Veterans watch Trump's moves on pay, benefits, personnel

By Brett Rowland
The Center Square

This Veterans Day, veterans from all backgrounds and political positions will be watching to see how President-elect Donald Trump handles key issues including pay and access to benefits.

They'll also be watching who Trump puts in key cabinet positions.

Trump and Republicans could reshape the military during his next term in the White House with plans to invest in research, higher pay for troops and making sure veterans have access to housing.

Retired Army Lt. Col. Jim Whaley, the CEO of Mission Roll Call, said veterans – a politically diverse group – will be paying attention, especially on issues such as pay and access to benefits.

Pay, in particular, is closely connected with other veteran-focused issues, Whaley said. 

"That obviously has big impacts on recruitment and retention and, of course, at the back end," he said. "And if you're suffering from financial insecurity when you're on active duty, and then you transition out of the military, you're going to have problems when you get out, which causes problems for the VA, which causes problems for them, finding good jobs and quality of life and all those things we can do better as a nation."

More than a quarter of active-duty military members worry about where to get their next meal. About 15.4% of all active duty personnel would be classified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as having low food security in 2018. Another 10.4% would be classified as having very low food security, according to a 2023 RAND report.

The GOP's 2024 platform called for better pay, specifically to "support our Troops with higher pay." Military pay scales include several factors such as rank, location and years of service, among other things. The U.S. Army reported earlier this year that a single, 18-year-old enlisted member at the starting rank – pay grade E-1 with less than four months of service – gets, on average, a starting annual regular military compensation package of about $43,500 in basic pay, basic allowance for housing, basic allowance for subsistence and federal tax advantages. 

Those benefits can add up, according to the Army. First-year enlisted Army members could earn up to $104,000 in total compensation, but that's on a base salary of $27,133; combined enlistment bonuses of up to $50,000; $19,692 in housing; $5,523 in food; and $1,895 in clothing.

In the U.S., real median household income was $80,610 in 2023, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Veterans will also be watching Trump's cabinet picks, including who he taps to lead the U.S. Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs, which respectively lead the world's most advanced military and the nation's largest integrated health care system.

In March, the Biden-Harris Administration submitted to Congress a proposed fiscal year 2025 budget request of $849.8 billion for the Department of Defense. The VA's budget request was $369.3 billion.

Military experience is often important for veterans in top military posts, Whaley said. 

"They want to see those serving in roles of that level have some military background and certainly want to take care of the military and take care of those that are serving our country and make sure they can have valuable careers and provide for their families," he said.

In an open letter to Trump, the National Military Family Association called for better pay as well. 

"Service is a choice, and it's one that’s costing military families in ways that put our country at risk," the group wrote. "We face staggering rates of food insecurity – a quarter of us are struggling to put food on the table for our kids, and a third of us are just getting by. For more than a decade, our household income has lagged that of the civilian sector, primarily due to the chronic +20% military spouse unemployment rate."