Food insecurity on the rise among US army members, their dependents

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RAND Corporation, a research organization, examined the issue of food insecurity among US military personnel and their dependents and revealed some key findings.

“Approximately 15.4 percent of all active duty personnel would be classified by the US Department of Agriculture as having low food security in 2018. Another 10.4 percent would be classified as having very low food security,” as per RAND researchers.

The report went on to say that “food insecurity was higher among those living on the post," stressing that 14% of those classified as food insecure in 2018 reported using food assistance in the past year.

“Only 14 percent of those classified as food insecure in 2018 reported using food assistance in the past 12 months in the form of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), food banks, SNAP, or the DoD program called the Family Sub-assistance Supplemental Allowance (FSSA),” the report detailed.

Members who were food insecure were more likely to have a second job or a spouse who worked part-time, according to the findings.

The report also emphasized that “some  stakeholders  also  mentioned  that  members  were  concerned  that  seeking  help  for  food  insecurity  or  for  general  financial  problems  would  negatively  affect  their  continued  access to a security clearance.”

The finding also unmasked that “the  top  five  states  with  the  highest  share  of  members  eligible  for  the  BNA would be Texas, Georgia, California, North Carolina, and Virginia.”

This comes shortly after US President Joe Biden inked a $1.7 trillion funding plan that includes another large package for Ukraine --$45 billion in emergency military and economic supplies.

Ukraine has received billions and billions of dollars in donated arms from the United States and its allies, such as the United Kingdom and other NATO states, in the past few months.

Read next: US military dwindling in strength: WSJ