To Mrs. Hilary Clinton and Mr. Donald Trump,

Congratulations on making it this far into the 2016 presidential campaign. There are still a few months left in the race to the White House, and these next few months will surely be the busiest yet. But while you both are looking over speeches and speaking at hundreds of rallies, the rest of the citizens of the United States are biting their nails waiting to see which one of you will become our next president. There are hundreds of things that could use work in the U.S. and both of you are trying to fix what you think needs your help the most. But all the while neither of you are looking to our military and their families to see what needs fixed in our homes or in our lives, I’m writing to tell you what needs to be done.

Military installations are far too open to the public. This not only creates a safety issue for soldiers and their families, but for the nation as well. All you need is a valid driver’s license and you are free to go — why is that? Why are civilians that do not work on military installations or do not have family on the installations able to freely walk about? This question is often answered with wanting to "give back" to the communities. Don’t service members and their families already give back to the communities every single day? Allowing hundreds and thousands of civilians on installations isn’t necessarily giving back to the community and creates a serious safety issue. Military members and their families live on the installations in order to feel safe and secure, and with ISIS and all of the terror attacks happening around the world, allowing the installations to be this open is ridiculous. It needs to be fixed.

Along with civilians being allowed on installations, they are now allowed to live on them as well. Department of Defense, contractors, and plain jane civilians can apply to live on almost all military installations. That is taking away housing from families that only deserve it, but also families who cannot afford to live off of the installation. Being able to live on the installations is one of the very few perks that we as military families receive. And it’s not that military families choose when and where to move. The government tells us when and where. We willingly and gratefully go to do what we promised the nation—to serve and protect. Being able to live on installations makes it easier for us to live our crazy lives. Quite honestly, military members deserve to live on the installations. The civilians and DOD… not so much.

I understand that service member’s pay can’t be what it should be. But there is room for much needed improvement. 18- and 19-year-old citizens sign away their lives and go to war. Are those lives worth less than $19,000 a year to you? They go to war and live the way they do so you don’t have to do that. To protect you and your families. And when they begin to have families of their own, it gets more and more difficult to make it through. These soldiers, airmen, sailors, marines and coast guardsmen are worth more than any amount of money could begin to cover.

These people aren’t just service members to me. They’re my family. Each and every one of them. And they deserve better. You need a way to help fix that? Stop cutting our budget, and start cutting yours.

Sincerely,

An Army Brat