Rant #3,030: Freedom

This is the Ranting and Raving Blog’s 3,030th entry.

As you probably know, signing off with “—30—“ is newspaper jargon for “the end of the story,” and today, I am going to bring you into the world that I write about—military resale and military stores—to alert you to something you might not be too familiar with.

For every Aaron Judge, and his whopping $40 million a year contract, there are thousands of people who are starving and can’t make ends meet—

And they are serving or have served our country in the military.

In the latest in s series of reports focusing on food insecurity among service members and veterans, “The CBS Evening News With Norah O’Donnell” last night looked at this problem at and around the Fort Hood, Texas, installation.

The report, filed by reporter Janet Shamlian, looked at a food bank in this military community of Killeen, Texas — home of Fort Hood — and the increasing amount of service members who need to use this outlet as a major food source for them and their families.

The report focused on Army Private Gypsy Jones, who was at a local pantry in the search for food.

Jones is a single mother with three daughters, “whose military pay does not cover her house payment, her utility bills, clothing for her daughters, and groceries,” Shamlian explained.

What percent of the food in your house comes from pantries?” Shamlian asked.

“I would say 80 percent,” she replied, with the reporter adding that this particular pantry was just one of several that Jones frequents.

Those running the Killeen pantry have noticed the uptick in military members frequenting the pantry, from about 600 families using their services five years ago to currently about 2,000 coming to them for help.

According to statistics provided by the Military Family Advisory Network (MFAN) to this report, in 2021, one in six military and veteran families were considered to be food insecure, up from one in eight families two years earlier.

“Pantries are facing their own hurdles,” Shamlian said, “While a dollar used to cover seven meals at the Killeen pantry, with inflation, now just six,”

Jones was asked by Shamlian, “If you didn’t have these resources, how would this affect your budget?”

Jones replied, “I would be looking to taking on a second job … or a third job even, to make the ends meet.”

Jones also told Shamlian that some soldiers will not come to the pantry “out of shame,” but for her, “there is no dishonor.”

“There is nothing wrong in seeing help when you need it,” Jones said.

The full report can be viewed at https://www.cbsnews.com/video/food-bank-demand-rises-among-military-families/.

However, as was the pattern followed by this and previous “CBS Evening News” reports on military food security, there was no mention of governmental or military resale programs to help those with such needs.

Defense Commissary Agency facilities around the world—lower-priced supermarkets designed for military families—has reduced its prices in some cases by 25 percent due to governmental mandates.

Extra savings by patrons are further accrued by there not being any sales tax levied on purchases, just a surcharge—a slight extra payment--that is funneled back into the military community, going to quality-of-life programs and other initiatives that benefit military members and veterans.

But the fact remains that many military families cannot afford to put food on the table each day while they protect our freedoms both here and worldwide.

That is something to really ponder, and with all the inequities our civilization is pondering right now, that might be the greatest inequity of them all.