Don't take away the commissaries!

[MillCreek]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/commissary-plan-backlash-show-difficulty-of-cutting-military-personnel-spending/2013/06/01/15fb6c12-c922-11e2-9245-773c0123c027_print.html

Interesting story about the defense cost cutting only goes so far and it stops at making changes to the commissary system.  We used to shop at the Ft. Lewis and Everett commissaries, and I was not that impressed with them.

[Gewehr98]

When we had military commissaries nearby, we used them quite a bit, but also shopped off-base for stuff like decent produce, etc.

I do make the pilgramage to the Fort McCoy commissary when they have their tent sales, where good deals can be had on Costo-size quantities of stuff.

I see it mostly as a benefit to low-income military families.  It's also great when you're in places overseas and cannot find classic American items.  (Yokota and Kadena come to mind...)

[Jamisjockey]

With Wal-Mart's in every town, many of them selling groceries, I wonder sometimes if the Commissary is worth it anymore.

[BobR]

I live close to both an AFB and a WalMart, besides the fact it is still cheaper to shop at the commissary, and the meat and produce is a little better, do you want to know why I really shop at the commissary? Well, to tell the truth, this is why.

bob

[RoadKingLarry]

The Navy commissaries were "competitive" with the local gorcery stores. Wasn't worth the cattle drive atmosphere. Navy exchanges werent't much better. About the oly thing you could get there that you couldn't get in town was the low cost, low quality uniform items.

[Phantom Warrior]

The least of the least of military benefits being defended to the death? (See also* Tuition Assistance.)  Jeez, I'm shocked I tell you, shocked.  We better cut those entitlements but we have to support the troops!   

“Nobody up here wants to be tarred as anti-military, and they don’t want to say no to the veterans groups,” said a senior aide to a Republican representative on the House Armed Services Committee who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the subject candidly. “Those guys are organized — and they vote.”

Yup.  I've been saying this for years.

The Navy commissaries were "competitive" with the local gorcery stores. Wasn't worth the cattle drive atmosphere. Navy exchanges werent't much better. About the oly thing you could get there that you couldn't get in town was the low cost, low quality uniform items.

Agreed.  I don't think I shopped at a commissary once after leaving Germany.


*Sorry, too many hours of Bluebooking today...

[Jamisjockey]

I live close to both an AFB and a WalMart, besides the fact it is still cheaper to shop at the commissary, and the meat and produce is a little better, do you want to know why I really shop at the commissary? Well, to tell the truth, this is why.

bob

Navy wives could give the people of walmart a run for their money.....

[Fitz]

All military wives could give the people of walmart a run for their money.....

You know for a fact there's some weird friggin fetish jarheads have for enormous dependapotamuses.

Army's guilty too.




Anyways, regarding the commissary, it's another one of those things i'm all about getting rid of. Military spends way too much money, and it's not all that much cheaper than anywhere else.

[BobR]

Navy wives could give the people of walmart a run for their money.....

Isn't that the truth, once I got divorced, I am sure my ex-wife had to start shopping at WalMArt!!  

My biggest issue with the commissary now is all of the old retired folks clogging the aisles, and the fact that once they stock something that is popular and usually sells well, they discontinue it.  

bob

[MillCreek]

The other interesting thing I saw in that article was:

Those on active-duty also have bucked national trends. Over the past decade, military salaries have grown at a faster rate than those of civilian workers. The average enlisted soldier now earns more than 90 percent of Americans who have less than two years of college. Most Army captains — the third-most-junior rank of officer — will take home more than $90,000 this year.

I had no idea that an 0-3 was making that much. I wonder how many years of service and allowances are necessary to make this.

[Fitz]

Keep in mind the average enlisted soldier salary is skewed nowadays because there are way too many E8s and e9s

[dm1333]

Get rid of them.  I haven't been stationed near a commissary or exchange for the last 14 years.  It is possible to survive without one.

[French G.]

The other interesting thing I saw in that article was:

Those on active-duty also have bucked national trends. Over the past decade, military salaries have grown at a faster rate than those of civilian workers. The average enlisted soldier now earns more than 90 percent of Americans who have less than two years of college. Most Army captains — the third-most-junior rank of officer — will take home more than $90,000 this year.

I had no idea that an 0-3 was making that much. I wonder how many years of service and allowances are necessary to make this.

