return every dollar.

Can't afford private insurance? Well, sucks be to them.

What more do they want at taxpayer expense? Bunch of takers!!

FUCKING Republicans !!!!!

Each AND every Republican DESERVES to sit on a 10 foot steel rod.

The military is the largest socialist organization in the nation.

We dressed alike. Ate food cooked by the government. Slept in buildings or tents owned by the government. Went to the government doctor. Got government benefits to go to school, too.

24 months mandatory service ought to be a thng- just so everyone gets to experience what socialism is really like.

and insurance is paid for as long as you work there.

Doesn't get much more socialist than that!

because the workers got specific benefits in lieu of money. Similar to categorical grants vs block grants.

I had to work 13 hr days,, go on deployments for 30 days and I paid $2,400 into a scholarship program that gave me $12k to go to college. It was very nice to have those benefits, but it wasn't free socialism.

What we paid in rent was a joke. Next to nothing. The commissary was cheap and there was lots of merchandise to select from.

With what he made, my dad managed to put four kids through college, a fifth through trade school. Granted, our childhood was whatever did not cost any money. My dad didn't even pay for my younger brother's football gear because he decided that we were not an athletic family. So, extra-curricular activities were triaged.

Bottomline, we lived a life overseas on a US military base, and because of the sacrifices that were made, we got the educations that would trampoline us into a "normal" life once we returned to the U.S.

Such an opportunity would never have been possible in a private job in the U.S. There were perks that were near impossible to find Stateside. You have just accepted that you earned them, but the point is that it was a major incentive and it shows that conservatives aren't above using socialistic options when they want to reach an objective.

.... it's an important job and it's a hard job, and it often requires sacrifice. Even the ultimate sacrifice. Like many jobs, it comes with benefits, and, given the nature of the job, very good benefits.

A job with benefits is not socialism.

We don't begrudge them to our military or civilians. We just want conservatives to recognize that they are not above using socialist incentives when it suits them.

BTW, I was raised on a US military base as a civilian. Everything was paid for by the taxpayer. Everything about the experience made it easier to reach out and form a community identity. It's surprising how much class distinctions get in the way.

.... is socialism. No matter what the specifics of the benefits or who it is who pays for them.

What would you say is the difference is between benefits and "socialist" benefits as an incentive?

And what is it that socialist incentives are supposed to incentivise? An incentive is a reward for doing something that you would otherwise not be inclined to do. Socialism provides "benefits" with no binding obligation to do anything in return. At least that is my understanding. What is your understanding?

In a private business, perks can be offered and no one will think twice, because all the money is coming from the corporation.

On the other hand, the only reason people get perturbed about the terms communism and socialism is because these are forms of government, which determine how taxpayer money is spent. The Republicans are upset because a socialist country will mandate certain benefits to the public, so the Right has demonized those programs. Yet, those same programs are used as incentives for civilians to work for the military or to serve in the military. Bottomline, they aren't opposed to using socialist benefits for their own purposes.

In fact, if they wanted to be truly pure about it, maybe they should do away with the perks and raise everyone's salary in the military?

Socializations with socialist benefits.

... between job benefits and "socialist" job benefits?

It is compensation for services rendered.