Andrea Dambekaln, who got out of the Army recently after a four-year hitch and is engaged to an Army captain, says the military is already being asked to do more with less as the size of the force shrinks. And, she says, medical benefits are not as good as they once were. More cuts would not be fair. Paying for education is important, she says, but soldiers shouldn't have to pay the price. As Jo Ann Hill sees it, people in the military contribute enough to Fayetteville already.
Soldiers fuel the local economy.
Hill's husband is in the Army, but they live off post near Hope Mills and pay property taxes. They do their grocery shopping tax-free at the commissary, but they spend plenty of money in local stores as well, she says. Dave Jones, Gov. Jim Hunt's liaison on military affairs, says people in uniform earn the breaks they get. A Marine captain at Camp Lejeune can expect to be away from home 26 out of the 36 months he is stationed there, he says. If they get a little more money than civilians, trust me, they are damn well earning it.