I watch Good Morning America daily. It’s on while I have my cup of coffee and stays on until I take my little man to pre-school. So I usually only miss the last 15 minutes or so. A few days ago, Robin Roberts was showing parts of her interview with the first lady, Michelle Obama. Mrs Obama has decided that one of the items on her platform would be to make things better for the military family. Personally, I think this is great!!!
What came out during the interview is something that I wish all people would find horrific and push to change. Many of our military families use food stamps and other forms of public assistance. Here’s part of Mrs Obama’s interview “It hurts. It hurts,” the first lady said of hearing about military families on food stamps. “These are people who are willing to send their loved ones off to, perhaps, give their lives — the ultimate sacrifice. But yet, they’re living back at home on food stamps. It’s not right, and it’s not where we should be as a nation.”
This should hurt all of us. Whether or not you agree with any military actions that the United States has taken/is taking/will take, you as an American should support our military members and their families so that they do not have to live below the poverty line. These brave men and women that have taken on the task to protect your rights as an American citizen — whether you agree with how it’s done or not. Just think of the blogs that you read. There are “allowed” because of our military that protects your freedom of speech. When you go to church and worship, it is because the military fought for your freedom of religion. I could go on and on about how the military past, present and future protects your rights, but I think you get the picture.
I looked up what the poverty level is for a family of 4 (less then my family size, but what I see mostly around me) and it is $22,050 per year. Most E-4’s and below do not make that. These are the young soldiers with growing families. No different then some of the families you see in your communities. The difference in that they decided to join the military to serve their country. And at this time in history, many are heading into a battle zone and my give their lives to protect our country. They are away from their families and loved ones. They sacrifice more then any other profession I can think of. Don’t you think that if they sacrifice this for you, the least we can do is pay them enough to care for their families?
No matter how you feel about the military actions that are taking place, please do what you can to support your military and ask your government to adequately compensate the men and women in military uniform.
More than well said! It is wrong that so many families – military or otherwise – live below the poverty level. I hope something can be done to improve this.
You should read my today’s post.It deals with that topic and what we went through a few years ago.
Being wife of an E5 with 3 kids I can just say its a though life.