Cheap Dollar No Bargain for GIs Abroad
Fiscal experts may find a bright side to the cheaper dollar, but to many American soldiers serving abroad, it means hamburger in the barracks instead of steak in a reasonably comfortable off-base apartment.
A year ago, a dollar was worth 3.45 marks, the most since 1971. Now it is worth only 2.25 marks, and the 250,000 American military personnel stationed in West Germany are hurting.
They scrape to pay off debts these days and postpone the purchase of such major items as cars. Many are moving back into military housing.
More Marks Needed
“We bought two paintings on the economy last year when the dollar was up and needed about $70 a month to buy marks for the payments. Now it’s more than $90 a month,” said Army Spec. 4 Oscar Badillo of Brooklyn, N.Y. “On the economy” is the term that soldiers and other Americans abroad use to mean buying and spending money in the host countries, away from military bases.
Badillo and his wife, Lisa, who is from Belleville, Ill., have two daughters: Marisol, 3, and Malissa, 13 months.
The Badillos said the cheaper dollar has created problems for them even though they live in low-rental military housing, and particularly because of the stronger drain now of the art payments.
“We just don’t buy anything on the economy anymore,” Lisa Badillo said.
“It’s also raised our payments for car insurance and telephone bills,” her husband said, and the family has cut back on the food budget in an attempt to balance the books.
PX, Other Benefits
American service personnel and their families have been strapped by foreign prices, especially in West Germany, before. However, things would be a lot worse without some special benefits.
Military personnel and their families can buy a wide variety of goods at reduced prices in military stores--including food, clothing, automobiles and sports equipment--and can take vacations at armed forces recreation centers in Europe. Many, like the Badillos, also have base housing at relatively low rates.
Soldiers get a pay increase when the dollar falls to certain levels, depending on where they are stationed.
No Car Purchase Now
Army Spec. 4 Lisa Renner, 20, from St. Cloud, Minn., said: “The dollar is putting a pinch on things. I was thinking about buying a car before I go back. Now I’ll probably wait till I get back to the States to buy it.”
The decline in the currency’s value has had a dramatic effect on where soldiers and civilian employees of the military live, said Michael J. Haze, the military community housing manager for Frankfurt.
