Word: servicemen
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...ceiling on the number the military can sponsor. The congressional scheme would not affect cost of living differentials, PX privileges and other routine fringe benefits given to all overseas personnel. Rather, it would sharply curtail the number eligible for family transportation and resettlement allowances. As a result, many servicemenespecially among lower rankswould find they simply could no longer afford to bring their dependents along at their own expense. Says California Congressman Jim Lloyd: "You can send bullets to Europe, or you can send dependents, and the congressional mood now is to send bullets...
Both generals point out that soldiers and airmen accompanied by their spouses are willing to accept longer overseas-duty tours, which contribute to better military preparedness. A tour with dependents is normally three years; for unaccompanied servicemen it is usually two years. "Continuity is a vital factor," says Pauly. "It takes me 150 days to get an F-111 crew combat-ready. We can't be turning over people all the time on tours that must be short because they are unaccompanied. A three-year tour, with dependents, gives me a trained, combat-ready individual for an extra year...
...then. Now, with more people married, the military is much better behaved." About 30% of the soldiers in today's volunteer Army are marriedand nearly two-thirds of the Air Force against 10% in the old draftee Army. Pauly and other commanders agree that married servicemen tend to be more stable and much less subject to the dangers of alcohol, drug abuse and sexual adventures with the locals, provided families are with them at these overseas posts...
...dollar buys 1.92 deutsche marks, compared with 4.2 in the 1960s. The Air Force estimates that it costs the average airman whose dependents are not subsidized by the Government $4,600 to ship over and settle a family on his own. Still, more than 10,000 such nonsubsidized servicemen have brought over 25,000 dependents to West Germany at their own expense this past year. Says Airman Maurice Womack, 25, of Providence, who lives with his wife Maria and year-old daughter near Kaiserslautern: "It took every penny I had, and we're still on the borderline of going...
Neglect of Servicemen...