US Air Force head said that US servicemen are more concerned about economic pinch than facing US adversaries. Fears of the effect of inflation concern them more as it comes down hard due to bad economic policies.
US Servicemen's Primary Concerns
The chief of the US Air Force has identified some of the main problems American soldiers have been facing, but neither Russia nor China are listed, reported RT.
Instead, due to surging living costs and an extreme bout of rising prices, service personnel are starting to grow more worried about their financial prospects.
Last Monday, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall gave a speech at the Air, Space, and Cyber conference hosted by the Air and Space Forces Association and discussed the issue, noted Mass News.
The military leadership cannot assume troops to give their full attention to the mission if they are worried about paying for fuel to get to work, trying to find childcare, or supplying their family with a safe place to live, therefore the troops' main worry is the disintegrating capability to cover basic expenses.
Kendall recognizes issues from soldiers and airmen regarding how to maintain adequate housing costs, childcare costs, and high prices.
Military specialists have indeed been affected over the past months by the economy's impact on the financial sector. The very high inflation rates and higher mortgage costs have increased by more than 6% since 2003.
The Air Force will reintroduce cuts to "special duty assignment pay," which was previously given to a few soldiers as a method of earning extra money, the military official claimed.
This system for adjusting to special duty pay was also incapable of keeping up with the rapid changes throughout the economy introduced by COVID and the invasion of Kyiv. It was the cause of the Air Force's announcement that it would reverse all special duty assignment pay reductions that were set to take effect on October 1st.
The 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, which has yet to be passed by Congress, calls for some of the largest wage increases for military men in almost 20 years.
In the meantime, as Kendall shows, the army will incorporate a basic needs income support program for especially hard-pressed soldiers and work to ensure that a basic stipend for accommodation also keeps up with expenditures.
The US inflation rate had also reduced slightly from the summer when it skyrocketed to four-decade highs due to increasing food, gasoline, and housing prices.
Consumer prices increased by 9.1% throughout June compared to the same month last year, highlighting the most significant annual increase as of 1981, based on the most recent government statistics.
America's Economy Goes Wayward
According to a recent Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll, the vast majority of Americans are dissatisfied with the state of the economy with 72% of people think the country is heading in the wrong direction, citing the Daily Sun.
Many Americans in the following polls are now more worried about domestic matters than international affairs.
The top five problems are gun laws, abortion rates, the condition of the economy and employment, and the rate of inflation, which increased to 8.3% through August.
US servicemen are getting distracted by an economic pinch that should be fixed because it hinders them from doing their jobs.
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