RE: http://www.military.com/opinion/0,15202,125877,00.html

As an Army wife I would like to point out a few things to Mr. Arkin.
Our housing isn't free - we get a housing allowance for living off post - as an E5 with over 10 years we receive $922 a month - we couldn't afford to live off post on that, in Texas, our electric bill alone was over $400 a month -that was without using the A/C in 100 degree heat and 120% humidity. So we moved on post into housing that is listed as "substandard" by the contractor who gets all of our $922 every month (that's $11064 a year by the way). My living room and kitchen heat up every afternoon to the point that my A/C shuts down because it can't handle the heat. Maintenance can't fix it and won't replace it. It's drafty and cold in the winter and the tile floors get so cold my legs ache clear to my hips.
As for medical care. I wait two to three weeks for doctor appointments for routine care, and three months for specialty care appointments. I spend 6-8 hours to be seen in the emergency room or the walk-in clinic (when I can get in that is).
We shop at the commissary on post because we can't afford the "good stores" like Wal-Mart. I work full-time because we can't afford to for me to stay at home with the children. They have after school programs but I can't take the time off to get them there and my husband can't when he's working until 7pm every night getting ready for the next deployment.
As for luxuries the troops receive. How about this luxury? My husband deployed to Afghanistan for 12 months, came home for four months and left to spend 18 months in Iraq. He didn't have internet in Afghanistan - we used instant messaging from our cell phones when he could get a signal because the phone cards cost too much.
He had intermittant internet in Iraq but we couldn't afford a computer to put in the 8X10' can he lived in.
Now he's leaving me for another 15 month deployment and do you know what I'm grateful for? I'm grateful that he spent a full 12 months at home with me between the last deployment and this one. We've been married 14 years this year and we'll miss this anniversary again. In 14 years, he's been home for 6 of our anniversaries, and 7 of his birthdays - I guess that should be considered one of the obscene ammenities that he gets.
I'd like to meet Mr. Arkin face to face and tell him about the great benefits we get.
During the Afghanistan trip, I stayed behind, caring for one of my sons alone (the other was deployed with his father). During Christmas week the house we lived in decided to fall apart. The roof sprung a leak, the furnace died, and the pipes froze during a winter blizzard. The military wasn't there to fix it for me, I had to get help from my church because when I went to the Family Support people with the Army, they told me my power of attorney had been typed incorrectly so I couldn't get any assistance from them. I learned a hard lesson about red tape.
Since then, I've gone to work for Army Community Services and I've been able to learn a great deal about our "obscene ammenities" and I intend to put everyone of them to work not only for myself but for every Family member I can get the information out to.
Take that Arkin.

How can anyone's electric bill be $400/mth w/o using the AC???? There was obviously something very wrong that should have been looked into and squared away there. If you paid it, you're crazy.

plus, what MANY people discount, is that we REALLY do not have free housing. It is placed on our LES as a housing offset more often than not. If NOT, then we get our FULL BAH such as in DC or in other military housing arrangements. Housing offsets and BAH is DEFINITELY not free to the US military that has to shell out the money for each of us to have a place to live.

NOW, you are in military housing, can you deal with the BRUTAL issues that occur there such as gossip? hatred, bigotry and intolerance towards interracial marriages from those raised in the South as well as people pulling rank on each other when they insist on controlling how "their" neighborhoods will be? You have a year long contract that you have to uphold so enjoy it! In one housing area I was in, a guy was assaulted with a gun over a bike. In another, one guy was EXTREMELY racist towards a couple who was interracial to the extent that he told the neighbors falsehoods about them and because he wouldn't shut up, they lost friends and their own kids had no friends within the neighborhood. His ignorance cost them emotionally and they ended up moving out since they had completed their year of time in that neighborhood.

(Quote: "How can anyone's electric bill be $400/mth w/o using the AC????")

We live in San Diego - not in military housing. Our monthly gas & electric bill combined during the winter averages between $350 and $400 and goes up to $475 or higher during the summer if we use the A/C. We rent a 4 bedroom house which we share with two other roomates. $200 of that monthly bill? That's TAXES!!!!!! Which we got to find out about AFTER we moved into our first house from apartments. San Diego County has a crapload of utility taxes for HOUSES that apartment complexes are exempt from. We went from paying $80 a month to $400. Our monthly rent on this house is almost $2000 a month. There is NO way we could afford that without having roomates help pay the bills! We can't AFFORD to live in Military housing! Who can afford to feed a family of four on a paycheck of $1,500 a month? Certainly not in California!!! The commissary? Walmart is CHEAPER!! We can't afford to shop at the NEX or the commissary - they're too expensive! I'd sure like to take these so called wonderful extravagant amenities and shove them right up his ****!!!!!!! if you know what I mean