h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

For quite some years, our military was seriously under-paid. Especially under our Liberal government who really didn't want to have a military. They couldn't disband us, but they could slowly starve us out, and over a decade or so - they did close about 70% of the bases and smaller units that we had.

One of the favourite tricks was the handling of almost annual cost-of-living raises. The national Treasury Board would set the rates, and as it was pointed out publicly, over 17 years they fudged some. If the unionized public service were given a 4% pay raise - the uniforms saw 2.5%. Over the years, the disparity grew to about 30-some-percent difference.

Coming on election time, there was a spate of news stories of soldiers, sailors and airmen subsisting on Welfare support and food banks. Injured veterans fared even worse under changes to compensation. The static in the media got so loud that the government created a "Standing Committee On National Defence and Veteran's Affairs" - SCONDVA. A group of senators criss-crossed Canada - all with fine hotels and per diems - holding town-hall and one-on-one meetings. After 2 years, to the chagrine of the leaders, this committee was fair and honest, reporting exactly what they found.

In the end, the Department of Veterans' Affairs was dismantled and a whole new Veterans' Affairs Canada was stood up, revamping the care and consideration given to our injured and lame. The serving military themselves saw vast gains after a 7-year pay freeze. Over a span of perhaps 5 years, the pay of the uniforms caught up with the public service and even surpassed them in some fields. In all, some 40% of pay hikes, with fair view given to cost-of-living raises subsequently.

I 'retired' from the uniform after 21 years of service - and just before these raises began to roll in. So my retirement annuity, paid into every month, was still a pittance. And to this day, subject to a 30% claw-back at age 65 or if collecting a national disability income.

The renewed veterans' services did become far more reasonable and understanding, though an uphill fight sometimes could still just drive applicants away. Some 18 years after I dropped the uniform, my heart stumbled and force me into retirement at age 54. But I finally had the time to persue some compensation. Seriously noisy work environments had degraded my hearing immensely, and also left the tinitus of 1,000 cicaeda my 24/7 friend. I was successful in winning 2 fairly tidy lump-sums of compensation, as well as hearing aids for both ears and their maintenance for life. The first hours of wearing them, I was astounded at how much around me had been missing for years.

This week, I was advised that a government had finally accepted a decades running report reguarding the under-scaling of veterans' compensation, and a 14.some% raise was applied to any pay-outs since 2006. So within a week, my bank account should be gifted with an additional $4,300 (Canadian).

The moral of the story? If the wheel is squeaky enough, it really will get the grease.