Military Benifits

No one told me that random strangers would walk up to me and invite me to the Sky club in the airports wheres theres free drinks and everything else you can think of. I guess its one perk of being a soldier. Anyone have anything else like this happen?

My friend, a former Marine, has 5 Marine bumper stickers on his car. He has been pulled over 5 times all for major infractions, zero tickets.

When i was working at a fireworks stand over the 4th I had a paratrooper walk up show me his id. I have him nearly 100 dollars worth of fireworks for 40 bucks.

Wow yeah. I'm not OK with someone getting away with tickets because they're in the marines. That's really really bad. If you break the law, you break the law.

Speeding tickets are the dumbest laws there are. The only reason they exist is to pay for the cops that write them. You want to control peoples speeds let the roads get bumpy, noone around here goes more then 70 anywhere the roads will kill you.

That's not the point.

The point is that people get in trouble for it, but they get special privileges. How would you feel if I didn't get in trouble because I was in a special club? I'm not disputing laws, I'm just not comfortable with the idea that there's special privileges when it comes to tickets and laws.

I agree I think the law is the law you get tagged you get in trouble. BUT those clubs exist diplomatic immunity and the blue wall ect ect. So if your going to play favorites im okay with troops being one of those groups that get a bit more leanancy.

That's not the point. There SHOULDN'T be 'special clubs.'

The whole ideal is bad, the whole thing.

"Oh well this club's allowed to break laws because we figure if a club is allowed to break laws, it should be them :3"

I understand giving marines presents, special discounts. But if they're in trouble for something anyone else would be in trouble for, they need to be held accountable.

I think that if any military member fucks up, then they should be held to even harder standers....but ill still take the free drinks...which i just did....straight vodka thanks. but I totally agree with goatse on this....we need to be held to a higher standerd.

Tathariel said:

I think that if any military member fucks up, then they should be held to even harder standers....but ill still take the free drinks...which i just did....straight vodka thanks. but I totally agree with goatse on this....we need to be held to a higher standerd.

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Exactly. I would give a military man gifts and such. I really appreciate the hard work and the fact that they're taking on a task I could never could. I respect them, but I wouldn't say they can break what laws they please.

After all, what would be the point of having laws if only certain groups could break them?

On the subject of members of the military getting off easy, there was this guy who taught weapons safety at the militia in my area. Him and a friend were messing around with some of the guns, taking pictures and stuff, they thought their guns were empty... but he ended up shooting his best friend several times in the chest, killing him. It was maybe a year ago, and he might get off without any punishment, the trial is still going on but it's looking like he might not be punished at all. >_> He didn't even lose his jobs, that's right, the guy who shot his best friend while messing around with guns, is teaching gun safety.

I just read the story behind it, what happened was the guy who got shot was going to try to scare his friend by sneaking up behind him with a gun. His friend then turned around and shot him in the chest. D:

Tathariel said:

No one told me that random strangers would walk up to me and invite me to the Sky club in the airports wheres theres free drinks and everything else you can think of. I guess its one perk of being a soldier. Anyone have anything else like this happen?

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I've had people on numerous occasions offer to buy me drinks or pay for my meals without my knowledge while I was out in uniform. It's one of the perks of the job that I enjoy. Going to the Olive Garden with my wife one evening after I got off work late, (rather than change out of uniform, we just left from the Armory) the manager comped our meal for us, because of the fact that I am in the armed forces.

For those of you who don't already know, I'm in the National Guard and am currently in Iraq doing convoy security for the next year.

Yeah, I've greatly enjoyed the fact that some people will go out of their way to help out a soldier. Though sometimes I've had people come up to me and make rude or crass comments about how they don't agree with whatever is happening in the world and the fact that our military is deployed to different areas (Operation Iraqi Freedom/Operation Enduring Freedom). I simply smile and say, "Though I may not agree with your political viewpoints or opinions, I will defend, to the death, your right to have them." and walk away.

