Chuck Hughes, Salisbury, N.C.
♦ Hearing that our government is taking away imminent danger pay from our military heroes, I would like to share with those of you who have not experienced the hardships of a military family. Seven dollars and a few cents a day may well seem like pocket change for most of us. However, for a family of a low ranked member of our armed forces already struggling day to day to make ends meet, this can be catastrophic and catastrophic is not an exaggeration.
I want to be clear that in NO way do I compare my service to those who have spent tour after tour away from their families fighting the wars following the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 and that although my service experiences were somewhat uncommon, they were definitely not unique.
I joined the navy on September 19, 1957 – my 17th birthday. Having finally found a home, I never looked back over the next 20 years. Of these 20 years, almost 10 were spent away from my family: My early years consisted of working “port and starboard” duty at military hospitals. For those of you who do not know what Port and Starboard means, you work 12 hours on and 12 hours off seven days a week. That does not leave much time for family. After gaining a bit of rank, I was assigned to the Fleet Marine Force. Duties there were different and a lot more rewarding. However, it did little to enhance “family time.” When not in the field for weeks at a time, we were on six month Mediterranean cruises. After a year in Vietnam, I entered the submarine service only to be submerged three months out of every six over the following four years.
Although every man and woman’s military experiences are unique to them, the sacrifice they and their family make on a daily basis is not. Seven hundred dollars a day, much less seven and change, is not enough compensation for missing your child go from crawling to walking, grow from 24 inches 36 inches, go from pee-wee sports to a higher level of competition, from one birthday party to the next, from one holiday to another . . . I could go on and on.
Not only are our soldiers, marines, sailors, guardsmen, airmen, coast guardsmen all heroes, so are the families who support them stateside.
