The Camouflaged Safety Net: The U.S. Armed Forces as Welfare State Institution

Observers of the U.S. welfare state often contrast its low levels of social spending with its lavish defense spending. This article demonstrates that U.S. military institutions in fact provide a segment of the population with benefits that have characteristics of formal welfare state programs and have similar social welfare purposes. It thus conceives of social assistance benefits for military families as comprising a distinct welfare state institution, one that challenges assumptions that the U.S. strategy for achieving social welfare goals fundamentally depends on rewarding market participation and financially supporting families only under conditions of extreme poverty.