In bid to keep troops, military appealing to families

[question everything]

In bid to keep troops, military appealing to families

Benefits highlighted to raise retention rate

By Steve Liewer
STAFF WRITER

January 17, 2006

Had his wife not suffered so much during her pregnancy two years ago, Sgt. Vince Neil might not be a Marine today. Katherine Neil experienced morning sickness so severe that she spent weeks in the hospital before giving birth to a healthy daughter, Rebecca. Under the military's beefed-up health program TRICARE, her medical coverage didn't cost the family anything.

Vince Neil, now 23, didn't forget the health benefits when he decided to re-enlist last year as an avionics electrician at Miramar Marine Corps Air Station. He wavered for months, but in the end, what the military could do for his family drove him to stick with it.

(snip)

How to retain families such as the Neils has mushroomed into a major issue for the uniformed services, which are struggling to keep a big enough force to fight the insurgency in Iraq while taking on ever more humanitarian relief and homeland defense tasks. The topic got a boost after recently released Pentagon documents showed the number of troops leaving due to pregnancy or parenting issues has climbed to a 10-year high. It also took center stage in San Diego last week at West 2006, the latest version of an annual event co-sponsored by the Naval Institute and the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association.

(snip)

Since 2000, the Department of Defense has boosted military pay by 23 percent to compete with salaries in the civilian world, and its re-enlistment bonuses have soared. The military's medical care is almost free. On-base housing has been upgraded, and the Pentagon has spent nearly $5 billion to reduce out-of-pocket costs for off-base housing.

Between 2000 and 2004, the military's budget for health care rose 11 percent and spending on base support services – including schools, commissaries, child care and recreational facilities – jumped 20 percent, according to a study last year by the Government Accountability Office. The armed forces have added counseling programs for troops returning from war zones and bolstered deployment-related support programs for their families. Death benefits for survivors of troops killed in action have ballooned to $100,000 from $6,000.

(snip)

Steve Liewer: [phone]; [email protected]


Find this article at:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060117/news_1n17family.html

[Trevelyan]

1. The Bush Pentagon welshes on benefits to families and everything else that

would really support our troops.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/20060113/cm_usatoday/forlackofbodyarmortroopsdiewhythedelay

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/1/14/153658/579

Presidents Lie And Soldiers Die - Or Why The Sergeant Majors Furious

[MrModerate]

2. Well, if you want a professional, volunteer military . . .

Ya gotta treat 'em like professionals. Now if we could just get the government to stop throwing them into the meat grinder like some WWII Russian general trying to retake Stalingrad, then that morale problem would probably disappear.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

3. Gosh, when I was dumb enough to join up, they paid me $79 per month.

Got all the way up to $165 four year later before I told them to stick their re-enlistmant papers.