They have the freedom to quit and look for another job. When you're in the military and you don't like it, you're stuck... If WalMart schedules you for a 55+ hour work week, you get paid overtime. Or you can file a complaint with the labor board. In the military, that's a common workweek, and there is no overtime. And you just can't quit... I certainly see your point...but would also like to point out that while the military enlistee cannot quit (at least not honorably), they did enlist...it was a choice.  And while the bottom of the chain of command in the Armed forces gets low pay, they do have benefits, medical and dental,  that most in outside minimum wage jobs don't. Also, when their enlistment is up, they qualify for pretty good GI benefits for education!!  My ex-husband sure used his!! And bought our house on the GI bill, without which we would have never been able to save enough to qualify for financing, or get as good a rate!!   While some would argue, and rightfully so, that the medical benefits may be far from the best, they are still far and above better than none, which most employees at Wal-mart, and most minimum wage jobs do not have.  And another benefit is retirement in 20 years...boy, if my job would have let me retire after 20 years, I be collecting that retirement, and be 7 years in another career!!   As far a Wal-mart/minimum wage employees having a choice to quit and find another job, I don't agree that is true in a lot of cases...I realize some are retirees and second income employees, but for others, it is a trap that they cannot get out of because of limited education and job skills.  And a lot of them are stuck in those kind of low paying, going nowhere jobs for a lot longer than the term of an enlistment!!   I personally cannot see myself in the armed forces...but I couldn't see myself working at a day care center either.  Both are important, but extremely low paying jobs.  If I had to pick, though, in my opinion, the military would be the better choice...a little more pay, and better benefits!  Both long hours.  I personally don't think the military should be excluded from having to pay overtime, and if I were in charge, they would. Mo

At least at WalMart, you aren't sent away from your family for months and years at a time with the bonus of possibly losing your life in the bargain. Not to mention coming home with illnesses noone will admit to and the stress that all of this puts on your marriage. Yes, enlistees have it so-so if they aren't married.  However, how are we supposed to keep skilled workers in the armed services for 20 years if we deny them the right to marry and have children the whole time?  Is it fair to tell them that if they do so then they'll have to survive on food stamps? My parents got by without having to rely on public assistance (actually, public assistance was available to them back then), but they did it because we had family that sent us food and meat from their farms, and my grandmother who would send us fabric to make clothes. Many of the families we served with weren't so lucky to have such benefits, and we watched them trying to struggle from month to month.  Even with what we had, my dad still worked a second job cleaning offices (when he wasn't on maneuvers or overseas), and my mother took in ironing to make ends meet. And as for that so-called medical care we received, they didn't have dental coverage back then, and the medical care was such that, if it hadn't been an army doctor, my mom would have had a good case for a malpractice suit (they weren't allowed to sue the doctors back then), and so did several others I know. Jodith

From: Laurie Broussard < This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it I personally don't think the military should be excluded from having to pay overtime, and if I were in charge, they would. Is military pay seen as a salary rather than an hourly pay?  In that case, the pay is for the job done, not the hours expended getting it done. As a civil service employee I was a salaried employee and that's how it went with my job.  Of course, we had comp time available to us to make up for any overtime (over 40 hrs/wk) we worked. *If* we had the time to take it, of course.   That option is also available to military commanders if they choose to give their troops time off after a long haul.  There were often training holidays where I worked where the military were given time off but the civilians were not unless they took vacation time.  This was usually (but not always) around holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving so the troops would be able to have more time off to spend with their families than they otherwise would have. My husband was an MP and CID investigator and as such he *always* worked on holidays, training or otherwise. Sam in Texas

Other little things, like free on-_base_ buses <snipped And that presumes the _base_ you're at even has those perks. There are no buses going from the dorms to work areas at this _base_, you eithe get a car or walk, even in the middle of winter, and somethimes in the middle of a blizzard. If you have a meal card and the chow hall is closed (as it was recently for THREE months), too frigging bad. Oh, they *did* get reimbursed

Of course, we had comp time available to us to make up for any overtime (over 40 hrs/wk) we worked. Some units can give comp time... most can't these days, not with the drawdown in troops. My husband can put in 36 hours straight and then work his normal off-call schedule, which can out him at near 60 hours, and he can't take a comp day. Hell, if he added them all up, he's probably due 4 months worth.... Thumper http://pages.prodigy.net/realitybites/fibrom.htm - FMS page http://members.aol.com/fibrofit - Fibrofitness It's not sweat... it's fat cells crying