Quality of military life a matter of perspective

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Jess Harvey
  • 81st Training Wing Public Affairs
KEESLER AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. --  I'm constantly reminded of why I choose to stay in the military and why others don't. It's a matter of perspective.

I hear young and old airmen say things like the medical care isn't as good as it used to be or our benefits are going down the drain. I have even found myself grumbling from time to time. Then, I remember my mother.

My mother raised three children on her own off minimum wage. We had no benefits. If it wasn't an absolute emergency, we didn't see a doctor. If the pain wasn't unbearable, we didn't see a dentist. We never had cable and sometimes didn't have a phone. If my mother had to take time off from work, she got paid less. There was no such thing as annual leave for her.

There were times when peanut butter and jelly sandwiches seemed like pure heaven to three children who knew no better. Thanks to a motivated mother, creative budgeting and a strong immune system, we made it through.

Compared to that, the benefits I enjoy as a military member are too many to count.

At 18, I enlisted in the Air Force. Upon completing my technical training, the military moved my belongings and me to Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla. I started receiving paychecks that were more than my mother's monthly income.

To top it off, I started seeing a dentist every six months. If I had a cold, I made an appointment to see a doctor and didn't even have to pay for it. If I needed an extra hour at lunch for the medical appointment, I wasn't paid less, fired or charged leave.

Some still say that on the outside I'd be paid enough to make up for it. I could afford my own health care and more. I say those benefits are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the important things in life.

Now that I'm used to the tangible benefits and am starting my own family, I see things from a new perspective. I'm looking more and more at the entire Air Force package.

Take, for instance, the sense of kinship. If I have a problem, my workmates do everything in their power to help. If I'm on temporary duty overseas and my wife's car breaks down, someone in my office will help her take care of it.

If I break my leg and need to be out of work for a couple of days, it's not a problem and someone from the office will call to see if I need anything. If I get transferred to another base, I can count on the fact that someone will be waiting at the airport to pick me and my family up and show me the way to the nearest shopping center.

I can't think of a single company that offers benefits like that. Nowhere have I seen job offers that include a statement like, "Here, we'll treat you like family" and back it up like the military.

I also have yet to see a single job offer that includes 30 days paid leave a year or where I wouldn't have to worry about being told not to come to work the next day due to budget cuts.

When I joined the Air Force, I never expected to get rich, and anyone who does is obviously not connected with reality. I just expected to get my most basic needs met.

What I got was much more than that. I got tangible benefits like medical, dental and vacation time, and intangible ones like friends, family and inclusion in a group of self-sacrificing people committed to serve and protect our country.

When I overhear others talking bad about military benefits, I wonder where their perspective comes from. Are they concerned mainly with dollar signs, or are they looking at it as a lifestyle?

Military life is just that -- a lifestyle. In order to size up the quality of benefits, you have to look at the entire picture.