Budget Uncertainty Hurting Morale

Budget Uncertainty Hurting Morale…this is what I read this morning from a news post on 12 September 2013, and I’m really sorry I didn’t see this sooner. Not that I expected any less from news sources since it was buried under other news posts that ranged from Dumb things civilians say to soldiers to VA must do more to attract women vets. I’m not saying that the VA shouldn’t do what this report says, but since when does things civilians say to soldiers rank higher in the news scale than something Congress is NOT doing (passing a budget) that is hurting the morale of our troops?

In case you didn’t know, troops’ morale is something that really needs to be focused on. When morale is low, just like with every other company that has employees, work productivity suffers. In this instance, we could essentially say that our troops’ (soldiers) are slacking off and just don’t care. In the light of the concern of their pay being suspended why should they care?

Every year, for at least the last 3 years, our elected officials have repeatedly threatened or black mailed other Congressmen/Congresswomen with the phrase “We won’t pay our military.” I still struggle with the fact that they continually and repeatedly use our military as a way to further their own agenda and push through funding to pork belly projects that are unnecessary. Why do we still allow these people to have a seat in Congress when they are failing the very people who protect them, will rush into battle without a second thought or any hesitation, and willingly place themselves between any threat to their family and friends?

This lack of a budget is not only affecting all active duty soldiers pay, but all pay to the National Guard units that are activated, retirees pay, death benefit payments, health care, contracted civilians, DoD employees and civilians that work in the PX/NEX and commissaries. What this means is that the families that live in base housing won’t necessarily have to worry about being evicted from their residences, but any work orders put in will more likely be severely delayed because the civilians hired to do maintenance won’t be working. For those that lose a family member that is in service, their death benefits won’t be paid and the family will be hit even harder because they won’t have the means to bury their loved ones and will have to worry even more about how their family is going to survive financially. The death benefit payment, while something that is every families worst nightmare, it provides a cushion financially until they can get to a better place emotionally and can figure things out. Health care may be limited at base hospitals and military treatment facilities to only active duty soldiers or true emergencies for family members. The PX/NEX, the military exchange stores that can be compared to Wal-Mart, and the commissaries may have severely reduced hours or closed completely due to lack of people that will be able to work since the majority, if not all, of the employees are civilians. The only commissaries that would remain open would be the ones located overseas. Dining halls would remain open for soldiers because it’s considered absolutely necessary to feed the soldiers.

Here is my question for someone that is a lot smarter than I. I understand it is necessary to feed our soldiers. Why is NOT necessary to feed their families? Can someone explain this to me? Military families, while not serving directly on the front line in a war that has lasted for 12 years, we serve in so many other ways when our significant others are overseas. Why are the needs of the families affected by this potential government shut down not a consideration? We send our husbands and wives overseas and go anywhere from 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, or 24 months without seeing them with the exception of a two week leave, which is torturous, and we only ask for the simplest of things. We ask to be able to take care of our family in the midst of a difficult situation that so many of us know only too well.

I wish that we could take all the backstabbing, conniving politics out of budget talks just once so that it gets stripped down to what are the most basic, necessary needs of every American. I know that my household operates on a budget and I have stripped that down to our most basic needs so that I make sure we have what is needed most. I make sure we have water, electricity, gas service, and food because those are the basic necessities. How about our Congress doing the same thing and making sure that America can keep the lights on and can keep the very people doing their dirty work both at home and overseas, they can be taken care of. If they want to take away some of the benefits that military families receive, that’s fine with the majority of us, as long as it means our significant others are safe and sound, and they receive the pay that is due them.