Military pay freeze, and you.

I swear the government does it just to annoy those of us with half a grain or more of common sense, and fully functional brains. They have to give the low brow majority something to flip out and annoy everybody about. This time, it's the pay freeze.

"OH MY GOD!!! MY HUSBAND MIGHT NOT GET PAID ON THE 15TH!!!! HOW ARE WE GONNA BUY PAMPERS AND BOXED FOOD FOR OUR FIVE OBESE CHILDREN?!!!!"

"IF THEY DON'T GET PAID, MY HUSBAND ISN'T GOING TO WORK!!!"
followed by, "WELL HE BETTER GO TO WORK! IF HE DOESN'T, HE'S AWOL!" (Which is kind of true, actually.) And then a whole conversation about not being able to afford the gas to get to work always follows, followed by a conversation about how they'll just make the guys stay in the barracks if they can't afford to commute. (Again, that's probably true. That, or there will be shuttle service. It's not like the Army doesn't own thousands of buses.)

You get the idea. It's been nuts around these parts for the past month that the government's given us this nasty bit of fat to chew. The latest, of course, is that the paycheck on the 15th would be basically half a paycheck since it would cover until the 8th, and then there would be backpay for the rest after they pass a funding bill. OK, fine. Half a paycheck. That would kind of suck, but we could probably make life happen on that without dipping into savings. Sure, not everyone could. That's why they made Army Emergency Relief. For us personally, it might be kind of advantageous in some small way since the back pay would come at a time when we would be in a good position to save it, which would be advantageous since Thak will be finishing his internship about that time, and going on to training at BMW, which doesn't pay very well, and during which, we WILL need some of our savings until he finishes his training and is paid his usual wage.

So basically, the bottom line is that if the government shuts down, we won't really be any worse for the wear. Sure, we may eat a little less steak and a few more lentils, and we may not go out to eat at all, or take a long road trip to some green part of New Mexico just for kicks, but all in all, we're going to be fine. One way or another, everybody will.

The other thing is that I honestly don't believe this pay freeze is going to happen. I think it's going to be another one of those last minute things that they keep chewing the fat on until they absolutely have to come to some resolution. Let's just say it would be instant career suicide for any politician who allows the military to not be paid. How many congressional representatives do you think are willing to be "that guy"? Yeah, I'm betting on none. I don't think this thing is going to happen in the first place, to be honest. If it does, we'll be fine, but I don't think it will. It all seems like just more political rhetoric to me.

What's more, when I joke that my husband won't be going to work on post either if this thing happens, people should use their heads. Thak is on terminal leave. He is no longer on the rolls of Ft. Bliss, his unit, or anything else to do with the Active Duty component of the Army. He wouldn't be going to work on post even if pay were fine. He works at BMW, downtown. He'll be going to work there, not on post, pay from the Army or none. It changes nothing for us. So seriously, people, stop staying MP's are going to show up at our door if Thak doesn't report to his unit. He hasn't reported to his unit in weeks. That's the thing about being on terminal leave. ;-)