Honestly, i think its a bad idea. but i also think that BAH should consider things like number of dependants. i'm married and have 3 kids, and my BAH is the same as a marine who just got married, and has no kids. Rent out in town for 2 people is a lot cheaper than for 5. i dont think that single marines should get the same amount of BAH as a married marine. most service members that live out in town on their BAH use about half of it for rent, then pocket the rest. how is that fair for somebody like myself? i had to live on base housing because rent for a family of 5 is quite a bit more than I get an allowance for. i think they should base housing allowance off of how many dependants there are, not solely on rank and location.
This really burns me up. I cannot believe they do this to us…They give us a 3.5 percent pay increase but they lower the BAH for with dependents. The E-6 and E-7 ranks are hit the hardest. Losing 90 dollars from the E-7 BAH with dependents and about 200 dollars from E-6 with dependents. This is how they are funding the single BAH increase. The single guys usually end up with room mates or a small place of their own, which is natural. Why bump up their BAH so they can move in next door to a 3 bedroom house as a single guy when most likely he is going to move in with two room mates and pocket the rest. This is done at the expense of the married service member. They lowered our rates to fund this. The downside is there goes our 3.5 percent pay raise. It is now being used to make up for the difference in our BAH that we lost as a service member with dependents in order to cover our mortgage and keep a roof over our families head. Everyone say thank you to the military planners behind this one !!
It seems that all of us who have dependents are against this "raise" for single members. 14515025 has it right when he said that singles are going to get an apartment together and pocket the rest. I know of a few guys on my ship that have already done that. However I do disagree that E-6, E-7 are hit the hardest. I am an E-5, and I only get $45 increase. I know that is still something, but I was planning on that usual $70-100 increase that I have seen over the past 4 years. Now for jszot's comment about the more dependents the more money, that also poses the problem of people having more kids to get more money. The main reason I think that with dependents should be higher is that we have don't eat every meal on board, or at the galley, mess hall, what ever you call it. I maybe eat 1 meal a day and I still get $270 of my BAS taken out of my pay. I also have to take into account travel expenses for not living on base. I don't think that the people on the accounting board have ever served in the military.
Good morning all...this is a can of worms to be sure and I am at the without dependents rate. I am geting ready to retire so the change won't affect me for long, but, I agree that all members, regardless of rank, should get the same housing allowance. First, yes, many lower ranked enlisted are going to pocket extra money, I can't deny that. I have always been lucky in that my housing costs are normally less than my BAH, allowing me to set aside money. Not everyone is gaining a lot from this new cap for 2008. I ran the numbers when I noticed a very low increase in my BAH for my area. The with dependent rate went up $126.00 and the without rate went up a small $12.00...with the grand total for without being 75% of the with dependent rate. Now, running those same numbers for the 2007 difference, the without rate was 80% of the with dependent rate. So, based on the new "agreement", without dependents lost that 5% gap. So, in a sense, we didn't gain the pay increase, we actually lose money. Having dependents is a member decision; it isn't forced on members by the military and I have been an investigator for people who married strictly to gain the extra money and didn't actually have a marriage; one couple went so far as to forge a marriage certificate. Yes, housing for a family of 5 is higher, makes sense. Why can't I live in the same comfort, at the same rank even if I don't have dependents?
Hmmm. I think its interesting that everyone gets defensive when a rate other than theirs is going up, but what's even more interesting is that anyone who does the same job as someone else thinks that they are some how entitled to more money because of the personal decisions they make in their private life. Just because you have a bigger family doesn't mean you should get more money from the government. Rank should determine pay amount not the amount of kids you decide to bring into this world. I'm all for making the dependent rate the same as the without dependent rate. No other job pays you based on how many kids you've got unless you count welfare.
I'm currently a single Sergeant who will be getting married next year. By myself, I'm quite capable of managing to rent a very well-off apartment without having my fiancee help with the bills, due to sound money management skills. I can understand where the higher ranking (E-6 and higher) personnel would be disgruntled, since they are normally married and have to take care of more children or pay more for a house or apartment due to the size of their family. Now, here's a question: Is it the military's duty to pay you more everytime you decide to have another child or wnat to move into a more lavish accomodation? No. They take a look at the housing market in the local area and from that they determine what is a reasonable amount of extra pay to put into your check. Same goes for sustinance pay; they look at what the cost is of an average meal and then go from there. Are you telling me that since you are married, that you're spouses money has no effect on where you live or what you eat? Come on, get real. And for those single members that are smart about consolidation and get roommates to help ebb the housing cost, good thinking on your part.
