Allowances - Post Living Differential (PLD) [MERGED]
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NavyHopeful
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The CAF gets taken to the cleaners on many business transactions but it's also an incredibly erratic and irresponsible organization. Case in point:
Trenton farmer loses land battle with Canada’s elite soldiers
Trenton-area farmer Frank Meyers is upset that almost 100 hectares of land has been expropriated by the military to make room for a base expansion.
www.thestar.com
DND to turn Meyers farm in Trenton, Ont. into ammunition compound | Globalnews.ca
The former Meyer farmland is being developed by the Department of National Defence for the purposes of a new ammunition compound.
globalnews.ca
It was supposed to be a training area for JTF2 and now it's becoming an Ammo Compound?
Think of all the money they pissed away on this endeavor. It would of been more useful if it had remained as an actual farm.
Now think about these issues and apply them on a National Scale and you'll realize why the CAF has dilapidated infrastructure and can't have nice things. How many $billions of land, infrastructure, etc have been sold off since the 1990s for pennies on the dollar? With zero material benefit to the business of National Defence.
Halifax Tar
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With the amount of money I make on a 6-7 month deployment now its silly to say no. But this might be the final act; we will see.
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Halifax Tar
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I feel you, I still like coming to the ship in the morning. But I am not sure how much more I can ask the family to put up with.
NavyHopeful
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Not making fun; I'd always take the deployment benefits. Makes the CoL a little easier when they get the extra $$$ and don't have to feed me daily.
I'm one of those "weird" ones who like to get to the ship early, if only to have a coffee and ease into my day. But I won't pretend that being shore-posted is an awful experience, either. I know my daughter is excited to have her daddy home every night for a bit, and is making plans for all kinds of daddy-daughter dates. My wife is also happy to have me around, if only so she doesn't have to do everything.
NavyHopeful
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In all seriousness, the CFHD will benefit those who sorely need it. The ones (like me) who got used to having PLD and now don't qualify, well it does suck to be us, but the ones I feel for are those JR members who live in PMQs and won't qualify for the CFHD.
I'll use the Windsor Park Apartment PMQs as an example here:
1 bdrm: $944/month (CFHA) - $1995/month (Average civilian rent)
2 bdrm: $906-$1057 /mth (CFHA) - $2495/mth (Average civilian rent)
3 bdrm: $980/mth (CFHA) - $2998/mth (Average civilian rent)
I didn't put the option for studio or 4 bedroom apartments, and the CFHA only has 6x 1 bdrm apartments, but I put them in anyways.
So my issue with this whole thing is that I have heard a lot of people chastising members of higher ranks still living in PMQs and not clearing out and making way for JR personnel to move in there. I would tend to agree, when the family living in the PMQ is a two-income family and both incomes are from a healthy, stable place of employment. However, from my experience, this doesn't always apply to the residents of the WP PMQs. There is a broad spectrum of residents, from single, married, single parents, divorcees, full families that the CAF member is the sole income in the home... Just to lay the "Chief's shouldn't live in PMQs because they can afford civi housing" argument is not on, in my opinion. There is no telling that that "Chief" isn't paying to have their special needs child in a dedicated home because they are widowed and can't look after their child full-time. Or maybe they are having to look after an elderly family member, and can only afford the cost of a CFHA rental, because otherwise they'd starve. It's a very real possibility in today's grocery market. I mean, who ever thought we'd be shopping at Dollarama for affordable groceries? But here we are, and it doesn't look like times are changing anytime soon. No matter how much we wish it would.
I'll use the Windsor Park Apartment PMQs as an example here:
1 bdrm: $944/month (CFHA) - $1995/month (Average civilian rent)
2 bdrm: $906-$1057 /mth (CFHA) - $2495/mth (Average civilian rent)
3 bdrm: $980/mth (CFHA) - $2998/mth (Average civilian rent)
I didn't put the option for studio or 4 bedroom apartments, and the CFHA only has 6x 1 bdrm apartments, but I put them in anyways.
So my issue with this whole thing is that I have heard a lot of people chastising members of higher ranks still living in PMQs and not clearing out and making way for JR personnel to move in there. I would tend to agree, when the family living in the PMQ is a two-income family and both incomes are from a healthy, stable place of employment. However, from my experience, this doesn't always apply to the residents of the WP PMQs. There is a broad spectrum of residents, from single, married, single parents, divorcees, full families that the CAF member is the sole income in the home... Just to lay the "Chief's shouldn't live in PMQs because they can afford civi housing" argument is not on, in my opinion. There is no telling that that "Chief" isn't paying to have their special needs child in a dedicated home because they are widowed and can't look after their child full-time. Or maybe they are having to look after an elderly family member, and can only afford the cost of a CFHA rental, because otherwise they'd starve. It's a very real possibility in today's grocery market. I mean, who ever thought we'd be shopping at Dollarama for affordable groceries? But here we are, and it doesn't look like times are changing anytime soon. No matter how much we wish it would.
