Imminient Danger Pay Now Pro-Rated

[MasterBates]

I remember $400 mess bills, $350 of it food on the Vicksburg and about $350 or so on the Anzio

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[TrunkMonkey]

Sorry Brett, I'm not a shut up and color guy. This is just one of the things that is going into the pile of reasons to find another line of work. I go to the CAOC and get unbelievable food at all times. On top of that, I can take drinks whenever I want. I go to Afghanistan and it's the same thing but even better. In the war zone of Afghanistan I got better food then I ever did on the boat. Any boat. They have energy bars at all times. I can't even get a proper boxed lunch on the boat when flying a 6 hour mission. No, CS2, that plate of baked beans and chicken wrapped in tin foil that you gave me on the boat will not work for me in the plane.
Take away my BAS. It doesn't cover my mess bill anyways. But do away with the mess bills as well. The thing that gets me the most is that the ship WILL NOT change it's meals to the schedules of the CVW. If the whole airwing is flying mostly night ops and no one is going to get up before 11a.m., well too bad. No breakfast for you. That is not how it's done in the Stan. If you are working night ops, then you get breakfast when you get up, even if that is 6 P.M. This attitude of "that's how it's always been done" is antiquated. It's time for change, right? Maybe it's point paper time. It's not like there are any reasonable arguments to defend this policy. It's just the way it is.

Aren't all the DFACs in theater funded by a Cost Of War augment for the Army? It was rumored that meals there cost 24+ dollars per person per meal. Back in the States, all the Army and Air Force DFACs charge per meal the same way the Navy and Marine Corps.

 

[phrogpilot73]

Aren't all the DFACs in theater funded by a Cost Of War augment for the Army? It was rumored that meals there cost 24+ dollars per person per meal. Back in the States, all the Army and Air Force DFACs charge per meal the same way the Navy and Marine Corps.

Yeah, but how can I pay $2.00 for breakfast in the chow hall and it's 100x better than any meal on the ship?

 

[pilot_man]

Aren't all the DFACs in theater funded by a Cost Of War augment for the Army? It was rumored that meals there cost 24+ dollars per person per meal. Back in the States, all the Army and Air Force DFACs charge per meal the same way the Navy and Marine Corps.

I'm not sure where the money comes from, but I know it doesn't come out of our pay. So if cost of war pays for Army food, then why not for the carrier flying combat missions in country ever day? This isn't about back at the beach at all. I'm talking about on deployment. What we are charged in mess bills is not covered by the BAS that we get to keep. There is no rational to keeping wardroom dues, or mess bills or any of it. I don't lose my BAS when deployed in theater. I still get payed my measly $239.96 a month. And on top of that, there are stores where I just go and get stuff and don't pay a dime for it.

@ Brett. You are right. I know it's been brought up before. I'm pretty sure I've heard mention of it at Hook. If only we had some sort of union we could complain to. Maybe I'll just start my letter with Dear Senator....

 

[pourts]

It comes out in the wash.

The only way it "comes out in teh wash" is if the single guy is renting, and puts his stuff in storage during deployment and banks the BAH.

If you compare single homeowner vs. married homeowner, there is no justification for the married guy getting family separation pay.

 

[MasterBates]

Yep. My lawn did not cut itself when I was gone.

 

[insanebikerboy]

If you compare single homeowner vs. married homeowner, there is no justification for the married guy getting family separation pay.

I still call BS on that. If the single guys shuts off all of his utilities (to include cell phone) he only has a mortgage and possibly car and credit card payments, plus zero food bill. If he leaves the utilities on then he pays minimal amounts on if he was there using them. Compare that to the single income family that still has a full power, water, food, etc, bill, on top of these retarded mess dues while on the boat. If you're telling me the expenses are the same I'm telling you you need to review your numbers. Short of it being a dual income no kids situation, the single guy makes out like a thief compared to the married guy. Family separation recognizes that there is in essence two separate lives being lived and helps cover that extra expense.

All the "equal pay" bitching is pointless. You may not realize it when you sign up but after being around the military for longer than boot camp/OCS/Plebe Summer/etc, you learn real quick that the married guy gets a bit more. If you want to know why it's different, it's because long ago the military did a housing review and said "a married guy rates a house, a single guy rates a condo/apartment". So, they make up the difference in out in town housing costs because of that. As an aside, that's the exact same reason BAH is higher relatively as you advance, the military has taken into account that a fresh ENS more then likely is single with no kids hence he rates the condo while the O-4 with 14 years more than likely has acquired dependents, so he rates the house.

This isn't a "it's just the way it is", there is an actual reasoning to why the married guy is getting family sep and a bit more bah.

 

[ea6bflyr]

I don't disagree with any of your rationale. It's a fucked up policy that definitely should be changed. Here's the thing - people have been complaining about this literally for generations. So, MB can write an articulate, well argued point paper and run it up the chain, but what makes you think that his point paper is going to receive any more attention than all the dozens of guys who have done the exact same thing over the last 30-40 years? Why, all of a sudden, is NOW the time it's going to work? What has changed? As unjust as it all seems to us, this just isn't something that big Navy is going to change. We all know it. It's not a matter of "shut up and color," it's just how it is.