I also agree that any member of any branch of the military should be held to a higher standard. In many cases, we are, as we are not only subject to civilian law, but to military law as well, and that brings into things where if we, as members of the military, get into trouble on the civilian side, pay the price there, then get to suffer the repercussions of the UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice) side of it. I know a soldier that got a DUI and lost his license, had to pay 2500.00 in fines and just barely got out of serving 30 days in jail, due to it being his first infraction, ever. However, he also ended up getting an Article 15, lost half his pay for a month, had 14 days of extra duty and restriction to barracks, and was reduced in rank by 1 for the same infraction because of the UCMJ. His commander had a zero tolerance policy on drinking and driving. He knew the risks, took them and suffered the consequences for his actions.

Personally, I feel that all people should be held accountable for their actions, regardless of their position or title. Diplomatic Immunity/Blue Wall my ass, if you get a parking ticket or commit murder, you suffer the same consequences as anyone else that does it in this country, or any other country, for that matter. Here in Iraq, we are subject to all standard U.S. laws, Iraqi laws and the UCMJ, on top of that, we are not allowed any alcohol (as per Iraqi law) or pornography (again, as per Iraqi law.)

Send me your porn!!!!

You completly nailed it. Still hate the UCMJ though.

Raziel99 said:

I agree with you guys on that. There shouldn't be any special treatment on Soldiers for breaking laws, though they definitely deserve perks of at least reduced food and drinks, if not free like you are getting, Tath.

That being said, Goatse, you say that the Soldiers shouldn't get the perks of breaking the law, but you forgot one of the bigger problems: There are Government officials that do that all the time! Most notably breaking speed limits and getting out of tickets because they are a Senator or some sort of higher ranking Official. I find that it's Bullshit that the people that make the laws in the first place don't get anything bad when they break the laws that they put in place. Hell, they should be fined or charged higher.

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I didn't forget the bigger problem. I'm just stating what's relevant to this thread.

I just thought it was obvious the government was corrupt.

Ilovegoatse said:

I just thought it was obvious the government was corrupt.

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It's not the government that is corrupt. The government itself is fine, it's the elected and appointed officials within that government that are corrupt or inept. The only way to change that is to either vote someone else into office that will do the job right or completely abolish the system, in which case we have anarchy and chaos. While I normally thrive on anarchy and chaos, I have seen what can happen when on a large population scale the government is either overthrown or drastically changed (hence the reason I am in Iraq right now and this war has been going on damn near as long as Vietnam did.).

Take it for what it's worth, but the only way anyone can affect any kind of change in the government is to first get involved and make informed decisions. Don't base your decisions on what you hear on T.V. or read in the newspapers, because most of those mediums of communication are biased one way or the other by corporations that have an agenda. The best thing to do is take a lot of different sources, read and watch what you can and learn the history of those that you are attempting to elect into office. Share what information and sources you find with your friends and fellow citizens and assist those who bitch and complain about "the man" to do what they should be doing in the first place.


The only way to implement change in an appropriate fashion is to do so by gaining accurate information and sharing that information so that others are enlightened.

Back on topic. Support the Troops. Buy me a beer.

Pretty much what I meant.

And I thought that was pretty obvious, too.

TELL ME MOAR OF WHAT I ALREADY KNOW.

PS: In case you didn't notice, I was being short with Raz because I didn't want to get dragged into a "WAHH PEOPLE ARE CORRUPT" discussion. I should've just left well enough alone. 8<

I think the only military discount I ever got was at Hot Topic. =/

Were you part of the KISS Army? :-D

Surprisingly enough, Hot Topic is one of the few national retailers that does offer any kind of military discount. I have had more small businesses offer a military discount than most of the retail chain stores.

I would go into what I make as a Specialist (E-4) with 6 years time in service and all the bonuses and benefits that we receive, compared to what I could make as a civilian doing a similar job, but, suffice to say I make roughly $40,000.00 a year (while deployed in a combat zone) while the civilian contracted security and drivers here are making into the $100,000.00 a year or more range.

In response to Lt. Ducky:
I make it a point to ask wherever I go (at least for the first time I am there) if they offer a military discount. If they don't, I ask them if they have any customer comment cards. I (personally) realize that the employees at the retail store do not have the ability to change policies, so I make it a point to put in a comment card that will go to their CS department recommending that they start offering a military discount.

While I may not agree with all the opinions posted here, I will (if necessary) defend, to the death, every person's right to have their own opinion and the freedoms to express it.