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> The same type of thing is in play in military schools. There will be few-to-no kids of poor single moms. All the kids will be well fed and groomed and socialized.

I grew up near a military base, and that describes very very few people.

> no kids of poor single moms

I'd suggest taking a look at what the military pays before you make the claim no poor. As for single moms it turns out that divorce is a big problem and if your dad is stationed overseas for months at a time it's a lot like being a single parent, except with the constant wondering if you are going to get a letter saying your spouse has died.

> All the kids will be well fed

I'll give you that can be the case, if the MLM and the 30% interest on the new Dodge Charger didn't take all the money.

> groomed and socialized

It turns out that sending parents out of a child's life for long periods of time can cause lots of behavior issues, beyond often times people that make their way to the military come with a lot of baggage usually and although the military can be good at reforming people's lives into productive members of society it doesn't always translate to being a great parent.

It sounds like the kind of thing postulated by someone who didn't spend a lot of time around the military culture.



> I'd suggest taking a look at what the military pays before you make the claim no poor....All the kids will be well fed

to this point, there are a lot of military families on food stamps.

plenty of hillbillys and hoodrats. plenty of bad areas near military bases, too.

but living on base or around base leads to a pretty strong monoculture. you also have a motivated cadre of military spouses -- who are often nurses and teachers -- and who often have to work hard to get jobs at a local school or hospital. you often get qualified teachers and nurses far exceeding the level you'd normally find in the rural areas near bases.


Yes, in my experience rural areas around bases tend to be more well-off than rural areas not around bases -- the base stimulates the local economy quite a bit, if nothing else. (Otoh, the revolving door population is not great for stability.)

But FWIW I do not think the effect is even close to strong enough to explain the results in the article.


Now do the same for the underperforming kids in an underperforming school.

> I'd suggest taking a look at what the military pays before you make the claim no poor.

Less than public assistance?

> As for single moms it turns out that divorce is a big problem

At least your divorced military ex-wife has a better chance of actually collecting alimony and child support.

> I'll give you that can be the case, if the MLM and the 30% interest on the new Dodge Charger didn't take all the money.

Think predatory finance and scams doesn't exist off-base?

> It turns out that sending parents out of a child's life for long periods of time can cause lots of behavior issues

More than experiencing housing insecurity, food insecurity, and never having that second parental figure in the first place?


Enlisted military families with 2 dependents usually qualify for public assistance programs. It's less of a problem stateside, because jobs open to military spouses are fairly easy to find. Families stationed overseas often don't have this option, though.


Do you know someone living like this currently? They should be getting allowances if their basic is below the poverty line.

If they've been in long enough to pop out 2 kids I hope to god someone's helping them on their way E4.


> I'll give you that can be the case, if the MLM and the 30% interest on the new Dodge Charger didn't take all the money.

As prior service army, the Dodge Charger bit is painfully true.




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