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If you served 4 years, 6 years, or 20 years, you still served and deserve the discount.
Ask for proof, fine with that. I served 4 years and got out. I still served. Pisses me off to no end when people seemed to think my service was any less then someone elses simply because I didn't go to war. I have facial hair, its been well over a decade since I served in the military.
Air force, comm nav
Nobody "deserves" a discount for what job they chose to do. Since 9/11 anyone who enlisted knew exactly what they were getting into and what they'd receive from doing the job of fighting. Should they be thanked? Sure. Should they get some preference in hiring when they come home? Ok.
Deserving of a discount? No more or less than a cop or firefighter that run at trouble daily.
The us military as it now exists, is to forward the agenda of the federal govenrment. It doesn't defend my rights or keep me safe. Its actions around the globe actually make the citizenry less safe and certainly poorer.
Having said that, if a business owner wants to give discounts to a government employee (which is what a soldier is) it should be their right to do so, just the same if they want to grant them to seniors,blacks or whites only.
Business owners should have the right to discriminate.
I am not sure why you are so vehemently opposed to the military. You never seem able to browse past a thread with "military" in the title without stopping in to bash service members. You seem to know enough about the military to safely make the assumption that you were either in yourself, or were a military dependent at one time.
Now, on to the incorrect data from your post. First, who gets free rent? The minority of people that live on post? The majority usually end up living off post due to either shortages/wait lists to live on post, or in most cases, based on a voluntary decision to live in another school district, etc. Yes, if you live on post, even with the Privatized Housing Initiative, your Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) will cover your rent and utilities. If you live off post, it just simply will not. I mean it would if you were okay living in a condemned crack house I suppose. It will not cover rent/utilities for anything most civilian workers would even consider living in. Basic Allowance for Subsistence (BAS) your "extra money for food" is paid to married members residing off base or in on base housing. This allowance is paid to allow the service member to mess separately. This means since the service member is not eating in an on post dining facility, this money is paid to allow him/her to receive the monetary amount it costs to feed service members dining in the dining facility. Both of these allowances combined, and when added to the service member's base pay lag far behind private sector compensation. Base pay is taxed with the only exception being if a service member is deployed to a hostile fire/imminent danger area. The other benefits (BAH, BAS) are not taxed because they are so low. Uniform allowances vary by service. These are paid to the service member to replace/repair uniforms that have worn out. It is paid once a year on the anniversary date of the service member entrance to active duty. In the Army specifically, you receive an initial issue in basic training. You are then paid the uniform allowance to cover the cost of replacing uniforms each year. The allowance was around $275 or so when I retired if I remember. That one time per year allowance is supposed to cover new boots, new socks, replacement ACU pants. shirts, t-shirts, patches/rank/insignia, sewing/alterations, and that is before you even get to the service (dress) uniforms. The service stripes alone on a dress blue jacket cost over $100 to update. $50 for the new stripes, $50 to sew the new ones on. So you are actually coming out of pocket to maintain uniforms in the real world. On to health care. Yes, service members and their families receive health/dental care through TRICARE. This is not socialism, it is a benefit of the job. Twist all you want to satisfy your desire to criticize those that opt to serve, but this is a clearly defined benefit of service. Did you ever stop to think that maybe, just maybe health care may be a benefit because not many other chosen professions involve voluntarily going into harms way? Don't see people trying to blow up construction workers on their way to the job. Not to many IT people getting shot at on their way to the office. Financial analysts don't generally deal with incoming rocket and mortar fire during the course of their daily job.
Bottom line, you are free to your opinions. You can think what ever you would like, and shout it from the mountain tops. You will be challenged when you so clearly just make attempts to demonize those that voluntarily serve using misleading or inaccurate information. You don't have to like them or what they do, but they don't have to tolerate someone that so clearly has a chip on her shoulder and an axe to grind with the armed forces.
The us military as it now exists, is to forward the agenda of the federal govenrment. It doesn't defend my rights or keep me safe. Its actions around the globe actually make the citizenry less safe and certainly poorer.
Having said that, if a business owner wants to give discounts to a government employee (which is what a soldier is) it should be their right to do so, just the same if they want to grant them to seniors,blacks or whites only.
