Military Wives' Struggle to Provide

Military Wives' Struggle to Provide Military wives perform a multitude of jobs. From surrogate mother to grown men, babysitter, and tailor, to bed and breakfast owner, advice hotline operator, and of course cook ,maid, and financial planner. All of these tasks are expected and necessary, and although these odd jobs can be given fancy names they don't come with pay checks. As an insider to the world of military wives and stay at home moms I've seen a growing epidemic. Fueled by the economic state of the country, the increased deployment of troops, and the meager salary of the enlisted and lower level soldiers, families are struggling to get by. Avoiding debt is near impossible and the military offers little help. This is putting increased pressure on spouses with children, who would otherwise stay at home with the kids, to find work outside the home.

This is easier said then done. Using the Fort Campbell, KY and Clarksville, TN area as an example of military towns, it is easy to see why. The minimum wage in Kentucky is $5.15 an hour. Tennessee does not have minimum wage laws, but must comply with federal standards which remain also at $5.15 an hour. At minimum wage, working full time you would receive a monthly paycheck of $824, before taxes. The lowest cost of day care per child in this area that I could find was 60$ a week at an in home provider, I have two children bringing my hypothetical daycare cost to $480 per month. Doing the math that leaves $344 left before taxes come out and without calculating the cost of travel to and from the job. The choice many wives here at Fort Campbell and military installations around the country face is one between providing the time and effort during the day to keep the household running and the extra $100-$300 a month that could be made if they can find a full time job. With a degree or trade skill higher paying jobs are available, but finding the money to cover education and childcare expenses is often a frustrating and fruitless endeavor.

Personally, I have found that finding a job at all is difficult due to the unusual circumstances that are present when hiring anyone with military ties. Because the spouse who is in the military has no regular work times ,and frequent and long deployments are becoming a regular part of military life these days, it is common that the wife has sudden and unexpected conflicts of schedule, as well as her husband's long blocks of vacation a couple times a year. These complications make employers think twice before hiring a military spouse who may need a more flexible workplace. The wives who are lucky enough to find employment and childcare that allows for a couple hundred extra dollars a month are not relieved from the responsibilities as a military wife. It may seem like a throwback to the 50's, but when your husband works from 5am to whenever everyday when stateside and he is gone for months to a year at a time on deployments it is up to you to hold things together. The military wife with children does the laundry, prepares uniforms, cooks and cleans, and pays the bills the best she can and often works miracles getting everything done. Many I know would give their last dollar to a fellow military family in need, as well as taking in and taking care of younger soldiers who are like children thrown into a grown up world without preparation. That is the one thing we have going for us, here in the military world we are all bound together by the common bond of struggle in so many aspects of life. We take care of each other without being asked and with out expectation of compensation or even a thankyou.

I think it is high time that the military leaders at the top and the rest of the government take notice of the hardship military families face, with a focus on military spouses. By enabling spouses easy access to job training and affordable childcare, the lawmakers would greatly reduce the need for these families to use government aid ,such as the WIC program for food, and better the quality of life for service members., As an added bonus, it would give a boost to the local economies and drive out the predatory loan offices and pawn shops that seem to overwhelm these small towns. Our husbands chose to serve and we chose to stand beside them and support them, all we want is for our country to stand beside us and help us support ourselves.