Any award, any citation, goes into a soldier's personnel file and can help lift him or her to the next rank. Promotions are everything. The raises they bring may be small, but they are the only means of easing the financial strain. With that they had to buy their own uniforms, knapsacks, sleeping bags, helmets and even the stripes they sewed on their sleeves. Meals in the company mess hall were charged to them.
Housing is free if soldiers live on the post.
But that means families must make do with cramped row houses. He said he would love to move into one of those bigger, duplex houses with attached garages. But houses like that are set aside for sergeants first class, a rank above him. In such an environment there can be gnawing suspicions about why you're not moving up, or not moving up faster. Maybe it's your shortcomings.