Fighting for Their Homes

Congress approved half a billion dollars to help military families hammered by the real-estate crisis. Unfortunately, the money seems stuck in a bureaucratic delay.

Newsweek Web Exclusive
Jul 17, 2009

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  • Posted By: Squirrelly1925 @ 10/15/2009 8:06:03 PM

    Funny Teresa is the one who sold us our home with no warnings about this happening. We bought in 2007 and now we are facing the same problems that everyone else is with needing to sell our home before we PCS. To comment on HOMESCHOOLER...your right the military is awesome however we shouldnt be scared to buy a house and have no options when it is time to move. Thats the american dream we are fighting for itsnt it? The governement seriously needs to find away to buy these houses from us and sell them on their own. The excuse that they offer housing is a sham since not everyone can get housing. Not only that but we fight for our country and aid in the economy when we purchase real-estate and now I personally never want to purchase again.

  • Posted By: ABCDEFG2009 @ 10/04/2009 7:37:59 AM

    You are such a bitter Betty Homeschooler. If only the world could be as perfect as you are. Read your posting again and see just how full of YOURSELF you are. Sheesh. I'm surprised you can get through the door at the end of the day with that big head of yours.

  • Posted By: homeschooler @ 07/24/2009 9:19:04 AM

    My husband has been in the military for 16yrs(air force) and we make AWESOME money. We have always made great money. My husband is ENLISTED. People who say they don't make enough money in the military don't know how to handle their finances. I am also appalled at people who feel that they should be able to come into the military and start out making tons of money, the military is educating you, providing you food allowances, and housing allowances along with a paycheck. Basically people are never happy. The military gives us AWESOME health care benefits, I should know, I have a child who has autism and sever allergies to food...............we get all of our treatments for FREE. Military members also know that they will be moving around, so I have no sympathy for those who bought a house and can't sell it, you knew you were moving.

  • Posted By: katem1 @ 07/18/2009 1:35:13 AM

    Enter Your Comment

    • Posted By: dannik @ 07/18/2009 5:02:39 PM

      katem is right. when you signup to serve your country, you're fully aware of how much you are going to get paid. if you're not sure, you can look this up, it's public information. i've never served, but i'm also well aware that the military makes you serve in different parts of the world every couple of years so why would you buy a house? you're no different than many other speculators who were hoping to get rich and now you expect the federal government to bail you out.

      everybody has the choice to serve, it's not something you are forced to do in this country. there are already a great deal of benefits for people in the military, that is an undeniable fact. i don't understand why just because someone is a teacher, police officer, firefighter, armed service member, reality no longer applies to these people. there are a finite number of resources in this country. we can't suddenly throw any sense of reason just when it comes to these group of people.

      • Posted By: Hagbard Celine @ 07/20/2009 3:01:06 PM

        "i've never served, but "

        Heh.

  • Posted By: Lee Holmes @ 07/17/2009 6:20:56 PM

    Damn that Bush adminsitation anyw..

    But wait. He has been long gone and the ''red tape'' Obama promised to slice through lay dead, like the rest of his promises, on the cutting room floor.

    Where are the Bush critics now with their phony outrage?

    You want even worse?

    Try the move by the Obama administration to replace the Congressional Budget Office with the OMB..

    • Posted By: paul946111 @ 07/18/2009 2:31:48 AM

      Phony outrage? It was the Bush administration that allowed banks to foreclose on more than 10,00 military families while they were serving in Iraq or Afghanistan! Soldiers & Sailors civil relief Act. Bush didn't care so long as the banks got their money. Now it is the same with Obama. The final result is that be it Bush or Obama or many folks here, a service member is supposed to be a slave, living in a ghetto, ensuring that the rest of you can live in treasure houses and your dividend flow remains uninterrupted. Serve or shut up!

      • Posted By: Lee Holmes @ 07/18/2009 3:22:24 PM

        Can the bullshit. You rubes were promised ''change'' and from what we are seeing, veterans are getting too little of it. It was Obama who tried to place returning wounded soldiers on the private insurance plans he now says are ruining this country and it was under Obamas watch that thousands of VA vets contracted Hepatitus C and possibly, HIV in grossly filthy hospitals and their instruments. Now this crap.Bush is no longer around. Yet this BS continues under a president who swore to look after their interests. Thus you are defending an indefensible position.

        • Posted By: Hagbard Celine @ 07/20/2009 2:59:52 PM

          Yes, we can certainly blame Obama for that; for trying to put American servicemen on our shameful excuse of a private medical insurance system. 100% agreed.

      • Posted By: Lee Holmes @ 07/18/2009 3:36:25 PM

        I am not quite finished with you yet bigmouth.

        Lee Holmes:

        United States Navy

        1975-1983.

        Operation FREQUENT WIND [Vietnam Exit]

        Operation EAGLE CLAW [ Iran Hostage Rescue Attempt]

        Lebanon Peacekeeper Force, 24th Marine Amphibious Unit, BEACHMASTER, Green Beach,Beirut. USS AUSTIN.[ LPD-4] Oct-Nov. 1983.

        Present member: Veterans of Foreign Wars.

        Three decorations

        Four Unit commendations

        Four personal commendations.

        You watch who you tell to ''serve''...............



  • Posted By: katem1 @ 07/18/2009 3:09:21 AM

    Paul you are all wrong. This guy simply transferred from Delaware to Texas in a normal PCS. Let go of your anger

  • Posted By: katem1 @ 07/18/2009 12:07:35 AM

    I am not filled with sympathy here. The military receives generous tax-free housing allowances; then get a tax deduction when they apply this allowance to a mortgage. They are not "out of pocket" at all. Anyone in the military knows they will be transferred at least every few years. Why are they buying expensive houses and expecting to be bailed out?

    • Posted By: Braes @ 07/18/2009 12:50:19 AM

      Generous? Not for enlisted.
      I could never afford a house until well after retirement, and then only after much savings.
      As far as "Pay Parity" goes, what enlisted get is just above poverty wages for first term enlisted.

      • Posted By: katem1 @ 07/18/2009 1:45:58 AM

        But first term enlisted should not be buying these houses; they are in their early 20s. And the allowances are very generous for mid to later career enlisted and all officers. Maybe you retired a while back, but the pay and allowances have exploded over the last ten years.

        • Posted By: paul946111 @ 07/18/2009 2:28:23 AM

          You are an idiot. Generous! Pay them what you pay a private contractor or do the job yourself for the wages that qualify your family for food stamps IF you had the intestinal fortitude to actually serve rather than leach!

        • Posted By: paul946111 @ 07/18/2009 2:23:51 AM

        • Posted By: paul946111 @ 07/18/2009 2:20:54 AM

  • Posted By: paul946111 @ 07/18/2009 2:26:48 AM

    katem1. It is the greedy, self serving ignorant idiots like you that force service members to live in poverty, collcting food stamps and getting foreclosed upon while serving in combat. Combat you and you ilk refuse to because you believe that the burdens of supporting freedom are just too much for you to bear. Do us all a favor and leave. You would abandon your buddy in a fire fight and you would foreclose on a service emeber serving in a war zone. Get lost!

  • Posted By: wildpup @ 07/17/2009 11:59:51 PM

    The congress passes bills to spend money. The money is not spent on what it is allocated for right away until it suits someone.
    End of story.

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