Military Spouses Should Be Compensated
Military spouses deserve to be paid something for their sacrifices. Yes, the military pays the soldier, marine, sailor, or airman family separation pay but it is only a measly $250 per month only during deployment or hardship tours. This is not a way to thank the spouses who slave day and night taking care of the home they have worked so hard to make. This little chunk of change, while it may help out, is to provide the soldier some sort of incentive to want to be away from home for a period of time. So what does the military spouse receive in return for their sacrifices? Not a whole lot except maybe once a year celebration for military spouses. This is simply unacceptable to me.
As I see it, military spouses have become an extension of the military. They have to inform other spouses of the happenings of the unit. They ensure the single soldiers' needs are being met. They have to take the place of the spouse who is absent from the home and do their role as well. So why do must they go unpaid or uncompensated for their hard work as well?
There are billions of dollars being pumped into the military resources and the soldiers are making pennies on what their skills and abilities are worth, and so are their spouses. Even if the spouse chooses to put the children in daycare and take on employment, this can become even more of a burden because of the high costs of childcare provided on the base as well as the surrounding areas. Why can't the government allocate a piece of the pie to include some payment to military spouses?
If the president's wife can receive pay for being a former first lady, why can't military spouses reap the same benefits? Some of the responses the government may give for not wanting to acknowledge the fact military spouses deserve compensation may be "there is just too many of you around and not enough resources." Maybe they would say, "Military spouses do not have a contract, therefore; we will not compensate them even though they make great sacrifices for our country." Yes, we hear it all the time. The lame excuses our government may give for not wanting to spend money on its own citizens.
When will the government see that military spouses deserve to be compensated for their hard work at home? It is already hard enough for military spouses to find gainful employment because of the frequency of transfers. Paying military spouses should not be hard. All it would require would be a provision added to the budget for the military and have the military spouses sign paperwork to receive the pay. It sure would be nice to see some extra money coming in for doing twice the work when the troops are away training or defending the country.
Published by Kristina Jones
Kristina Jones hails from Fort Lewis, WA where her husband proudly serves his country. She has a degree in Criminal Justice. She also has two young daughters and enjoys writing about almost anything. View profile
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26 Comments
Post a CommentI stumbled across this article. I am a military spouse and see no reasons why we should be compensated. None. If you want compensation, get a job. If you are a homemaker, it's a choice that does not merit government compensation. The government pays the military member not the whole family.
Just stumbled upon this article and felt compelled to respond. As a former military member that did three deployments and now a stay at home mother of two and wife to a military member on his forth deployment I can honestly say there is zero justification to compensating military wives for being military wives. That is what you signed up for when you married someone in the military. If you don't like the lifestyle and feel you should be compensated for your "hardships" then maybe you married the wrong person, because clearly being compensated and getting benefits takes precedent over your love and support for your spouse. There are many resources available for spouses to find employment, to get help with childcare while their spouse is deployed, etc, but you need to seek them out. They're not going to come knocking on your door asking if you need help. So many women go through this, as so many women have before us, under much harsher circumstances, for much longer time periods, w
Ok first of all I am both a military wife and i'm in the military. my husband is currently deployed and wives should not be compensated because their husbands are deployed. listen to what that says about you...you want money because your husband is deployed...i love my husband and i am here to support him no matter what...he could be gone 5 years in a row and i'm still going to be right here, taking care of everything and supporting him until he gets back. so your putting your marriage on a pay scale and that is shallow. military pay is great considering the economy and all the benefits we have...we dont have to pay for medical, dental, life insurance is cheap, they pay us housing allowance and for groceries. maybe you just need to take a finance class and learn how to budget better.
Family sep pay isn't pay for spouses...it's to cover expenses such as higher telephone bills or repairs and other incidentals. There are plenty of ways to compensate military spouses. For example, we could receive education benefits, a tax credit for staying home to raise our children (especially when our active duty spouses are deployed), and it should be a federal mandate that spouses receive unemployment benefits when losing a job due to a PCS (currently only 21 states support this). The military lifestyle puts a tremendous amount of strain on our finances--from being underpaid compared to the civilian sector to the loss of a second income everytime we move or deploy. The difference between being a military spouse and a civilian with a traveling spouse is that we don't have a choice (once the contract is signed). No, spouses aren't government-issued, but we're a very real and significant facet of the military.
I think military wives should take the extra 250 per month. However my husband was in the reserves and had a great job here. He got deployed to Iraq for a year. Made only 1/3 of his salary. I do think the government should of provided more....................I am just very bitter about the military now. They own you. They brainwash them to re-enlist...........
I think that if we start asking for compensation for being married to someone we love, regardless of the circumstances in life, we will get an even worse rep as money hungry tramps. . . .
This is an interesting forum. Yes! it would always be nice to have some extra pay trust me I know Im a military wife myself. However I also knew what I was getting into when I married my husband. When you marry a military man you marry him because you love him and you understand that you will not be compensated for being a wife and a mother. I think that its kind of a weird request to be compensated for something that all wives have to do at some point in time. There are many wives out there that play dual roles (not just military wives), and they do not expect to be compensated for being a mother and wife.
Maybe you should look into some benefits that the military offers for military spouses/wives a little bit better or maybe you need to learned how to manage the monthly pays better.
Yes its hard but this is an unreasonable request Im mean come on you knew what you were getting into
SUCK IT UP!!
This is an interesting article, Kristina. I had not really thought about being paid when my husband was in the military.
Sophie
Kristina, this is a great article. You know how I feel about military wives and how much I love it, but the hardship is well, hard. Keep it up!! Yeah, more money would be great!!
I'm not so sure the spouses should be paid, but the soldiers should be paid fairly considering they are putting their lives on the line for decisions they have no say in.