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Our Troops Don’t Need Exaggerated Facts. They Need Support.

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All Drama or Freckles have to do is flick Monster on the arm for him to come running upstairs, complete waterworks, screaming about how he was brutally punched.

This worked maybe once or twice.  But after some time with the constant hysterics and exaggerations, I stopped listening.

The truth is, his siblings should be spoken to in some way for constantly annoying him.  But the fact that the truth of HOW they are annoying him have been so greatly exaggerated means that I now do nothing.  Sometimes, I need to discipline Monster for lying.  Rarely, though, do I remember after all the truth comes out to reprimand his siblings for the infraction they are guilty of.

Monster doesn’t understand it, but his over the top screaming and exaggeration have made me tune out, which isn’t helping his cause one bit.

Lately, this graphic is circulating the web

And it bugs me.

It’s only the latest one in a string of ‘Support or Troops’ propaganda that is misleading or false.

I’m not going to speak on any of the other ‘facts’ listed on it.  I don’t know for sure how much the PMO makes on retirement, but all my research up to now puts it at much less than what this says.

But that’s not my point.

My point is that the ‘average’ Canadian soldier (or military member, since there are sailors and airmen as well), does not make $40 000.

In fact, on enlisting, a Private makes about $33 000.  By his or her 2nd year, they make $41 000.  By 4 years – over $55 000.

So I’m not sure what ‘average’ is since I’m unsure how many members of what ranks exist, but I have to say that this leads me to believe the ‘average’ soldier makes quite a bit more than $40 000. 

As military members, your income is inside a fishbowl.  The interweb lists the pay scale for every rank up to general.  If you know a members rank, you know their base salary.  You can add on that if they receive Land Duty Allowance, Personal Living Differential, Sea-Pay, Air-Pay, or any other allowance.

When serving on deployment, the member also receives extra pay based on level of danger and how many times he or she has been sent on deployment previously.  As well, on many (though not all) military deployments out of country, the military member’s salary becomes tax free for the duration of the deployment.

SO let me make clear, friends.

DH has spent 14 years in the military.  When he joined, the pay for a Private at 1 year was less that $21 000. There was no tax free status for deployments.  It was….. not fun.  We made due with a VISA and a PMQ with rent that at the time was based on income, little to no disposable cash, waiting to payday to buy milk and my constant string of jobs where I could find them.  Just like everyone managed before me.  That doesn’t make it right, it’s just the way it was.

Now, that same private makes $41000.  There has been inflation, too, but still, this has been a HUGE jump.

No one is getting rich off a military career.  Certainly not anyone supporting a family of 5.  Some might make more money in civilian careers.  But not all (if I had a dollar for every soldier I have seen quit for more money and re-enlist 3-5 years later….).  There are sacrifices, bills are tight, sometimes it seems unfair.  Many times it seems unfair.  Usually those times when my friends go on vacation.

Especially when extras in moving cost money and you get an allowance for housing costs in one place but not the other even though your mortgage is the same and there’s no huge salary at the end of the tunnel to hold out for like other careers can hope for.

But you can pay bills and survive off these salaries.  You can.  We have.  It’s not glamorous or lavish,  but it can be done if you don’t try to live like you are richer than you think.

So that brings us to the point of this graphic. 
The TRUE salaries would have been enough.
Maybe whoever made it was worried people wouldn’t listen unless the gap was greater.
Maybe they just guessed at everything and can’t work google.
I don’t know.
But the sentiment is good.
There is a HUGE gap and depending on your leanings, it might look really, really unfair.
But let’s use the facts to communicate that gap, not exaggerated information.

We’ve all also seen the graphic or poem or status saying that men in helmets fighting for freedom should be paid more than men in helmets fighting for a football?

Do we actually want the taxes involved with paying soldiers salaries that are compatible with football players, or do we just like the sound byte?

I don’t miss the point, at all, but it’s not the Canadian Government’s fault that we as a society value entertainment with our money and capitalism allows that to turn some professions into millionaires while other’s will never see that kind of income.

