so over this holiday weekend I read this.
This is an Airman's response to Cindy Williams' editorial piece in the Washington Times about MILITARY PAY, it should be printed in all newspapers across America.

On Nov. 12, Ms Cindy Williams (from Laverne and Shirley TV show) wrote a piece for the Washington Times, denouncing the pay raise coming service members' way this year -- citing that the stated 13% wage was more than they deserve.

A young airman from Hill AFB responds to her article below. He ought to get a bonus for this.

"Ms Williams:

I just had the pleasure of reading your column, "Our GIs earn enough" and I am a bit confused. Frankly, I'm wondering where this vaunted overpayment is going, because as far as I can tell, it disappears every month between DFAS (The Defense Finance and Accounting Service) and my bank account.

Checking my latest earnings statement I see that I make $1,117.80 before taxes. After taxes, I take home $874.20. When I run that through the calculator, I come up with an annual salary of $13,413.60 before taxes, and $10,490.40, after.

I work in the Air Force Network Control Center where I am part of the team responsible for a 5,000 host computer network. I am involved with infrastructure segments, specifically with Cisco Systems equipment. A quick check under jobs for Network Technicians in the Washington, D.C. area reveals a position in my career field, requiring three years experience with my job. Amazingly, this job does NOT pay $13,413.60 a year. No, this job is being offered at $70,000 to $80,000 per annum... I'm sure you can draw the obvious conclusions.

Given the tenor of your column, I would assume that you NEVER had the pleasure of serving your country in our armed forces. Before you take it upon yourself to once more castigate congressional and DOD leadership for attempting to get the families in the military's lowest pay brackets off of WIC and food stamps, I suggest that you join a group of deploying soldiers headed for AFGHANISTAN; I leave the choice of service branch up to you.

Whatever choice you make, though, opt for the SIX month rotation: it will guarantee you the longest possible time away from your family and friends, thus giving you full "deployment experience." As your group prepares to board the plane, make sure to note the spouses and children who are saying good-bye to their loved ones. Also take care to note that several families are still unsure of how they'll be able to make ends meet while the primary breadwinner is gone -- obviously they've been squandering the "vast" piles of cash the government has been giving them.

Try to deploy over a major holiday; Christmas and Thanksgiving are perennial favorites. And when you're actually over there, sitting in a foxhole, shivering against the cold desert night; and the flight sergeant tells you that there aren't enough people on shift to relieve you for chow, remember this: trade whatever MRE (meal-ready-to-eat) you manage to get for the tuna noodle casserole or cheese tortellini, and add Tabasco to everything. This gives some flavor. Talk to your loved ones as often as you are permitted; it won't nearly be long enough or often enough, but take what you can get and be thankful for it.


You may have picked up on the fact that I disagree with most of the points you present in your opined piece.

But, tomorrow from KABUL, I will defend to the death your right to say it.


You see, I am an American fighting man, a guarantor of your First Amendment rights and every other right you cherish. On a daily basis, my brother and sister soldiers worldwide ensure that you and people like you can thumb your collective nose at us, all on a salary that is nothing short of pitiful and under conditions that would make most people cringe. We hemorrhage our best and brightest into the private sector because we can't offer the stability and pay of civilian companies.

And you, Ms. Williams, have the gall to say that we make more than we deserve? Rubbish!

A1C Michael Bragg Hill AFB AFNCC

 

____ yes, give this man a goddamn raise and a promotion.

Very well stated and yeah, a soldiers pay is pitiful.

 

That was a very good read. Im not an american citizen(yet) but i do love the work the boys and girls of the military do for each and every one of us.

Thanks for posting this.

 

Right on, Airman.

At the very least people like Ms. Williams should volunteer to do work as difficult and dangerous as lower grade military AND promise to live for at least a year on their salary so they just might get some understanding of what they are talking about.

I've been there and have at least have standing to comment - Ms. Williams does not.

Tomas

 

Very well written, people should walk in someones shoes before writing why they should (or should not) get a pay raise.

 

I agree, very well written. What an asshat!

I really dislike it when celebrities use their ability to be heard so that they can push their political or world affair feelings. I rarely, if ever, feel they are either in any position to make such comments or that their opinion is to be valued more than anyone else. I hope that people don't put any more value in what a celebrity says to the world than what their neighbor does.

