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Yes I think it's welfare, it's a shame that welfare has become a demonised word to some.

There are many reasons one may need or claim welfare and you can claim welfare without being lazy.

You wife seems to have some ideological underpinnings that has made her think that you should work no matter what. Not sure how you get past that, seems odd to me that she judges you despite the fact that the money you see brining in welfare or not is what the two of you were living off.

You are training full time at school to improve your life that's clearly not laziness.

If she is bringing in $70 a week then perhaps it's her that needs to get off her arse and work more.

/rage off

I'd listen to some of the more level headed suggestions in the thread and perhaps seek some form of marriage counselling.

As long as you have income (which you earned) and you aren't squandering what they're giving you, who cares? Fellow veteran here fwiw.

Wife sounds like she needs an attitude check. What the feth does she do that she's making $70 per week? That's not even close to minimum wage if she's working full time.

Then one has to view the US Military as "Welfare Entity" with all the additional pay receive during and Post enlistment

Basic Allowance of Housing is rank structured
COLA is zip code
Jump Pay
Hazardous Duty Pay
Combat Pay
Flight Pay
Sea Pay (?)

To name a few

Post
20+ Retirement Pay
GI Bill/Post 9/11
VA Disability
VA Home Loans
VA Vocational Retraining
Free Medical for documented injuries and symptoms with meds
Discounts for Vets all over

We also qualify for
Unemployment
WICA (Active Enlistment to)
Food Stamps (Active Enlistment to)
Pell Grant (Active Enlistment to)


So average Joe/Joey has a limited selection of Benefits if he/she choose not to enlist
Complete an Enlistment Joe/Joey has the same benefits plus additional benefits

Average Joe/Joey has the "Bronze"
Average Veteran Joe/Joey has the Bronze and Silver plan

So to receive the additional benefit a Vet qualifies for one has to complete an enlistment term to qualify. So simply put you do four years in the military

Putting up with 24 hours duty
0600 or earlier PT
Height and Weight
Combat deployments
Go to chow (dinner) and come back
Division Change of Commands
Irate NCO's
Limited Freedom of Speech
Enforced Discipline
Mandatory Schools (PLDC, BNCO)
Getting volunteered to go to school (Combat Life Saver)
POV Inspections
Irate NCO's when your a minute late
Having comms on you 24/7 to be in contact
Family Care Plan
Family Readiness Group
Pray your wife or you don't bounce a check
Being Late and out of uniform
In need of a Hair cut
Shaving every day
No exposed tattoo's
Getting "smoked"
Fundatory Unit Function
MANDATORY AER donation
No arguing
2-3 years up ending everything for a PCS transfer
Wondering who you pissed off to get sent to South Korea AGAIN
FLU SHOT
Anthrax series
Questionable Doctors
The Dreaded BLUE FALCON
We're not kidding when we say you can get by with just 4 hours sleep
Fighting Positions
Driver Qualification Courses
Food
On time, in the right place and in the right uniform
Uniform
UCMJ
Soldiers tasks
SGT's Time
PT TEST
HEIGHT AND F'ING WEIGHT
CQ, Battalion Staff Duty to BDE Staff Duty to Division Staff DUTY
Do not lose your CAC card
Do not leave your CAC Card in the computer
Sign the waiver
Sign here
You signed for this on this date
CIF issue
1/8 inch seperation
Always on the right foot
Stop anticipating commands
Change of Commands
Blotter Report
Missing Movement
.............

As a taxpaying civilian, absolutely not. Our soldiers keep our country from being split into pieces like Ukraine or absorbed like Hong Kong. From all I've read on the subject, even a basic 4 year stretch that contains combat will undoubtedly alter the remainder of the soldier's life. And that's assuming no dismemberment or physical injury.

I'm happy and proud to support those who put their lives on the line and jeopardized their future happiness and sanity so I would never have to understand what they went through. Thank you all!

They certainly are not welfare. You guys risk your lives to keep the rest of us safe. You've earned it. I haven't looked through the posts, but the first person who says you don't deserve it needs to be kicked by a mule. And then ignored by everyone on here until they cry to their mama at all the bullies. The fact that you're coming out with a partial disability means you've been injured in the service of all of us Americans on here, regardless of what your station was. Unless you lost in a kitchen fight to a potato peeler.

