Quality of Life-Standard of living

[biggie786]

I have been hearing alot in the news about how standard of living for CF Personnel is a lot worse then Civilians.....I would like to hear from personnel currently serving in CF about it. If they think their life style is sub standard...compared to civys.

 

[Michael Dorosh]

Well, some of it is by design; if sleeping in a ditch under the stars isn‘t "sub-standard" compared to civvies I don‘t know what would be....

 

[nbk]

Getting shot at in a warzone can‘t do much to raise your standard of living either.

 

[biggie786]

When I said standard of living I meant when you are not working at your unit.....life style of CF families ..houses etc.

 

[Armymedic]

Thanks to alot of changes and pay raises in the last few yrs, our standard of living has improved. With care, married soldiers can just get by on a single income....but its tight. Frequent deployments help as they pay between 500 and 2500 dollars extra a month while deployed. Family resouces have improved for our spouses, and sor some decreased numbers of posting actually help because spouse can be more secure in the employment they find.

 

[E13E]

Yes over the years the standard of living has improved to some degree. I live in a PMQ on base and am paying $723.00 a month rent for a 3 bedroom duplex. Last Dec., Jan., and Feb I payed $400.00 a month for heat (natural gas)plus the other utilities. My rent goes up $100.00 a month every November and I do not have enough room to display all my stuff. The attic and shed are full. I have moved to a different city 9 times in the last 19 year and my furniture has taken a kicking. I have lost money on two houses. The military has been a good life with lots of challenges, I have seen most of Canada and the family support while on tour is great now. Would I join again, most certainly.

 

[biggie786]

what part of the country are u in where the rent is that high?

 

[Armymedic]

PMQ rents were a string here not to long ago...
they vary slightly due to the area your in...Petawawa is obviously cheaper then Ottawa. But they are not much cheaper then the areas rental market, maybe $50-100 less then comparable apartments.

 

[E13E]

I live in Borden, about 1 hr north of Toronto.

 

[onecat]

"Yes over the years the standard of living has improved to some degree. I live in a PMQ on base and am paying $723.00 a month rent for a 3 bedroom duplex."

Hey I live in Guelph, and you can‘t get a 3 bedroom duplex for that much. **** one bedroom apartments run that much plus. I‘m not saying that its great rent, but its not huge given what the market rate is.

Personally I like if you live on Base then you should get cheap rent for what you give up for living on a Base. Borden might be okay, but who is going to live by choice at Gagetown or Shilo or Goose Bay.

 

[E13E]

Most places downtown have a footprint of between 1100-1500 sq ft. Mine 3 bedroom is just over 700. No basement and a small attic. One of the PMQs I lived in I had to get rid of the king size bed and drop down to a double because that is all that would fit in the bedroom, if I wanted to put a dresser in as well.