Yay for public assistance!! WOOOO!

Real tweet from a girl I know:

"Yay!! Bubba got free lunch and breakfast at school, and we just got new WIC vouchers, too!" (Names have been changed, obviously.)

Holy crap, dude. I'm not saying there's anything particularly wrong with being on free lunch or WIC, but frankly, military families being on it does somewhat offend my Libertarian sensibilities. For one, when you've got things like free housing (these people live on post) and commissary benefits, then why on earth do you even need this stuff? Sure, her husband is, well, a low-ranking fellow, and they have multiple kids (not a smart decision at that rank, really, but "everybody else is doing it", right?) but people like these really make me think that personal responsibility is absolutely dead in this country, especially among younger military families. I mean, really? We, the people, have to pay for you to have "Free" food (of course, nothing is really free), when we, the people, are already giving you a house, discounted groceries, and a paycheck every month? Really?

Some would say I'm just "hating" because I don't qualify for any of that, but that's not it at all. People who know me well, know that when I had Erin, I received WIC for the first year of her life. It was when I got married that I stopped receiving it. I knew we wouldn't qualify, but I also didn't think it was really right to receive public assistance when we didn't really need it. As the wife of a Sergeant, I could make it without that kind of thing. Of course, one also must consider that the majority of people at that rank have lots more kids than we had, so a lot did qualify, and still do, while we don't just because we have fewer kids. I think that's a good thing. It means we don't have more than we can support. I LOVE the fact that we don't qualify for any form of assistance. It means we're doing well. Who in their right mind would actually be proud of qualifying for government programs for the poor? It means you're poor! Who would want that?

There are also shady ways of reporting (or not reporting) military income since base pay is usually just over half the story, and all else is not recorded for tax purposes, it's really easy to look a lot poorer than you are, when really, yeah, your base pay may make it look that way, but you neglected to mention that if you live on post, you're not paying rent or utilities AT ALL (and probably live in a way nicer house than you can afford if you're below the rank of E6), and if you live off post, you're getting a housing allowance which at least helps with that (and at Thak's rank, covers it completely even for a very nice big house!), AND every Enlisted soldier (Private thru Sergeant Major) who doesn't hold a meal card (so, any who don't live in the barracks, so, every married soldier there is), gets about $300 a month as a food allowance. If you can't feed a family of 4 on that, especially with a commissary at your disposal, you need grocery lessons. So basically, your base pay is what you have to get everything BUT housing and food from. Well, when you look at it that way, military folks don't look so poor, do they? It's because they're really not. I just don't think it's right to get public assistance if you're making it just fine.

All that aside, though, the thing that really sent my jaw floorward, was the "WHOOPEE!! Free shit!!" tone. Really? If your husband got out of the Army, and you got food stamps and Medicaid, would you gleefully tweet that, too? If so, gross. Let me just say, I hope to NEVER be on public assistance EVER, but if hell freezes and we end up going that route, you can bet your last dollar (to me, because at that point, I'd need it) that I wouldn't go bragging about it. Who does that??