I left active as an E-6 over 12, I made 70K/yr gross. Bear in mind that 1,300 a month was tax free BAH. Then going to tax free zones, etc.

[Jamisjockey]

The other interesting thing I saw in that article was:

Those on active-duty also have bucked national trends. Over the past decade, military salaries have grown at a faster rate than those of civilian workers. The average enlisted soldier now earns more than 90 percent of Americans who have less than two years of college. Most Army captains — the third-most-junior rank of officer — will take home more than $90,000 this year.

I had no idea that an 0-3 was making that much. I wonder how many years of service and allowances are necessary to make this.

Yeah but how many have been deployed earning combat pay, too. 
And does that include "fringe" benefits? We always got these *expletive deleted*ing fringe benefit statements that told us how much we "really" made if you included free training, housing, food and all that.  We used to have contests for the most creative way to destroy them.

[Phantom Warrior]

I think free healthcare is something a lot of people don't include in the total package of military compensation.  I'm a young, single, and healthy and the student healthcare plan costs me about $2,000 a year.  For some of the people with families, especially dependents in EFMP, that is a huge value they are not paying a dime for.

[French G.]

It's a really good job if you advance, don't marry a whale with 3 kids not yours already, and keep perspective.

[freakazoid]

Keep in mind the average enlisted soldier salary is skewed nowadays because there are way too many E8s and e9s

We also work longer than 40 hour weeks.

[Fitz]

I think free healthcare is something a lot of people don't include in the total package of military compensation.  I'm a young, single, and healthy and the student healthcare plan costs me about $2,000 a year.  For some of the people with families, especially dependents in EFMP, that is a huge value they are not paying a dime for.

This

I'm not saying take it away... But even for reservists, the health plan is a huge plus

I pay 200/mo for Tricare Reserve

[209]

Haven't shopped at a commissary in more than 18 years.  Probably haven't hit a PX in four years or so.  It's not convenient for my as the nearest commissary in on the sub base which is about 90 mi away or at West Point which about the same.

[kgbsquirrel]

I never shopped at the commissary at BAFB due to the extortion racket going on. The baggers there were unpaid and worked solely for tips, and would rush up to bag your stuff even if you didn't want them to, and then would give you the stink eye if you didn't cough up some cash.

[Phantom Warrior]

I never shopped at the commissary at BAFB due to the extortion racket going on. The baggers there were unpaid and worked solely for tips, and would rush up to bag your stuff even if you didn't want them to, and then would give you the stink eye if you didn't cough up some cash.

Oh no.  You had to go there.  That used to drive me nuts in Schweinfurt.  I went round and round (with other Soldiers, not the baggers) that it was unreasonable to expect I, a young fit E-4, should accept unsolicited help bagging my two bags of groceries and then cough up money for it.  I still remember myself, another E-4, and a SGT arguing endlessly with one of our LTs about it.  Arrrrgggg....

[erictank]

I left active as an E-6 over 12, I made 70K/yr gross. Bear in mind that 1,300 a month was tax free BAH. Then going to tax free zones, etc.

I left active duty after 6 years, as an E-5 selected for E-6 but never drew pay for it. EAOS 5 days after return from a 6-month Med deployment, including two months in a tax-free hazard zone, pro-pay for being a nuc, sea pay...

I made a whopping $21K gross. I *HAD* to live on the ship, or pay for it out of pocket with no housing allowance (unmarried under E-6 were not authorized to draw BAQ/VHA per command policy), when I was in port - which was one and a half months of that last 12. Admittedly that was an unusually-high deployment rate; typically it was ~6 months per year. Medical care on board was notorious for ... let's say a low level of care and competence ("Abdominal pain lasting a month? Here's your Tylenol. Go back to your division."). But still, let's say that my "undeclared benefits" doubled my actual income. Compared to that artificially-inflated number, I *STILL* made 50% more my first year on the job at North Anna Nuclear Power Station.

[Balog]

Only thing I really liked about the PX at 29 Palms was that alcohol was sold tax free. Significant savings over buying off-base.

[Scout26]

The commissary in Baumholder was "meh".  Simply cheaper then shopping off post.

The one in K-Town was much better and we'd go there sometimes.

However, the one at Ramstein was phenomenal, it was, hands down, the nicest, best stocked, cleanest, store I have ever been in.   And it was always packed to the gills.  I only made it down there a couple of times, but the STBX would stop there every now and again on her way back from where she worked at Landstuhl.  .