Business owners should have the right to discriminate.
Are you serious? The military does not defend Americans? They actually make them less safe? Do you see the few negative stories on isolated incidents of misconduct which the media runs because controversy always sells and form an opinion of the whole based on the actions of the few...?
As to the topic at hand, the vast majority of military members could care less about a military discount. In most cases is it nothing more than a marketing gimmick to drop the equivalent of the local sales tax off the price of a purchase off base so local merchants can compete with the PX on post. There are a few places that offer discounts out of genuine gratitude. I don't think anyone ever made the decision to serve based on the off chance that the may get a 10% discount at Lowes... Are there some people that may seek to abuse the idea of a military discount? I am sure, but show me any group of people that doesn't contain at least a few dirt bags...
I'm sure extremely few veterans have ever asked a company to give them a discount when there was not already an established store policy. It was companies who decided to do this. Most of us old Vietnam era vets who were met with frowns in many businesses when we were in uniform now quietly well up when some stranger rarely takes the time to thank us for a service that happened so many years ago.
Military discounts are simply gifts from those who wish to give them. If you do not wish to give a discount, rest assured that many of us are familiar with a frown. If you do not want to give either, that works as well.
I agree. Military discounts are simply gifts from those who wish to give them.
Those who treated Vietnam vets so poorly should be ashamed of themselves. Period.
I agree. Military discounts are simply gifts from those who wish to give them.
Those who treated Vietnam vets so poorly should be ashamed of themselves. Period.
You carry a Military ID Card, some establishments offer a discount.
I lived and served through the Viet Nam era.... we were told to be incognito, don't wear the uniform when you are outside of a military function. People spit on me, and made me to feel like the lowest form of human life.
Today...if I show my ID Card and am offered a discount, you know what the most heart warming thing about it is?
People...young people especially...THANK ME FOR MY SERVICE to my country They make up for years of me being made to feel like the lowest form of human life for serving my country.
I earned that respect. I don't ask for it. I did what I was asked to do. Some people and organizations choose to recognize my service. For that, I am extremely grateful.
You carry a Military ID Card, some establishments offer a discount.
I lived and served through the Viet Nam era.... we were told to be incognito, don't wear the uniform when you are outside of a military function. People spit on me, and made me to feel like the lowest form of human life.
Today...if I show my ID Card and am offered a discount, you know what the most heart warming thing about it is?
People...young people especially...THANK ME FOR MY SERVICE to my country They make up for years of me being made to feel like the lowest form of human life for serving my country.
I earned that respect. I don't ask for it. I did what I was asked to do. Some people and organizations choose to recognize my service. For that, I am extremely grateful.
This makes me smile! What a beautiful post.
My brother has told me this, Never disrespect a military service man and woman. As a civilian who has never been in combat zone or received basic training, I simply don't know and will never know what they have been through.
Thank you very very much for your service and sacrifice, from the bottom of my heart.
Location: NYC based - Used to Live in Philly - Transplant from Miami
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For men and women who have and had defended and protected this country, I salute you.
Now while we are in this topic, I have a question which had bugged me. Maybe all of you who had / have been in military can shed a light.
I don't live close to any military bases. But I often saw guys in their uniforms go shopping in Target or random malls or even getting drunk in a bar. What is the protocol of wearing the uniforms?
Since I travel alot, I sometimes met some men / women in service in the airport on the way back to the US. But usually (9 out of 10), they did not wear their uniforms. And the only reason I knew that they were men / women in service either because they got first in line on the queue into the airplane (happened alot esp. in Asia and Middle East), they got their service dogs with them or I ended up talking to them in the airplane (in which case I always felt so humbled when I found out who they were).
I work with several retired military who brag about how they get over asking for discounts.
Yes, several.
One even talks about getting confrontational if not given one.
The whole "military discount" thing goes over my head anyway. I understand it for things like travel and the like, but give a guy a cheaper meal just because he served in the military? LOL...that never made any sense to me.
But then i was never one of those 'I served so you owe me' type of people. So what if i served? I didn't get drafted....i volunteered. This country doesn't owe me anything for that.
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This makes me smile! What a beautiful post.