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I work with a guy that got posted to Ottawa for less than 8 months before getting yo-yo posted back to Halifax into a busy ship schedule with a short notice posting. He couldn't find anything on an HHT that was reasonable, so was glad he managed to find a room in the shacks while waiting for a PMQ to open up.
Aside from affordability, short cycle posting people is logistically way harder in a sellers market, let alone an unaffordable sellers market. The CAF really needs to get it's stuff together and avoid that as much as possible.
Aside from affordability, short cycle posting people is logistically way harder in a sellers market, let alone an unaffordable sellers market. The CAF really needs to get it's stuff together and avoid that as much as possible.
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If only we had a system of “quarters” we could use for situations like that…(I‘m being sarcastic because of the disrepair we have allowed that to decay into, in most locations…)
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For sure, I'd rather they let some people stay in the base accomodations (wardroom, C&POs, A block) then keep them held open for TD. I know when I went on IR though the Wardroom actually exceeded the monthly allowance for Halifax, so it's not like it's cheaper, but better than not having somewhere to sleep.
Especially if you know you are going to spend 7 months on a deployment, just doesn't make sense.
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So it appears the people who brought you CFHD are now advancing the SDA/LDA file. The Fleet Chief has asked all Coxns to ask their units what they thought about the allowance and thoughts about a possible change and what they would like to see different. No details about any proposed changes but just what their personnel thought. Not surprisingly many given the train wreck of a roll out for CFHQ don't want any changes whatsoever and are rightly concerned. Its just a matter of time I guess before they make the changes.
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I have heard rumours for years now that the CAF wanted to go back to SDA/LDA only while at sea/in the field.
Right now it's a bit of joke in some places with people collecting hundreds of dollars in SDA/LDA every month, but spending at most a week or two at sea/in the field per year. I personally know of several people who all but outright said they gamed the system to collect SDA/LDA without ever having to go do what they were making extra money to do.
At the base rate it's ~$3900/year based on posting message, by the time you have a few years with the right UICs it's ~$7200/year
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I’m sure that if the CAF went back to the amount only while at sea/field, CAF Reddit will have (another) collective meltdown.
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Lots of people would stand to lose money, so I don't blame the troops/sailors who would be upset. They didn't make the current policy, but they would be the ones with less money in their pockets at the end of the month if the SDA/LDA policy changes.
My understanding was the idea at the time that SDA/LDA went to a monthly allowance is that it was an incentive to get people to accept postings to field and sea-going units, and reduce the staff time spent figuring out who was where, at what times, for sea/field pay.
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Full disclosure I have enjoyed SDA for most of my career at least 28 years of it posted to ships or shore units that also collect SDA due to the type of work. I ensured that I was fit and wanted to sail because that money honestly is pretty good, I guess I gamed the system on the opposite end. By the time they make any changes I'll probably be out, one year to my 35th and not sure if I'll stay around for shits and giggles. I hope any changes doesn't mean a net loss for members but honestly are they trying to save money here or trying to make it more equable? are we exceeding the funding envelope here? I can see them arguing like CFHD that any new SDA/LDA scheme more people will get higher amounts and the people who actually sailed or deployed and put the time in will get less.
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From the rumors I heard the idea is to reward the people actually sailing, and remove the incentive to game the current rules. It's hard on morale when you're sailing for WUPS/EX and a bunch of crew sitting at home(again*) are making as much as you.
*We all know the person that is magically sick every time the ship sails, but is fine as soon as the ship is back alongside at home, or who magically is sick when the unit/section goes to the field for a month. I had a guy essentially brag to me during an inspection that he had not been to the field with his troops in the years he had been posted to the particular unit.
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I honestly haven't seen too much of that, in my mind adjustment of the rules should be in order that you don't sail you don't get paid. I would imagine the average person possibly may have that happen several times during their career due to injury/illness/personal problem etc. Give them a couple of instances that is deemed average and they exceed what is deemed normal they lose it. Track it through MM. Should cut on on those persons. If the person gets hit by a car, has to get an operation or something like that then there are caveats for obvious things.
