Military compensation already lags pay in the private sector by 12.6 percent, and the gap is getting wider. Access to medical care, which military people regard as their single most important noncash benefit, is diminishing. More than a year ago, Secretary of Defense William J. Perry appointed a task force to examine the military quality of life. These reports give a detailed analysis of problems in housing, operations tempo, and base-level services. They also demonstrate that personnel support programs have not kept up with changing force demographics.
More military people are married today than ever before in the history of the armed forces.
There has been a steady increase in the number of dependent children. Service members now have about one million children younger than age twelve. Single parents, once a rare phenomenon in the military, now account for about five percent of the force. This force has definite needs, such as child care, that the services are not able to meet. Much of the government housing for families is old, cramped, and run down.