Clinton was bad for the Military
I just came across a blog called Black Five and his post and comments on troop morale. I can attest to some of those comments on that blog. I served in the military between 1993 and 1996. I fully expected to make it a career also.
One thing I remember everyone bitching about was the pay. Yes we all understood we would never get paid big time money, all that we asked for was for it to keep up with simple inflation. During the Clinton years pay increase for soldiers was non-existent.
On top of that in 1998 Clinton helped push through PROGRAMMED MANAGED LOSSES (PML) AND CHANGE IN NCO STRUCTURE (CINCOS). In one year 3,100 NCO's were lost by the Army. Anyone who has ever served in the military knows the NCO core is the backbone of the U.S. Army. Without their knowledge things dont get done and they dont get done properly. Virtually over night the U.S. Army lost its knowledge base. And thats a terrible thing to do to the military community.
The one thing I noticed when Bush came into office was the military community was more upbeat. For once a President was taking care of the military and giving them better pay increases. For example when Clinton came into office in 1992 the average monthly pay for a E-4 specialist was $971. By the end of his 8 years in 2000 the pay rate had increased to $1,242 a month. That is an increase of $271 in 8 years. Not bad huh? Well since Bush has come into office he has raised that amount for E-4 to $1502, or a $260 increase in less than 3 years.
Its obvious Clinton did his best to discourage military service. Hell he discouraged me from making it a career because they treated us like shit. And on top of that he made us look like shit by letting every nut in the world take pop shots at us without any forcefull response.
You can listen to John Kerry bitch and moan about how our soldiers didnt have the proper boby armor for Iraq. While its a legit gripe and issue, he cant make himself look good on it by then voting against the funding that would help buy more of that particular body armor and other supplies our troops need.
Bush takes care of his troops, and his troops appreciate the hell out of it. No career Army soldier wants a return to Clinton era style of handling the military that John Kerry would bring.
One thing I remember everyone bitching about was the pay. Yes we all understood we would never get paid big time money, all that we asked for was for it to keep up with simple inflation. During the Clinton years pay increase for soldiers was non-existent.
On top of that in 1998 Clinton helped push through PROGRAMMED MANAGED LOSSES (PML) AND CHANGE IN NCO STRUCTURE (CINCOS). In one year 3,100 NCO's were lost by the Army. Anyone who has ever served in the military knows the NCO core is the backbone of the U.S. Army. Without their knowledge things dont get done and they dont get done properly. Virtually over night the U.S. Army lost its knowledge base. And thats a terrible thing to do to the military community.
The one thing I noticed when Bush came into office was the military community was more upbeat. For once a President was taking care of the military and giving them better pay increases. For example when Clinton came into office in 1992 the average monthly pay for a E-4 specialist was $971. By the end of his 8 years in 2000 the pay rate had increased to $1,242 a month. That is an increase of $271 in 8 years. Not bad huh? Well since Bush has come into office he has raised that amount for E-4 to $1502, or a $260 increase in less than 3 years.
Its obvious Clinton did his best to discourage military service. Hell he discouraged me from making it a career because they treated us like shit. And on top of that he made us look like shit by letting every nut in the world take pop shots at us without any forcefull response.
You can listen to John Kerry bitch and moan about how our soldiers didnt have the proper boby armor for Iraq. While its a legit gripe and issue, he cant make himself look good on it by then voting against the funding that would help buy more of that particular body armor and other supplies our troops need.
Bush takes care of his troops, and his troops appreciate the hell out of it. No career Army soldier wants a return to Clinton era style of handling the military that John Kerry would bring.
posted by Mike at 1:31 AM
