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Military Families
WIC
This discussion has been closed.
Re: WIC
Then it wasn't you I was directing that comment at. So fine, you are jobless then get wic, if thats what you need to feed your baby. By all means. I have no problem. I even did that if you read my post. Its' the ones who are at home because they want to be and choose to be on wic because ":everybody else is" or "I deserve it".
WIC is not compensation for a small pay raise. The payraise military members received in January was in line with the cost of inflation.
As far as, "You got to do what you got to do for your family," does that not include getting a job?
Lastly, I think you meant, "couldn't care less", otherwise you are saying you COULD care less.
Really, this is just one more way young servicemembers are rewarded for their poor choices.
As for this gem: "I think thats what we deserve after 5 DEPLOYMENTS and 12 years in the Army." You did not deploy. Your husband did, and he recieved incentive pay on all of those deployments. After 12 years of service, how is your husband still so low ranking that he qualifies for WIC?
So it was directed at me...big deal. I'm a SAHM b/c I would only be working in this area to pay for daycare so forgive me if I decide I'd rather raise my child than spend my whole paycheck for someone else too. Again, without knowing the whole story, you shouldn't judge. I'm sorry your baby was in the NICU and I'm glad they are ok now.
THIS THIS THIS! Thank you!!!!
Could not agree more!
My DH has been in for 14 years. He is not low ranking. We have one child. If we had two, we would qualify for WIC. We can manage without it. Just because someone that has been in the military 12+ years qualifies for it does not mean they are low ranking.
I'm looking at a paychart. My world is all AF, where an E-4 hits high year tenure at 10 years. So in order to be in for 12 years, the person would have to be an E-5 or above. That's $2924.70 base pay. Their housing is provided, as is an allowance for the servicemember's food. I have a hard time believing someone can't afford basic necessities, like food or formula, for one or even two children on $2924 a month, unless there's a unique circumstance, like the child requires special formula. Birth control and condoms are free, if finances are a concern prior to conception.
What you said though, about being able to manage without it despite qualifying for it, I think is very respectable. I appreciate that because of people like you, others who are in a far worse situation are able to provide for their children.
I know that I am jumping into this conversation at the tail end, but I have to agree with Ojo.
The purpose of WIC is to ensure that low income pregnant women and young children receive the nutrients and minerals they need through foods (formula and milk).
And while our base pay IS low (by regulation in Federal Register on October 31, 2002, WIC only uses base pay because of "confusion" of BAH from locatin to location w/in states) THAT BY NO MEANS THAT OUR OVERALL INCOME IS LOW.
If WIC WERE to include almost every BAH/OHA, most eligible servicemembers would become ineligible.
The fact that people DO play the "poor" card, when there are truly poor people (those w/out money that covers their rent/utilities) is a tad shameful.
As for the comment about a measely payraise, there are millions of people out there who not only ARE NOT getting payraises, but are working with paycuts to keep their jobs. The military is not mandatory - if you do not like the low salary, please go out and find a job that still provides free health care, the promise of a "pension", steady employment and specialty pays when one IS putting his/her life on the line.
i'd just like to throw this out there....
you know that at the MTF when you find out you are pregnant they practically force you to get on WIC? (hence why i am on standard and go off post, stuff like that pisses me off)
and a lot of the time the command will make soldiers e5 or e4 and lower get on wic if they have families? i didnt know that one and had never heard of it til my friend got pregnant and her husband COC pretty much forced them onto wic. luckily my husband COC doesnt care about this kind of stuff or wed be forced onto it.
i dont get why they force us? it doesnt make sense to me.
but wic is a supplement. its not food stamps. and boy do i know some families out here on food stamps. which really disgusts me, no one forced you to have 6 kids on an e4 salary.
Here are the charts for WIC and the Pay Charts
https://www.fns.usda.gov/wic/howtoapply/incomeguidelines.htm
https://www.dfas.mil/militarypay/militarypaytables/2010WebPayTable34.pdf
And as for being a SAHM, I too am stuck being SAH while in Germany. Knowing that we would most likely be stationed someplace I could not use my degree/experience (not a lot of need for a lobbyist/patient advocate outside of capitol cities), we planned/bugeted for this.
But even I know that you cannot budget for every contingency. HOWEVER, if you CHOSE this lifestyle....
Applause for Ojo, llumine, and SarahTx.
Entitlement runs rampant in this post.
bottom line is... if you need it use it, if you dont need it DONT use it. BUT just because youre entitled doesnt meant you NEED it.
Is this specific to a particular branch? I have NEVER heard of this, nor has DH (USMC). Regardless, I would absolutely beg to differ. Military or not, you can't be forced onto government assistance. You still have rights.
we're army. it hasnt happened to us but my friend is pregnant and her husbands command "made" him go get it. basically told him to get it. he wasnt forced per se but who is gonna is gonna say no to their senior NCOs?