 

There seems to be a rash of these type of arguments lately from both celebrity and just plain whack jobs like Michael Crook. It really disgusts me that people who whine and moan about having their rights and freedoms but don't want to support those that fight for them to have it. Kudos to the person who responded to that article. Hopefully people read that as well as the initial piece and make and educated decision there instead of just taking in whats fed to them by some former tv star with nothing better to do.

 

Point of clarification...this was not an editorial by actress Cindy Williams.

This is a spam email that has made the rounds for the past couple of years and is based on an editorial from way back in Jan. 2000. I agree that military should be paid more...but this editorial was stemming from the dotcom days when military pay was low and private sector job pay was relatively high/inflated.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/gipay.asp

The truth:

"The editorial critical of military pay raises alluded to above and the irate response to it penned by an airman at Hill Air Force Base are genuine, but the author of the original editorial has been mistaken for her her much more famous namesake.

Cindy Williams, who starred in the hit 1973 film American Graffiti and portrayed sweet, lovable Shirley Feeney on the popular 1970s sitcom Laverne & Shirley hasn't been writing newspaper articles denouncing our "overpaid" servicemen. Back in January 2000, a different Cindy Williams — one working as a senior research fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was once assistant director for national security in the Congressional Budget Office — contributed an op-ed piece to The Washington Post (not the Washington Times) in which she criticized a proposed 25% pay increase for military personnel (on top of a 4.85% raise that had just been enacted). In her article, Ms Williams maintained that claims that servicemen in the military suffered a 13 percent "pay gap" relative to the private sector were inaccurate, and that military personnel were already well paid compared to the average American.

The full text of Cindy Williams' article can be found here. The response quoted was indeed drafted by the airman named, although it was not published in The Washington Post.

The misidentification of the original article's author has caused considerable grief for Cindy Williams the actress:
"I've done everything to try to squelch it, but nothing seems to work," says Miss Williams of "Laverne and Shirley" fame. "I have people writing and calling me, even my friends, asking: 'Are you against a pay raise for the military?' And I reply, 'You know me, I'd fight [in the military] if I could, because I am such a patriot.'"

Ironically enough, much of the angry correspondence (even "hate mail") the actress has received has come from the military ranks.

"It's been really worrisome," says the actress. "It's terrible to malign people like that. I don't know where to go to say I didn't do this."

We hope this site is one of the places through which Ms. Williams the actress can get out the word that she really didn't do it."

--remember to check snopes.com when you get an email forward before you send it on to others.

 

I guess my multiple spam blockers are working because I never saw this

 

I never saw it either, snopes rocks for the truth. American Graffiti being one of my all time favorite movies makes me feel better that she didn't write it.

 

Many friends in the armed forces. They pay is as put. Pitiful. For someone that is to be laying their life on the line to defend this country, it is a down right, slap to the face, insult to them.

 

all i know is that I am active duty ARMY and my pay suck, my living quarters suck, the food sucks but I wouldnt trade it for the world. I have the best job in the world and I wil keep living in the barracks that I live in with no heat and hot water sometime, i will keep eating the nasty army chow hall food, and I will keep doing this job for my E4 pay!!! Yes a pay raise would be nice but for now I just deal with it and drive on... I dont really care what people in similar jobs get paid(i am infantry so i dont know many civilian jobs like mine lol), they arent able to say to work to support a free and safe USA!!! just me 2 cents

 

I'm NAVY! Couldn’t be happier about it. Although this years pay raise for the military is the smallest in a number of years at about 2.7%. It will be a close match to inflation, or it might be less then inflation this year (which I think would be the main purpose of these yearly raises, to beat inflation...) Anywho, good letter by A1C Michael Bragg Hill…

 

Amen! When I joined almost 16 years ago, it wasn't about money at all! It was about wearing the uniform. Hell, people even criticized me for joining the Marines because we had the lowest GI Bill amount out of all the services.... again, I chose to not make squat because the personal/mental benefit was far greater than monetary compensation.

 

Thank you for that, CoreyAnn. I feel awful for the famous Cindy Williams now. How awful to have to live with this the rest of your life and not even had anything to do with it. I really ought to have Snopes set up as a favorite.

 

I gotta tell you a lot of my friends from high school joined the military, and some loved it and it wasn't for others. I have nothing but respect for them, they don't get paid nearly enough.

 

Is she one of the Dixie Chicks?

JK, I agree with the forementioned statements made as well. GOD BLESS OUR TROOPS!

 

having served proudly for 12 years and now in the civilian world working for the military i am very proud of all that serve and have served in the past ..........all heros in my book!!