Your commute is nothing like these guys'.
Civilians, well some of them, take a very 'tut tut' view of military service and especially military pay. In their view, a military life is easily compared to, for example, working at Wal-Mart or manning the help desk. These are the sorts of views that cause people to say 'hey...I make crap at my shit job sitting on my fat ass in an office park all day. Why should some guy facing machine gun fire halfway across the world getter better pay and retirement benefits than me?!' Thus goes the rationale for comparing the civilian workforce, public or private, to military service.
Let me make something absolutely clear to you people: You have no fucking idea of the personal, sometimes physical sacrifices that are required for military service. And if you did, if your civilian job even came close to requiring that level of discipline, selflessness, and willingness to give up so much in the way of a normal life, you'd either quit your cubicle life or demand 10 times what you're currently making. Guess what, military families take less. That's right LESS.
I don't want to hear shit about your job and how shitty it is and how everyone else's job should be as shitty as yours. That's how you get a race to the bottom. That's why the middle class is where it is now. That's why upward mobility, outside of the military notably, is where it is now.
First, they pick a group of people, say...private sector manufacturing workers. They say, 'Hey...why should some auto worker get better benefits than you? Huh?! Cut their pay!' Then when that's done, they do it again: 'Hey...why should those government workers get better benefits than you? Huh?! Cut their pay!' And then again: 'Hey..why should some jerkoff Marine who lost his arm in Iraq get better benefits than you?! Huh?! Cut their pay!' And that's how pensions became 401(k) plans. You're welcome.
Another thing they do to divide folks is 'grandfathering.' You know, that means some guys still get benefits, but the new guys don't. But in every case where we've seen grandfathering of pensioners, eventually they come back around to the previously grandfathered and cut them too. Because the new guys are told 'Hey..why's that old geezer getting a $21,000 a year pension when you're gonna have about 500 bucks for your entire retirement in your 401(k) plan?! Cut that guys pension!'
You see how this shit works?
That's how you get a fucked up race to the bottom people. You shouldn't be bitching about someone else's decent benefits. You should be demanding them for yourself.