In fact, the military families at the bottom are mostly on foodstamps, or the couple both work in addition to military duties.
Then, the actual waste, i.e. fuels and such, is unbelievable, all due to the weird way of authorization.
Just as with social programs, everything hinges on requisitions from this year. If you didn't use all the fuel this year, you could get less next year, so you burn it needlessly to be sure to use it all--at least that is what I've been told. Just using what is needed and fluctuating requisitions as needed makes too much sense.
govt. run entities are just wasteful, no matter what. The feds cannot run anything efficiently. Just look at what the BLM just wasted in the Nevada standoff. They spent about 10 million to collect a suppsed 1 million and intimidated instead of filing a lien against his privately owned property. Dumb? Yes! But it was raw intimidation of citizens by govt.just because they could,
vaudine
Almost none of the junior enlisted were married and/or had kids when I was in, but I hear that has all changed now. It seemed that people waited until E-5 (promotable) or E-6 to start a family back then.