{"id":87649,"date":"2021-11-20T16:40:17","date_gmt":"2021-11-20T16:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yellowdogwire.com\/?p=87649"},"modified":"2021-11-20T16:40:21","modified_gmt":"2021-11-20T16:40:21","slug":"thousands-of-military-families-struggle-with-food-insecurity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yellowdogwire.com\/?p=87649","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Thousands of military families struggle with food insecurity&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/nsjonline.com\/article\/2021\/11\/thousands-of-military-families-struggle-with-food-insecurity\/\" target=\"_blank\">North State Journal: <\/a>&#8220;It\u2019s a hidden crisis that has existed for years inside one of the most well-funded institutions on the planet and has only worsened during the coronavirus pandemic. As many as 160,000 active-duty military members are having trouble feeding their families.That estimate by Feeding America, which coordinates the work of more than 200 food banks around the country, underscores how long-term food insecurity has extended into every aspect of American life, including the military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The exact scope of the problem is a topic of debate, due to a lack of formal study. But activists say it has existed for years and primarily affects junior-level enlisted service members \u2014 ranks E1 to E4 in military parlance \u2014 with children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The group estimates that 29% of troops in the most junior enlisted ranks faced food insecurity during the previous year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt is what it is,\u201d said James Bohannon, 34, a Naval E4 (petty officer third class) in San Diego who relies on food assistance to keep his two daughters fed.\u201dYou know what you\u2019re signing up for in the military, but I\u2019m not going to lie. It\u2019s really tough.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In addition to modest pay for junior enlisted ranks, the frequent moves inherent to military life make it difficult for military spouses to find steady work. Also, the internal military culture of self-sufficiency leaves many reluctant to speak about their difficulties, for fear they will be regarded as irresponsible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The problem is exacerbated by an obscure Agriculture Department rule that prevents thousands of needy military families from accessing the SNAP government assistance program, commonly known as food stamps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s one of these things that the American people don\u2019t know about, but it\u2019s a matter of course among military members. We know this,\u201d said Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat and former Blackhawk pilot who lost both legs in a helicopter crash in Iraq. \u201cWe\u2019re the mightiest military on the face of the earth and yet those who are on the lower rung of our military ranks are \u2014 if they are married and have a child or two\u2013 they\u2019re hungry. How can you focus on carrying out the mission and defending our democracy. If you\u2019re worried about whether or not your kid gets dinner tonight?\u201d&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>North State Journal: &#8220;It\u2019s a hidden crisis that has existed for years inside one of the most well-funded institutions on the planet and has only worsened during the coronavirus pandemic. As many as 160,000 active-duty military members are having trouble feeding their families.That estimate by Feeding America, which coordinates the work of more than 200&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newsstory"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yellowdogwire.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yellowdogwire.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yellowdogwire.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yellowdogwire.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yellowdogwire.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=87649"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/yellowdogwire.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87649\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87650,"href":"https:\/\/yellowdogwire.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87649\/revisions\/87650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yellowdogwire.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=87649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yellowdogwire.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=87649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yellowdogwire.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=87649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}