From the “Why is this News?” Department:

By Charlie

Returning from war, soldiers splurge

…troops are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with a fistful of cash from hazard pay, reenlistment bonuses, and a simple lack of things to buy on the fortress-bases in Mesopotamia. Now, many of them aren't hesitating to spend. For towns like Junction City, Kan., it is a welcome boost, as well as a reminder of how much they rely on the military for prosperity. For a number of the troops - particularly the single ones - it has become as much a rite of the return home as flag-waving parades, simply another way to reconnect to the life they left behind.
"They're looking to reward themselves for 12 months of hard duty," says Bob Muto of Bottger's Marine in nearby Manhattan, Kan.
…
While deployed to war zones, soldiers can build up a small fortune. For each month in Iraq and Afghanistan, they receive $225 of hazard pay and $100 of hardship-duty pay. Those in the most dangerous jobs can get an additional $150 a month in hazardous-duty incentive pay, while soldiers with families can apply for a $250-a-month Family Separation Allowance. Reenlistment bonuses range from $10,000 to $40,000. All this money, as well as their wartime salary, is tax-free.

In some cases, it's simply too much temptation. Among the items that Sgt. Phillip Marcum bought on returning to Junction City from his stint in Iraq with the Army Reserve: a motorcycle and a 37-inch television. He has some IRAs for the future, but the extra pay from Iraq is "all gone," he says.

Free-spending soldiers have always been a part of the Army, both after wars and in peacetime. "There has been a longstanding problem of soldiers buying expensive stereos, motorcycles, and muscle cars (and frequently going into debt)," writes David Segal, a military sociologist at the University of Maryland in College Park, in an e-mail.

In other news, the grass is green AND the sky is blue. Film at 11.

April 18, 2006 12:14 PM General Interest

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Comments

The money I made while overseas in 2003 later helped fund the down payment on my house.
This is something that I'll forever be grateful for.

SGT Jeff (IRR) · April 18, 2006 03:00 PM

Hmmm; is that why they had all those tv/stereo shops outside the main gate at NavBase Norva in the 60s? Damn, I'm glad the media finally told us about sailors (& Marines & soldiers & airmen & coasties) who spend all their deployment money. We'd a' never figgered it out without them.

Idiots...

Obiwan · April 18, 2006 07:29 PM

I think that piece was supposed to suggest that somehow the troops are squandering their pay and gee, what a shame, somebody should do something about it.

Eric Blair · April 19, 2006 07:11 AM

When I returned from a 6-month Med deployment I put a sizable downpayment on a new truck.

A year and a half later when I returned from Gulf War I it was traded in for a newer truck, and I paid off the note entirely.

Weebs · April 19, 2006 10:33 AM

I bought a car in a PX in Da Nang so I spent my service money before I ever got back to the world.

bman · April 19, 2006 01:44 PM

Sure things haven't changed. But this is a situation that the military could ameliorate. Recent experiments in behavioral finance suggest that if troops were offered IRAs with automatic monthly deductions, with the default being opt in rather than opt out, many would start to build their saings. The marvel of compound interest means that a dollar saved early in life does you more good than a dollar saved later.

Acad Ronin · April 20, 2006 05:11 AM

I call it 'stimulating the economy'...

J. Clark · April 20, 2006 01:45 PM

For towns like Junction City, Kan., it is a welcome boost, as well as a reminder of how much they rely on the military for prosperity.

Yeah, it's really bad for a small town because people get used to living off what is basically a huge handout and it kills the entreprenurial spirit. It's kind of pathetic that most of the small businesses in Leesville, LA (near Fort Polk) exist soley to rip off people who make less than $20,000.

scooby · April 20, 2006 03:55 PM

I spent every nickel of it in Japan in the 70s. The things I bought are mostly long gone. The memories will be around as long as I am.

Would I be better off if I had saved a little more earlier in life? Yes, but I'm not really hurting now. The skills I learned have transferred to civilian life. The GI Bill paid for college. My only real regret is that I never took one of those multi-week Japanese language immersion courses that some universities offered even back then.

I remember at least one guy who took the money and blew it all in town. Nothing has changed. The military is still what you make of it. Actually, life is what you make of it.

markD · April 21, 2006 09:05 AM