They actually end up losing money with this ‘raise’.
Via IJR:
In late April, the House Armed Services Committee drafted legislation proposing a 2.1% pay raise for military personnel. If passed, it would end the three-year White House-led streak of military pay raises that failed to keep pace with inflation and civilian wage increases.
But as Stars and Stripes reported, President Obama responded with a counter offer — one that now looks likely to make it through the Senate — of just 1.6%, dropping the increase back below the amount needed to match the rising cost of living.