Families, a military-spouse support
group, says 13 percent of military
families report trouble making ends
meet, compared with 7 percent of
civilians.
Their struggles are caused by a va-
riety of factors: the high cost of living
in cities such as San Diego, difficulty
qualifying for federal food assistance,and a transient life—moving from
base to base—that makes it challeng-
ing for spouses to build careers when
they don’t know when and where
their families will be transferred next.
Desirée Mieir was a phlebotomist
back home in Oklahoma. But once her
husband, Dan Mieir, was stationed in
San Diego, they estimated they wouldHungry Mouths to Feed
Military spouses start lining up early outside the Feeding San
Diego food pantry at Dewey Elementary. One problem these
families face is that the Pentagon has yet to grapple with the
military’s changing demographics, Amy Bushatz, the executive
editor at military.com, told NPR. “You’re no longer looking at
a 17- or 18-year-old kid right out of high school with no family
who’s receiving that base-level pay. You’re looking at somebody
in his or her late 20s who might have a couple of kids.”Reader’s Digest