Why would junior enlisted Soldiers get into contract marriages?

We treat single troops like crap, and give married troops extra money.<br><br>I'm surprised it doesn't happen more.<br>

<p>Let me give you some background on who I am before I give you my opinion. I joined the Army a PFC, left the Army a SGT. I ETS'd less then 60 days ago. My whole military career (aside from my 2 deployments) I lived in the barracks. Maybe all units don't treat their single soldiers this way but my units did.Single Soldiers are second class soldiers in todays Army. You know how they had those technician ranks in WW2? With the rank and a "T" under it to denote so? They should do the same with Single soldiers. Give them an "S" under their rank. With how much they get discriminated against, it only seems fair. </p><p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>1.&nbsp;You get paid less money, yes I understand how BAH works, but 9/10 people getting BAH are pocketing a nice sum of money. </p>
<p>2. Your rank holds little to no value as a single soldier. A married PVT doesn't get called in for work after hours or during the weekend, but a single SPC damn sure will. Because your not married, you automatically have no life.</p>
<p>3.&nbsp;You cant live in peace. Staff Duty and CQ is always out to make you clean up some other guys mess or to round you up for a detail on the weekend. It got so bad we would actually hang out in parking lots and other random parts of post just to avoid them.</p>
<p>4.&nbsp;You don't want to ever un-pack or settle in, because they can always randomly decide to re-organize the barracks for no reason and make you move. Happened to me quite a bit.</p>
<p>5.&nbsp;No one cares about your well-being, or your problems. We had roaches the size of my fingers. Living ones and dead ones everywhere. When we complained, no one cared. The FSBP doesn't live in the barracks, so they don't give a shit. I ended up living off post paying rent out of pocket after waking up to a fat long cockroach crawling up my arm at night.</p>
<p>6.&nbsp;Everyone gets meal deductions... as much as that sucks on its own because no one enjoys the difac food..... even if your units difac is shut down. Guys in my unit had to walk for a while to eat at another units difac. If the closest unit to ours Difac was also shut down, you had to walk another couple miles to the other side of post for food.</p>
<p>7.&nbsp;Most of your NCO's and leaders at no point lived in barracks. They make standards for you that are very impractical. </p><p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>8.&nbsp;You have no power or control over the way you live. If your water goes cold, or your fridge or microwave breaks, your at the mercy of whenever FSBP feels like getting a work order, or when they feel like following up or getting an ETA. Even if your willing to pay to get it fixed, its not happening. All of our dryers in our laundry room broke, soldiers started writing "Broken" with the date on specific dryers to inform other soldiers which washers and dryers were broken. After a couple months, we just started driving to another brigade to do laundry.</p><p><br>9.&nbsp;Not enough room. After being in the Army for 2 deployments, there was no way I could fit all my ACU CIF, ACU RFI, and Multicam RFI neatly into one room. In total I had 4 duffell bags, 2 ruck sacks, then a tough box, Medic Bags, Assault Pack's, 3 day rucks etc... all of theese filled with TA-50 I was accountable for. It is almost impossible to keep all of this in a tiny room in a neat and orderly fashion. Dont be shocked when roaches die inside your TA-50 either.</p><p><br>10.&nbsp;The Chain of Command/FSBP doesnt care about the barracks until the soldiers take pictures and post it on U.S. Army W.T.F Moments. They are more powerful then the IG.</p><span lang=""><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Dont be surprised when soldiers start gay marrying each other to move out of the barracks. At first it was just a joke when DADT got re-appealed among my 11b and 19d friends .Now its seriously happening. </p></span>

It's been happening for a long time. To some marriage is sacred, but to others it's just a game. It is why our divorce rate in this country is so high. It starts at home though. Teach your kids values and one day they will respect those values and pass them on to their children.