MONEY is usually the first and main thing people are rewarded with. The greater a service is needed the greater we are willing to reward for it, money is usually first next are benifits and privilages.

I am reading that the general response is that the military IS rewarded adaquately and that I am wrong in my assumptions that just beacuse many families struggle and must seek subsidies that they are under paid and under appreciated.

Not so. We value atheltes because there are fewer that can perform at that level and there are many more enlisted men that require fewer skills other than willing to die for their country so we value them less or at least pay them on the lower level.

The "Support Our Troops" signs seen everywhere are just a good selling product since we ALREADY DO support our troops and they don't need any additional support. They just have great marketing!

I say this in jest, I do not believe it. We can ALWAYS do more to support the people who risk their lives for us (this includes Firefighters, Police, and many others). For services so important we seem to CHEAP out when it comes to pay. BUT when it comes to entertainment we pull out all the stops with million dollar salaries, hundres of dollar admission tickets (show tickets) and the list goes on.

My whole point is that we really should support (pay better) our enlisted men. The taxpayers, voters, Washington, and many here see it as them being sufficiently compensated for what they do. I personally feel there is more that could/should be done for them for their efforts.