the subject, though, because the military was my organization for so many years.

There's not much call for cement mixers and ditch diggers wandering in off the street these days. The unions want to see your card before they'll let you mix cement, and ditch diggers are going at bargain rates in front of the Home Depot. Most of them are lucky to get work a few days a week. Times are tough.

The GI BILL deduction did happen (see Montgomery GI Bill), though Congress passed a new version (the post 911 GI Bill) that applies to servicemembers who were on ACDU after a certain date, which is more generous, but it still isn't enough to raise a family on, and you don't get a full housing benefit (which is a BAH payment at the E-5 level--not enough to cover all costs in any event) that would do anything more than maybe cover most dorm costs for a single kid. A single parent is screwed, because you can only get that benefit if you're going to school full time. Part-time doesn't cut it for the BAH payment. And if you're going to school full time, it's not enough money to live on. Catch-22, unless you have a parent or spouse who is employed and is willing to subsidize you.

I am aware of the "Veteran's Preference" at the post office, but it's not quite how you put it--you have to score at least 70 on the test, and you only get five extra points for being in the military--combat, or not, and, if you're smart anyway, you can't score more than 100 (e.g., if you get a 96, they don't say your score is 101). And the ten points isn't for combat--it's for DISABLED vets, or veterans who have a Purple Heart. No disability/PH, no extra five points. If you were lucky in combat, and didn't get hit or hurt, you don't get the bennie. I have an in-law (three PH, two SS, one bronze) who worked there for awhile.

In any event, there are limited numbers of jobs in the post office, and nowadays, they're in the position of raising stamp prices, laying off and automating and cutting hours and closing facilities, not expanding. That's not a viable solution for half of the military forces.

It's a tough situation for military personnel when they transition in good times. It's harder still in a bad economy.


POST OFFICE: http://www.gopostaljobs.com/veterans.shtml