An Army of Debt | Anne-Marie Cusac | April 2004 Issue:
"Poor pay and economic strife are conditions the Reserves and National Guard share with others in the regular military. 'Lower-ranking enlisted people qualify for food stamps. It's not how we're used to thinking about government employees, but there it is,' says Kathleen Gilberd, co-chair of the Military Law Task Force of the National Lawyers Guild. 'Active duty pay has traditionally not been enough to help people get by.' Extreme financial crises set in when service people are deployed because they then have no opportunity to get a second job to supplement their income.

But Reservists and National Guard members are especially hard hit. 'The ones who do experience income loss, it's usually a significant income loss,' says Shirley Calhoun, spokeswoman for the National Military Family Association. Many have good-paying jobs in the civilian world. But in the military ranks, the same people may not yet have made officer, 'so they are at a lower pay level,' says Calhoun."

http://www.progressive.org/april04/cusac0404.html