Military members give everything to this country. They give up better pay in the private sector for the same jobs in the military. They give up time with friends and family. They give up many basic freedoms we take for granted. They even, devastatingly, give up their lives.

These honorable men and women choose, whether through ROTC or Officer Candidate School, enlisting or being accepted into a service academy, to be part of something bigger than just themselves. They do so because they know there are more important things in this world than their own needs and desires.

One of the most important things to military men and women is family. Photos of family members keep soldiers going when they’re stuck in the desert, and letters from home make the endless ocean seem manageable. With less pay than private sector jobs and an inability to choose many things in their personal lives, these servicemen and women are offered health care through their jobs. Health care through your job is not an uncommon benefit. Having that health care cover your family is not so uncommon either.

What is uncommon is to have that benefit’s premiums raised over a five-year period to more than three times what you were previously paying – for absolutely no change in health or coverage. This is what President Barack Obama’s administration is planning to enact to cut spending.

Didn’t this same administration just recently carry out a mandate forcing companies to expand health care coverage? Forget, for a moment, this was an expansion that specifically went against some companies’ religious beliefs. This same administration will not touch unionized civilian workers’ benefits. This same Congress which makes, as base starting pay, more than $170,000 a year.

What people don’t understand is when you see defense spending taking up a big chunk of the budget, it isn’t money shuttled toward warhawks dying to get their hands on the new super weapons of mass destruction. It isn’t just to build guns, bombs or secret spy technology. Defense spending includes pay for all military members. It includes pensions, ROTC scholarships and health care for the service members and their families.

In 2011, Obama signed a bill eradicating the automatic congressional pay raise for that year. But why should Congress ever get an automatic pay raise? If such matters were considered democratically, I would be surprised if most of the country wished for anything other than a pay cut for Congress. But, you know, good for Congress for giving itself a slightly smaller budget to jet across the country and vote “present” when big decisions need to be made.

The question here is, under a president who claims to be so giving and protective of health care, why is it the military men and women and their families face more restrictive access to these benefits? Rep. Howard McKeon (R-Calif.) said, “We can’t keep asking those who have given so much to give that much more.” He’s right.

Fewer than 10 percent of our country’s population has served in the military. Congress is populated by its lowest level of veterans since World War II. These actions taken against the military begin to make more sense when such numbers come to light. The military is being pushed around and beat down. Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers society of enfranchisement being limited to veterans looks more appealing every day.

Laura Frost is a junior government and politics major. She can be reached at frost@umdbk.com.