That’s just the way of the world as our society has created it. We pay to watch athletes and actors.  We don’t pay to watch soldiers.  If you want to change this, stop watching movies and sports and contributing to their salaries.

And saddest of all, the ones doing what could arguably be
called the most damage to the reputation of soldiers are those within
their own ranks and families who are manipulating and abusing the system.

False
mental health and physical injury claims.  Exaggerating
symptoms to get payouts.  Complaining and running to the media each and
every single time the Canadian Forces doesn’t give them their way, even
those times when they were more than within their rights to do so.
Championing for better pay while purposely manipulating the facts to make it look worse than it is.

There are SO FEW of those people, and yet they are SO LOUD and they are RUINING IT FOR EVERYONE.

The TRUTH, friends, is that Forces Families need support.

The TRUTH is there is much room for improvement.

Many are having to fight and often losing their battle to receiving adequate care, respect and retraining after suffering an injury.

More and more budget cuts are affecting services to those that need it most.

Even more cuts are making service member’s jobs harder and harder with old equipment and little funding.

Every day more soldier’s (and their families) are suffering from mental health issues and information and resources for them is not being communicated, meaning many that are hurting are slipping through the cracks.

_____

Take a look at the salary chart. (It’s linked below in case you want me to work google for you).
I’m not going to complain about hubby’s salary, but it’s certainly nothing special.  I know many families who are struggling because moving makes it hard for the spouse to keep a good job, because jobs are limited when you can’t work shift work to accomodate your spouse’s operational tempo, because costs of living are greater in some areas and without family support many are paying more for childcare than others.  Because moving around makes it difficult to find community, hand me downs, babysitter co-ops, etc. Because the living allowences based on location can seem arbitrary and sometimes a move can been a loss of $12 000 or more a year in income. 

And most soldiers (because, like any job, there are some that just aren’t) work really, really hard.  On call.  Long hours.  They will, if asked, put their life on the line.  Their families will move.  They will answer phones in the night and they will sandbag floods and fight forest fires and police the Olympics and defend Afghan villages.
I’m the last person to argue against them deserving the best.

But let’s be realistic.

Let’s make our battles count.

There are things that need to be shared, championed and fought.

There’s a dialogue that should be opened and discussions that should be had.

But it is a disservice to those needs when we reproduce and share ‘propoganda’ that exaggerates the need.

The facts speak loud enough on their own, friends.


Let’s stick to them.

*References:
Pay Scale
Severance Pay
Medical Pensions
Mental Health System

What do you think when you see misleading or false social media propaganda?  Does it bug you or could you care less?

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reccewife

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10 COMMENTS

  1. Anonymous | 8th Aug 13

    Facebook and the internet are riddled with false information, I am amazed at how many people share stories like these without doing a little research first. I have also seen first hand how the mass media manipulates the facts in order to provoke a certain response from the public after reading reports on events that I have personally witnessed. I don't take anything for face value, it is frustrating to see how many people do.

    • reccewife | 9th Aug 13

      You are right, I also find it frustrating how easily false information is spread! Thanks for reading!

  2. Anonymous | 9th Aug 13

    I agree with the opinion. This meme (?) is misleading. I do not agree that families need more support. Any job in the private sector does not hold a candle to what we (the CF) currently provide.
    As she states, sacrificaes must be made. If that means you have to live across the country from your home province, sick mother, or may have to spend a couple years in a post you just don't like then so be it.
    I am tired of all the focus put on families. There are many CF members (if a recal a recent survey, over 60% are single – which excludes common-law w/o chldren) who do not have a family. It is good they acknowledge it, but everything always seems to be geared towards those married with children, or single with children.
    I would really like to see some, just any, attention to the single or unmarried member.