Has it occurred to you that your friend is "blaming" her husband's chain of command so that people don't look down on her for misusing a public program?
To answer your question, I'd say no to my SNCOs in that situation. I just asked my husband that question and he made a sour pickle face and said "NO!" he wouldn't go get on WIC either. I'm a paralegal. A commander would be hard pressed to prove that something like that is a valid lawful order.
it occurred to me. but i dont see how theyd enforce it anyway. but then again my friend has 4 other kids at home so im not sure if thats why her husbands sncos told him to get wic.
DD #2: BFP: 8-19-18 EDD: 4-30-19
I'm on it. Myself as well as my fiance are in the Army (Reservists) under E5...if you can use it, because it does help now and will help when the baby is born then why not? It's just one thing less that I don't have to stress about.
apparently. i hate madigan's system of teams though so i dont go there, but all my friends who have gone there for ob stuff have ended up on wic because they were told to. i assume it has something to do with the fact that a lot of wives who get pregnant are really young (like 20 and under, you know what i mean?) and wic provides healthy food for them to eat so the obs and such can rest easy knowing these girls are getting at least some nutrition. which in that case, i guess makes sense?
Greetings, I'm an E-5 in the USAF. I'll sew on E-6 in December. I'm married, I have two car payments (including that SUV previously mentioned), live off base, have two iPhones, 3 dogs, internet, cable, etc. My income supports our family well! My wife stays home, she runs the house, she cooks the majority of the dinners, keeps an eye on the budget, gets the groceries (with her designer bag).....you see where I'm going with this. We're conventional, it works for us, we have a happy home. We're also trying for a baby right now (I hope she doesn't edit that comment). I have a unique career, I've been deployed 5 times total, both theaters. It'd be at least 7 if not 8 by now, if I hadn't taken a position as an instructor for my career field.
What compelled me to comment is this horrid sense of entitlement that pervades a vast majority of the posts on here. Your entitlement is embarrassing. As has already been pointed out, because of the confusion that different BAH/BAS rates per pay grade, per location would cause the system, WIC doesn't include this. This is just complicated laziness. You're lucky, that's all. You would not qualify for WIC if these things were included, especially in Europe or Alaska, etc because let's not forget that fantastic thing called COLA! Oh look, even more money!
And for those of you griping about deployments. Since you're on here, it's a pretty safe to say that the large majority are married. This means you're getting a tax free paycheck from the second they step on that plane. That means that he's getting hostile fire pay and imminent danger pay as well. Wait, lets not forget family separation pay! This applies to everything, not just deployments. Anytime your "DH" is gone for over 30 days, lets add another 100 bucks to your kitty. So with those 3 extra's you're pulling in another 300+ dollars a month. Now, on top of a tax free pay check, that's not too shabby. Yes, lets keep feeling entitled and moan a little more about how "hard" we have it to civilians, some of who struggle just to pay their rent and utilities, especially in this economy.
Wait, there's more. If you have a highly valued or difficult job in the military, you get a bonus for re-enlisting. Mine is $90K. How many jobs come with that every 4-6 years in the civilian sector? Now, lets go back to being deployed. If you're lucky enough to be deployed during your re-up window, yep you guessed it, that bonus is all tax free. You're right, the life of a military family is hard, but I feel more than compensated monetarily.
Surely I must be finished but....I'm not. We get health care for next to nothing or nothing (if you're on Prime). Sure it's not the greatest system on the planet. I hate how my wife is jerked around sometimes but you know what, I'm not losing my a$s paying for it and I know that if something is really that serious, it will be taken care of and I will have peace of mind. That goes for when I have children too. That goes for my wife and I when I retire and I'm getting health benefits and a solid little retirement check at the ripe old age of 38. It's almost criminal isn't it?
And even though none of us like to think about it, who's heard of the SGLI? I have lost friends in combat and so have many but (especially in my line of work) it is comforting knowing that if I end up having to give my life, my wife gets $400K and all her worries about financial things can at least be put aside, even if her grief cannot be assuaged. I think it costs me about 16 bucks a month, maybe 18.
So please, keep complaining, keep wearing your cape of entitlement, and keep embarrassing yourself. WIC is for people who NEED it. Stop making excuses to justify your misplaced sense of entitlement.
DH and I are firm believers in "if you qualify for it, take it". Our thing is, our service members and their families give SO much for SO little in return and that $80 over the course of a year is pretty SIGNIFICANT savings!
$6.60 a month is significant savings?
Dear Kristane's Husband,
Thank you for being a man of intelligence. Spread some of that around, will ya?
Thanks.