Natosha Rogers claiming athletes deserve military veterans benefits

This is a joke. Sorry but an Olympian or Olympic hopeful is in no way making the same sacrifice as military. The good news is that Natosha can enlist in the Navy until she is 39 years old so she can receive those benefits when she retires from running.

SMH. Completely out of touch. She needs to use her degree from Texas A&M to get a job. It's a good school. She should be able to find employment. Most of us don't retire in our thirties.

You follow a millennial on Instagram, what did you really expect??

When did she do this? I haven't seen it.

My spouse is in the military. That comment is insulting. Her “sacrifice” is no where near what members and families face.

Insulting.

Get a job.

I'm not following the logic. Even if I agreed that someone should provide track athletes with benefits, why is the military the entity that should be responsible for this?

This is kind of like saying "restaurant servers deserve better benefits, so the state teachers' pension should fund servers' retirements." While the first part of the statement is probably true, there is no logical nexus between the problem and the solution. "X deserves better benefits" doesn't mean that an entity seemingly selected at random should pay said benefits.

Just because she runs for USA does not mean she is serving this country. I typically like her but this is waaaaaaay off base and insulting. If she can't afford to run then it's time to move on, go get a job and put her degree to use and use that money to save for retirement in her 60's.

She should look into the Army's World Class Athlete Program. The athlete can be Active, Guard or Reserve.

https://www.armywcap.com/

What does Brooks or Hansons think about this?

Sponsored athletes should never complain about what they are not receiving.

I do think that the multi-billion dollar USOC should provide health insurance for Olympians for life.

I know some people pick at Paul Chelimo for being a water treatment specialist in the US Army, but if an athlete wants to get "military benefits" they should join the military like Chelimo. One could even run for one of the academies and I'm sure that if you are an Olympic-level talent they would let you run in the Olympics. There is also this thing called a college degree that many track & field runners have because not many people are going pro early, and even if they do they generally finish up their degree. I would agree that Olympians do serve the country but it is not military service. Even if most veterans do not see combat, they sign up for the possibility of facing combat. If athletes want to work out some sort of retirement system they need to speak with Nike/Adidas/New Balance/etc. If I recall correctly Adidas is paying for Drew Hunter's college in addition to paying him. If a high school kid that has not made the Olympics could get that figured out then I think that Olympians with a college degree can figure something out. Perhaps some athletes should make better degree decisions. I would say that if you get a Statistics degree or something similar and do a little coding as a hobby to keep yourself up to date you should be able to find a good job when you retire from athletics. You could even go for a MS or an MBA to "get back in the groove" and expand your skillset. If a shoe company can pay for four years of college for a high schooler I'm sure that one could negotiate a little bit of money for a master's degree.

DanM wrote:

She should look into the Army's World Class Athlete Program. The athlete can be Active, Guard or Reserve.

https://www.armywcap.com/

That presumes that she can make it as both a soldier and an athlete:

"The US Army’s World Class Athlete Program (WCAP) allows top-ranked Soldier-athletes to perform at the international level while also serving their nation in the military. Our members train and compete throughout the year – and aim for the Olympic and Paralympic Games."

The quote is "they should be afforded Veteran's benefits, same as a person in the armed forces would receive."

I don't think she means that the military should literally pay for her benefits, but that retired Olympians should receive something similar when they retire. Anyway, it's still in incredibly poor taste for her to compare an athlete's "sacrifice" to that of an actual veteran.

This was in her Instagram "stories."

Wow. Poster made a false claim about an athlete and only one person responding actually read what the runner wrote. All in a days work for LetsRun’s best. And Rojo doesn’t edit the post with “allegedly” that he used at least twice last week. Rojo loves drama.

Disko Eric wrote:

Wow. Poster made a false claim about an athlete and only one person responding actually read what the runner wrote. All in a days work for LetsRun’s best. And Rojo doesn’t edit the post with “allegedly” that he used at least twice last week. Rojo loves drama.

How is it a false claim? OP's post seems like a reasonable interpretation of her statement as quoted here.

Disko Eric wrote:

Wow. Poster made a false claim about an athlete and only one person responding actually read what the runner wrote. All in a days work for LetsRun’s best. And Rojo doesn’t edit the post with “allegedly” that he used at least twice last week. Rojo loves drama.

I read what she posted. Please explain how the other posters are confused because its clear to me she thinks she deserves benefits similiar to retirees. I know those 4 hour workdays and 3 hour naps are challenging...definetly deserving of a retirement stipend for life paid for by taxpayers who have never heard of her before.

Disko Eric wrote:

Wow. Poster made a false claim about an athlete and only one person responding actually read what the runner wrote. All in a days work for LetsRun’s best. And Rojo doesn’t edit the post with “allegedly” that he used at least twice last week. Rojo loves drama.

I read her post. Did you? The OP did not make a false claim. She agrees "100%" that Olympians should receive Veterans benefits. She is saying that she should receive the same benefits as a Veteran because of her "sacrifice and commitment to hopefully serve her country in the Olympics". Running in the Olympics does not equal sacrifice and serving your country.

Athlete pensions have been proposed in a number of countries and were common in the old Soviet block system. US athletes have more opportunities to cash in on their Olympics, but many Olympians are flat broke when they leave their sport and have to start life over in their 30s.

I am not at all bothered by any comparison to military benefits. My father in law received a very good pension from the Navy. He commanded supply ships in Vietnam and never even heard a gun fired in all his tours. Then, he worked a desk job in the Pentagon doing logistics. He could have gone to work in the private sector with his logistics training when he retired, but was able to use his pension to support his family while he built a business restoring vintage cars. Other than six weeks of boot camp, his time in the Navy was very cushy. Why should he get lifetime benefits for that but an athlete who takes their body to the limits day in and day out shouldn't get a dime upon retirement?

nokidding wrote:

This is a joke. Sorry but an Olympian or Olympic hopeful is in no way making the same sacrifice as military. The good news is that Natosha can enlist in the Navy until she is 39 years old so she can receive those benefits when she retires from running.

Being in the military is not a sacrifice. It is a career choice.

socialism agitator wrote:

nokidding wrote:

This is a joke. Sorry but an Olympian or Olympic hopeful is in no way making the same sacrifice as military. The good news is that Natosha can enlist in the Navy until she is 39 years old so she can receive those benefits when she retires from running.

Being in the military is not a sacrifice. It is a career choice.

How many veterans actually have made a "sacrifice?" Aside from the obviously casualties among the small fraction deployed... don't we as taxpayers sacrifice more than most of them by giving up large portions of our income to pay for their employment, education, and family life?