    • reccewife | 9th Aug 13

      HI Annonymous, you won't see this as you didn't leave your contact info, but I would like to say thanks for reading.
      I don't believe that supports for families are where they could be, to say 'so be it' and compare it to the private sector shows a lack of understanding about military families, their life, and the supports available to them.
      However, this post did not in any way focus on families needing more support. The title says 'Troops need support'. The examples of areas that could be improved were linked to articles that almost exclusively spoke of ways the military member could be supported, not the family.
      I am in complete agreement that if there is a lack in support for the single member (I'm not sure what you might be looking for, but I'd love to read suggestions!)that should be improved, but I don't think that has to come at the expense of the support offered to families. Both needs can be addressed.

  3. Anonymous | 9th Aug 13

    I avoided reading this post a few times but in the end my curiosity won out. I was pleasantly surprised that this wasn't a "woe is me" post and for that the writer deserves to be commended. However, the one thought that I can't get out of my head is this: Isn't joining the military a choice? I believe being a soldier is one of the most difficult and least appreciated jobs around, but at the end of the day it was a choice, hopefully a well thought out and researched choice that an individual made. If I don't like the salary, benefits, pension, work environment that a job provides then I won't apply for said job, that's a choice I and only I make for myself and my family. Perhaps we as a society need to start taking responsibility for the choices we make.

    • reccewife | 9th Aug 13

      Hi Annonymous! You won't see this reply since you didn't leave your informaiton, but I did want to say for anyone else reading that, in fact, if you look at what I wrote, all the ways I felt the services could use support have nothing to do with the salaries we all signed up for. I agree that soldiers made a choice and I agree that the salary was part of that choice. If a member chooses to petition his employer for a wage increase, that is also within his or her rights to do so, but that's not the point here and I don't believe I came across as saying it was.
      Budget cuts that came info effect after a member joined, lagging mental health support and lack of help for those wounded (especially when injury benefits were changed partway through the war) does not qualify as part of the choice of enlisting, in my opinion.
      Unless you are insinuating that by choosing to enlist a military member is giving away their right to fair treatment or support if they are injured in action. In which case I would have to respectfully disagree.
      Thanks for choosing to take a chance and read this post!

    • Anonymous | 9th Aug 13

      Perhaps you misread, I wasn't commenting solely on salary as your reply insinuates. Budget cuts are a reality for any profession salaried by the government and budget cuts do not affect wages alone, they affect benefits, pension, working environment and many, many other areas. This is one of the considerations an individual should examine when making an informed choice, whether that choice is to enlist or for a civilian choosing a job in the private sector. I do however, agree that changes made part way through are not fair but they happen in the private sector as well. And when these changes happen an individual then must reevaluate the choice they made and choose a different path (God willing that they have they ability to do so.)

    • reccewife | 9th Aug 13

      I see your point, and I agree, many of the issues are not exclusive to the forces, though military members are still within their rights to petition the government (their employer) for changes, as anyone could in any profession.
      Unfortunately, in most of the examples I listed, the issue is the treatment after the fact of members seriously wounded. There's no time at that point to 'reevaluate the choice they made' in serving their country, and I believe we do owe them better.
      As for the cuts to equipment or the readiness of the forces, speaking up about that one way or another would depend on one's leanings on the importance of Canada having an operational armed forces.
      All of this, however, was besides my point, which I clearly didn't make as well as I intended, that exaggerated or misleading facts about anything are a hinderance to a cause. Whatever that cause is. 🙂

  4. Sandra | 16th Aug 13

    Thank you for this, for your honesty! So many military wives would not have taken this stance. I was married to a warrant, and between his pay, and yes, extras for moving and such, we were for want of nothing. Not to mention, have a good look in the yard of the people living in the Qs: trailer, quad, two vehicles, etc. I LOVED that you put this out there. I agree that our service men do a lot for this country, but to think that you can join up after graduation and make over $40 000, that's an obscene amount of money for an 18 year old. Loved this post Kim!

  5. chambanachik | 21st Aug 13

    Honestly, I hear so much about how military families make so little…and Sky and I would LOVE to have their salaries. He hasn't been able to find a job that pays well, and his monthly drill pay isn't much. I'm sure there are challenges for active families pay wise, too, but I wonder if they realize how lucky they are to have what they have sometimes.

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