I went back and actually read the full post-sucks that your wife feels that way, she's like the #1 person that you can't just brush off. Anyone else you could tell them to stop being a 'hole.

Not welfare at all. If there's anything I can do to help, let me know.

One might assume that those saying it's not welfare think negatively of individuals receiving some form of welfare.

In America, most people see welfare as "Person doesn't work, stays at home and collects money while doing nothing to contribute". I don't think the rest of the world sees it that way (which is cool, I think you guys are definitely in the right here, not us), but that's how Americans see it. I don't think we're saying "welfare is bad", but we're saying what we consider the term welfare to mean is a bad thing.

Yeah, I'm sure that there are people who truly think that the military is just a government welfare jobs program, and I can't help that.

But I also think that it says a lot about peoples thoughts on government help when then get mad at people who think that the GI bill is a government benefit (aka welfare) program. I do think that everybody contributes and earns their welfare when needed, some contribute more and get more.

I've issues with someone who games the system. Surfer Dude being an example. Another be the "Lord and Dame living on a yacht". A few chuckleheads...well maybe then a few.....gives it a bad rap.

Ideology is tough, cognitive dissonance is tough and having a significant other with that perspective certainly can't be easy. As others have mentioned though, at 70$ a week she's certainly in no position to support herself, point her towards a mirror, if in her eyes it's welfare, she's more than likely benefiting from it. Counciling is likely your best option if you can afford it. Actually showing her a mirror to make your point is not likely to work, cognitive dissonance is better dealt with slowly over time.


As for any guilt in receiving money, as others have said, it’s not like you’re not applying yourself, you’re at school most of the week.

 timetowaste85 wrote:
In America, most people see welfare as "Person doesn't work, stays at home and collects money while doing nothing to contribute".

I think it is one of the U.S. problems, some kind of ideological self-blinding to how welfare can be good. And we just have a very good example here of how it can be good. Must be related to the big ideological/propaganda fight during the cold war, but really, it is over now, the USSR is no more and China is capitalist in all but name, you do not need to be afraid of welfare anymore !

Like I said, welfare SHOULD be a good thing. Just in America it's an ugly word that is used to describe freeloaders who cheat the system and take people's hard earned money. Most of us Americans know what it should be, and how it should be seen, but it's not that way here. Just like the Disney thread, a few bad eggs ruin it for everyone.

First things first, people keep pointing out that it isn't welfare because it was earned through work. Except the old age pension is a form of welfare, and the people who are on it typically worked most of their adult life. So that argument doesn't really work.

The better argument is to see that the money was earned through a clause in a contract. Basically, if I sign a contract with a private company that includes a term saying 'in addition to my regular pay after my contract finishes you will pay me $1,000 a week for the rest of my life'... it wouldn't be welfare, it would just be part of my compensation package and everyone would understand it as such.

But this isn't just a clause with a private company, as I've argued before, no private company would ever pay you to improve your skills after you stopped working for them. And the government isn't just paying for your education because it needed to offer you that compensation to sign up in the first place (it would have just given you more money if that was the case) - it's doing it because it recognises that people who serve in the armed forces tend to be impressive and hard working individuals and society would benefit greatly from them being educated. The GI Bill, in that sense, is an investment in you in the belief that it will benefit the whole country.

So that really leaves two ways to see the issue. The first is that you as an individual signed a contract with agreed terms and are now just receiving the final part of your compensation package, so from a personal level you aren't receiving welfare. The other way to see it is that the GI Bill is all about ensuring that the best and brightest are given a foot up - it is all about the government investing in individuals as part of a nation building effort, and in that sense no different to any government transfer that is looking to build capacity.


But as a few other posters have pointed out, I don't think the exact details of this issue are really what you should be worried about. If your situation with your wife has gotten to the point where she's claiming you're living off welfare, I really doubt the solution is to be found in figuring out logically whether or not that's what you are doing. I think that's essentially a relationship issue that needs to be dealt with in all the usual, difficult ways - re-affirming your overall direction as a couple and making sure you are still on track etc...