MILITARY UPDATE
BAH hike lowers out-of-pocket costs for renters
Military Update focuses on issues affecting pay, benefits and lifestyle of active and retired servicepeople. Its author, Tom Philpott, is a Virginia-based syndicated columnist and freelance writer. He has covered military issues for almost 25 years, including six years as editor of Navy Times. For 17 years he worked as a writer and senior editor for Army Times Publishing Co. Philpott, 49, enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard in 1973 and served as an information officer from 1974-77.
By Tom Philpott
Basic Allowance for Housing for service members living off base in the United States will climb an average of 8 percent in January, said Defense Department officials. The new monthly BAH rates should be released in early December.
For the third straight year, BAH increases for 2003 will exceed annual growth in rental costs nationwide. It is part of a five-year plan, adopted during the Clinton administration, to end out-of-pocket housing costs for stateside service members by 2005.
BAH rates, like the yearly increases, vary widely by assignment area and pay grade. Rates for 2002 were set so that military renters, on average, received enough housing allowance to cover all but 11.7 percent of off-base housing costs — rent, utilities and renter's insurance.
The 2003 rates will lower that "absorption rate" to 7.5 percent. It will fall to 3.5 percent in January 2004 and to zero for 2005 and beyond.
Defense officials consider recent gains in stateside housing allowances to be critical quality-of-life improvements for military people. In a five-year span, from 1998 through 2002, BAH increases were double and, for some grades, triple the percentage rise in off-base rental costs.
Remembering veterans
In honor of Veterans Day, a blind combat veteran and a world-renowned tenor joined with a few hundred friends and a C-Span TV and radio audience to raise awareness of needs of homeless veterans.
John McDermott, an Irish-Canadian citizen and celebrated tenor, appeared at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., to explain how and why he became a leading advocate for homeless veterans in the United States. John Fales, a disabled Marine veteran who lost his sight in combat in Vietnam, arranged McDermott's appearance. Fales, an irrepressible advocate for veterans himself, writes the Sgt. Shaft column for The Washington Times.
McDermott House in Washington, D.C., named in the singer's honor, serves as a temporary home to more than two dozen local homeless vets. McDermott has given many performances on behalf of veterans. His performances routinely include songs that recall their sacrifices.
"If I could make a career out of this work alone I would," he said.
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