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2) A married service member gets extra housing allowance for dependents. Traditionally this was for a non-working spouse who lives at home and kids. More recent

2) A married service member gets extra housing allowance for dependents. Traditionally this was for a non-working spouse who lives at home and kids. More recently both people could be service members, first with women joining and then with gay marriage, so both service members get increased hosting allowance. The additional value that the taxpayer receives is that the spouses and kids of service members, who follow then around from duty station to duty station, aren't homeless, so that the service member can concentrate fully on the 16 hour work day for shit pay.

loeg 8y ago
> The additional value that the taxpayer receives is that the spouses and kids of service members, who follow then around from duty station to duty station, aren't homeless, so that the service member can concentrate fully on the 16 hour work day for shit pay. The servicemember can have the partner and kids either way; what value is the marriage license specifically adding?
- drblast 8y ago
  Not sure what you're asking; if you're against the idea of government being involved in declaring who is and who isn't married and defining special benefits for married people, then great, me too. Let's abolish marriage and in the cases of government employees either pay them enough to support a family or have a way to declare dependents, married or not. But we don't live in that world so a marriage license is the way to declare to the government "I have legal dependents now." This is part of the reason why the legality of gay marriage was a big deal. And regardless of what you call it, it's probably a good idea for the well-being of those in the military to pay for their dependents' housing. As a U.S. taxpayer you're pretty much getting a deal by underpaying those in the military who aren't married. It's not a place to go to get rich.
- astura 8y ago
  If the servicemember, married or unmarried, has a child they will get the "with dependants" BAH pay. A marriage license is for legally making your relationship "for realsies."

loeg 8y ago

> The additional value that the taxpayer receives is that the spouses and kids of service members, who follow then around from duty station to duty station, aren't homeless, so that the service member can concentrate fully on the 16 hour work day for shit pay. The servicemember can have the partner and kids either way; what value is the marriage license specifically adding?

drblast 8y ago
Not sure what you're asking; if you're against the idea of government being involved in declaring who is and who isn't married and defining special benefits for married people, then great, me too. Let's abolish marriage and in the cases of government employees either pay them enough to support a family or have a way to declare dependents, married or not. But we don't live in that world so a marriage license is the way to declare to the government "I have legal dependents now." This is part of the reason why the legality of gay marriage was a big deal. And regardless of what you call it, it's probably a good idea for the well-being of those in the military to pay for their dependents' housing. As a U.S. taxpayer you're pretty much getting a deal by underpaying those in the military who aren't married. It's not a place to go to get rich.
astura 8y ago
If the servicemember, married or unmarried, has a child they will get the "with dependants" BAH pay. A marriage license is for legally making your relationship "for realsies."