Ellie Kay talks about the financial struggles of military families

I would like to comment on another reason why military personnel are in debt.  First of all, we are in that same place.  When we re-enlisted, we had to hurry and sell our house immediately after 9/11 and our house dropped over $10K in value and we had to get a loan to move to the base.  Then, we got orders overseas right after we purchased a vehicle.  Then, you make a decision, what do I do?  Make payments on a vehicle in the states then how to you purchase a car overseas?  So, you get to overseas and you have to purchase a vehicle because you have no other way of transportation.  Then, you add to the additional expenses setting up your utilities, etc. (not everyone can or wants to live on base).  Then, to add to this, the military pushes you to go to this event, give to this event, etc.  So your money goes out faster than you get it in.  Then, by the time you finally get back on track, orders to another base again.  It costs money to move.  Although we get money, it's never enough - so many extra expenses come up.  Yes, we had to put these expenses on the credit card to get by.  It's not as simple as she stated it on the radio that we just spend on the credit card.  It's a necessity at times, unfortunate as it is.  Just wanted to put another light on the situation.  Praise God that He is bigger than what we go through.  It can be overwhelming.

Greatest man in history, named Jesus, had no servants, yet they called Him Master. Had no degree, yet they called Him Teacher. Had no medicines, yet they called Him Healer. He had no army, yet kings feared Him. He won no military battles, yet He conquered the world. He committed no crime, yet they crucified Him. He was buried in a tomb, yet He lives today. Re-post if you believe this in your heart too.

We are retired military, we were stationed in Japan for 8 years.  Yes, we got a paycheck every month, but I had to work, too, just to make ends meet.  So, there was extra expense for childcare. When my husband went TDY, it was like having to seperate households, supported on one pay check.  They didn't always re-emburse for everything that was spent.  If you were an E-1 to E-3, the lowest paid airmen, you didn't qualify for base housing! Oh yes, we had 'free' health care.  If you were a female with a complaint, you could die before they would decide it was more then just 'stress' of your husband being away!!  One week a Congressional 'fact finding' group came over and our neighbor was escorting them around.  They wanted to take away our cost of living allowance because nobody was going off base anyway.  So our neighbor took them off base for a little sushi and beer and they were appalled that it cost them $100 each, and they wondered why nobody went off base.  We couldn't afford it!!  For a treat we'd take the kids to McDonalds for a meal.  For two Big Mac meals and two kids meals it was $50.  If I hadn't worked off base, we wouldn't have been able to buy anything extra.  When we got back State-side, we were retired with two almost teens, no house, no car, no beds, no furniture, no cloths for the Northern MI winter, no nothing.  We got less than $1,000 a month, and we had to live on cards the rest of the time, for 9 months, until my husband could find a job.  People on the 'outside', even if they work with the military, don't have any idea what it's really like.  When both my daughters were born, my husband was an E-4 SSgt, and we qualified for WICK!!  That's how much we made!!  We try not to spend or put things on cards, but what can you do??