The officer's mess used to serve different food than the enlisted galley; thus the different charges. But now they serve the same "microwaved" crap. The CPO mess gets better chow and they pay the same as the E-6 and below. If it all boils down to different pots of money, then why don't we just consolidate the mess funds.

Can't win if you don't try? Maybe, but as I said before, I'll spend my time and energy on issues that big Navy doesn't consider DOA.

Do tell what you plan to fix in during your Command tour...

So, if that's the straw that breaks the camel's back for your (or anyone's) decision to continue serving, that's unfortunate and perhaps understandable. People get out for all kinds of reasons, so if the Navy isn't cutting it for you anymore, you should vote with your feet.

That's a bullshit answer and you know it. "If you don't like it, then leave". WTF, I thought you were better versed than that.

 

[Brett327]

The officer's mess used to serve different food than the enlisted galley; thus the different charges. But now they serve the same "microwaved" crap. The CPO mess gets better chow and they pay the same as the E-6 and below. If it all boils down to different pots of money, then why don't we just consolidate the mess funds.



Do tell what you plan to fix in during your Command tour...



That's a bullshit answer and you know it. "If you don't like it, then leave". WTF, I thought you were better versed than that.

I'm not telling him he should leave, he's the one who feels that it exceeds his pain threshold (although it's probably just a rhetorical bluff). Theres a big difference between that and me telling him to get out if he doesn't like it. Since its not in my power to change, I could give him a patronizing answer where I pretend to "look into it" or to "see what I can do." Neither of those are particularly honest. What's the alternative? We have to live and operate within constraints and limits every day. This issue draws people's passions, but at the end of the day, it's a policy we have to live with.

Brett

 

[pilot_man]

I'm not telling him he should leave, he's the one who feels that it exceeds his pain threshold (although it's probably just a rhetorical bluff). Theres a big difference between that and me telling him to get out if he doesn't like it. Since its not in my power to change, I could give him a patronizing answer where I pretend to "look into it" or to "see what I can do." Neither of those are particularly honest. What's the alternative? We have to live and operate within constraints and limits every day. This issue draws people's passions, but at the end of the day, it's a policy we have to live with.

Brett

I never said I was dropping my letter. Just that this sort of thing is one of the things that will weigh into the decision. And it isn't the extra couple of hundred bucks that it cost me, but the fact that the Navy is very quick to get rid of our traditions when it pleases them. But, God forbid they make changes that would boost the morale of everyone on deployment.

 

[Harrier Dude]

The only time I actually enjoyed paying my mess bill on the boat was when I was behind a brand new WO-1 who was losing his shit over the bill.

As a former Gunnery Sergeant, he had long believed in the "officers get to keep their BAS while us poor enlisted folks get screwed out of ours" routine. He thought that we were pocketing loads of cash each month.

He was absolutely livid that his mess bill was almost twice his BAS. I believe the quote that got me laughing was "This is bullshit! You can't charge me more than my BAS for the same food I got for free last pump!"

To which the Ensign chop responded "Yes we can, and we just did".

It made my day.

 

[Gatordev]

I'm not even sure if the guys that are complaining even know which part of the "problem" they're upset at.

For those bitching about paying anything, why is it a surprise that you have to pay to get food? Right or wrong, that's how the Navy Supply system works, whether it's on land or on a ship. If you want to eat at the galley on base as an O, you go in and pay money. If you go as an E, you pay money. If you're in the barracks, you pay money (in the form of losing your COMRATS).

All of the above is the same on a ship.

Now, as I've repeatedly said, why O's have to pay more... I agree, that's something from an old system. Nowadays, it seems that Chops use the wardroom mess bill (again, something different than mess DUES) to help augment their books. But I might be a little cynical.

 

[MasterBates]

It's not a "Surprise" that we have to pay for food, but why do the Army, Air Force and (I think, not 100% sure) land based Marines get FREE food, or at least they don't pay beyond BAS.

I didn't lose BAS being on the ground in Kandahar or Qatar, but I don't recall if that was a paperwork screw up, or if it was no joke free food.

 

[MasterBates]

I mean, pay is supposed to be "equal" across the services.

I made the same as a LT over 12 as an Army, Air Force or Marine Captain over 12 did.

Yet, I pay far more for food deployed. For shittier food (the quality I could buy as a logistics issue, especially on independent steamer small boys, but not the cost)

 

[pilot_man]

I'm not even sure if the guys that are complaining even know which part of the "problem" they're upset at.

For those bitching about paying anything, why is it a surprise that you have to pay to get food? Right or wrong, that's how the Navy Supply system works, whether it's on land or on a ship. If you want to eat at the galley on base as an O, you go in and pay money. If you go as an E, you pay money. If you're in the barracks, you pay money (in the form of losing your COMRATS).

All of the above is the same on a ship.

Now, as I've repeatedly said, why O's have to pay more... I agree, that's something from an old system. Nowadays, it seems that Chops use the wardroom mess bill (again, something different than mess DUES) to help augment their books. But I might be a little cynical.

MB pretty much hit it. What I'm talking about is the fact that I pay a mess bill for each meal that I'm on the ship. While in country I didn't pay a cent extra for all of my food. I get it. When on base in the States, if I want to eat, I pay for it. When any other service deploys, they get their food for free. They don't lose their BAS. When I deploy to the ship, I have to pay for the slop I'm served.