Thats right folks, our government would not pay for wounded soldiers to eat while in the hospital recovering from wounds. But yesterday by a vote of 399 - 0 the House of Representatives passed a bill that will change that. What bunch of horse****. I can't believe that the government wouldn't pay for the food of a recovering soldier.

it's not like they are paying for the hospital visit.

maybe the soldiers should have thought about that before they went and got wounded.

I agree that it doesn't sound right. There must be more to the story. Were these married soldiers already recieving a meal allowance of sorts? BAQ COLA, something along those lines?

I thought it was the people's money, not the government's money.

lechnerd: you're right in that the money belongs to "we, the people" and not the government ... we're just pissed that money taken from us was not used as we wanted it to be used. We want it used to feed, house, clothe, and support those troops.

I rate the authenticity of this story right up there with the story of huge alligators roaming the New York sewers.

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I saw the story on my Yahoo news page yesterday. It's true. Although I didn't read it.

It seems absurd that an injured US soldier would be required to pay for his meals while recuperating in a military hospital.

The alligators are real ... just not giants!

Biat, I heard this on the radio during a Texas State Network News update. They didn't say anything about a food allowance. They said something about a daily charge of $8 and change. I don't know if that is per meal or just $8 a day. Luckily the House changed that. I don't know if the Senate has voted yet, but I know if the house was unanimous then so will the Senate. No reasonable politician would vote no on this.

WAR IS HELL

maybe they shouldn't have biggie-sized.

War is expensive enough. We don't need to be feeding these guys that didn't get the job done. We didn't spend so much time and money training them to get hurt.

Thats right Special Ed, they just chose to get hurt that day.

'Hey Private, how are you feeling today?'

'Pretty good Sarge. I think I want to get shot though. How do you think I should do that?'

'Well depends on what you want. Death or just seriously injured.'

Um, I'm not sure. IMO, he is given money FROM THE GOVERNMENT monthly for food. Not sure why I think it's a big deal and he can't afford it. They didn't pay for the meals for any of my friends who got injured working, but they paid for all the medical stuff. And, I'm sure being at war, he's packed up on the dough, esp. w/all the extra pay they are getting.

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Thats right Special Ed, they just chose to get hurt that day.

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Tell me you didn't think my post was serious.

Bait is right. there is more to the story. And with more than 25 years of Naval service, perhaps I can shed some light on this subject.
Enlisted members of the service are provided meals by the Government. This basically comes in one of two ways. The first method is - Rations in Kind - meaning, meals are provided for you either in a mess hall or mess tent, mess decks on a ship, or the ever popular MRE. Where a military dining facility is not available, and in other cases where authorized, a service member will receive a per diem payment, to pay for meals. If you are receiving per diem, and eat in a military dining facility, you will pay for the meal. I've done this many times.

What is happening with the hospitalized service men, falls into the examples above. Either they are receiving Per Diem and are being charged for meals, or they are receiving Rations in Kind and Per Diem payments are stopped.

I've seem situations kind of like this with some of my junior folks. We deploy with Per Diem (again, to pay for meals), and some guys eat on the real cheap and send the extra Per Diem money home to the family. The family gets used to the extra cash. Situation changes, we know have a mess tent, Rations in Kind are available and the Per Diem is stopped. No more extra money to send home. Family complains that Sailor Dads pay has been cut.

I believe hey are given money for food even though they are usually fed for free in addition. They are just being asked to spend their food allowance on food and they're not used to it.

But it's a political hot potato. I'm glad it's politically correct to get behind those in uniform, finally.

Okay... I get it. I thought they ALWAYS were fed for free and I did not know they sometimes received an allowance in lieu of these meals.

You want a Serviceman issue to complain to Congress about?

Ask about medical care for military retiree's. Promise was if you did a career in the military, you got free medical care life, primarily in military medical facilities. What with all the base closing in recent years, there are fewer medical facilities. So Congress in it's infinite wisdom approved a military medical insurance program for retirees called Tricare. Problem is, Tricare is not a true medical insurance plan. It's a supplement to Medicare and only pays AFTER Medicare. So if a doctor doesn't accept Medicare patients, your promised military retiree health coverage is worthless.

AggieDad is correct. Soldiers get a food subsistence in one of several forms, and the hospital was simply recuping their food cost from what the soldier was already receiving to defray his daily food costs. It was the same amount and the soldier was not losing any money, i.e., it was NOT coming out of his pocket.

If soldiers get a food subsistence, which they are all entitled to, and then spend only part of it on food and pocket the rest, then they have no leg to stand on in claiming that the hospital is "charging" for food, insinuating that it's an out-of-pocket expense.

I also resent politicians trying to make political hay out of "going to the rescue of our soldiers" when the soldier's family is already getting a food subsistence payment.

. . and the uneducated media reporting it based on what is claimed and not digging out the facts of the matter!

Hrumph!!

AggieDad: you still active, or retired now? Reason for the question is that Tricare is the insurance program for active duty, not only for retired.

My bad Special Ed. I still have a hard time reading you.

So do all military people get a food supplement added into their pay check? That is the conflicting statement I am seeing on this thread.

Not everyone gets a meal supplement in their check. You either get money for meals (per diem) or get a meal card and eat at the chow hall (At least that's the way it was in the Marines). Having both at the same time is double dipping and is a no no.