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I often here this from some of my friends (who are service members) and people I know who have military family members. It seems to get posted on Facebook every once in awhile saying how underpaid we are.
When I lived in San Antonio (Military City, USA) I was amazed of many military people had Mercedes and BMWs.
Say all you want, but I saw with my own eyes.
The only people I've ever seen this happen to are the E-1's to E-3's who have multiple kids and a stay at home spouse. They made the decision to have kids. When you consider they get free medical, job training, a career path with promotions, BAS, and housing. They're much better off than anywhere else they could be.
You also forgot to mention they probably went out and bought a $31K car/truck straight out of AIT, pimped out with all "da bling", and then wonder why they have to rely on food stamps when they have a $700 monthly car payment.
No, the military is not underpaid. Quite the opposite, in fact. Not only can you live quite comfortably on an enlisted salary, but you can manage to squirrel away a hefty amount of cash. When my enlistment was up after 4 years, I had over $15,000 in savings. About half of that was all the pay collected while on deployments, and the other half was the $150 a month I saved every month (I had it taken out of my LES). Coupled with the over $35K in GI Bill benefits, I was living like a king when I left the military and started college. And I was only 21.
Over my 23 years in the USAF, I always believed I earned good money for what I did. Yes, it's hard to put a value on combat pay or some of the more arduous duties military folks face. But, just like in the civilian world, money management is the key. I once had the pleasure of working with a Staff Sergeant (E-5) who had four kids. He, his wife and the kids lived on base. They budgeted and spent their money wisely. They still managed to have fun and invest money, too. No, they didn't have the latest of everything. And they spent more time reading and doing free, educational stuff than they did sitting around the house watching pricey cable channels and movies. I was impressed.
Should active duty military personnel be eligible for food stamps? I don't believe so. It's not like military pay information is classified info. I'm sorry but you shouldn't have kids that you can't afford to raise properly. (unless you're the rare exception like my SSgt above...)
IMHO, Senior military officers are woefully underpaid when their level of responsibilities are compared with the average CEO of a large corporation. And that's what a base/wing/fleet or other large military unit is.
When I lived in San Antonio (Military City, USA) I was amazed of many military people had Mercedes and BMWs.
Say all you want, but I saw with my own eyes.
Are the military under-paid? some may feel that way, others might not.
During most of my career, I got:
BAQ,
BAS,
COLA, VHA,
Sub pay,
Career sub pay,
Sea pay,
Career sea pay,
Sea pay kicker,
Female separation pay,
All in addition to base pay.
SRB is nice. During most of my career, the SRB cap was $65k. The year I retired, the Navy bumped it to $90k [it changes depending on what your rate / NEC is. If your job is arduous and requires a lot of schooling, then your SRB is higher]. I was not a nuc, but I routinely got up to $65k every 4 years, until I passed 15-years.
My base pay was commonly 1/4 of my take home paycheck.
I understand that for some US servicemembers, base-pay may be all they get. Or base-pay may be most of what they get. That was not my situation.
We collected apartment buildings, one at each duty station. We had tenants who served in other components of the military. Some of them were not getting all of the other kinds of pays that I got. So I was exposed to other servicemembers who focused more on just base-pay. We had some Air Force tenants, who generally had an extremely hard time getting anything more than base-pay. Living off-base was a big hardship on them.
The Navy routinely sees tax-free service. It is common to serve for decades where your salary is completely tax-free. I was tax-free from 1983 until I retired in 2001.
Being tax-free can tend to act like a pay boost. Since they are not subtracting a portion of your pay for taxes.
I only got up to E6. However beginning when I was an E5, I was earning enough that we began buying Multi-Family-Residences [MFRs]. By the time I reached 20-years as an E6, we had collected four MFRs, and had a portfolio that allowed me to retire on my 20-year pension.
I can not complain about how much I was paid.
Though I have seen others, who served in other branches, who were paid much less than what I was paid.
IMHO, Senior military officers are woefully underpaid when their level of responsibilities are compared with the average CEO of a large corporation. And that's what a base/wing/fleet or other large military unit is.
I agree with this. O pay starts out high, but once you get to the O-6 and above level, you're very underpaid compared to civilians with similar levels of responsibilities. You're basically a corporate executive but only making 200-300K a year.
An active duty O-6 with 20 years service currently gets a basic pay of $9,529.80 per month, about $114,000 per year. I know some who get paid more in the civilian or Federal market when they retire from the military...
When it comes to responsibility I'd say it depends on the individual Officer and the individual Enlisted person and what they ultimately do each day as well as how we're regarding responsibility. I've seen my share of lazy Officers who close themselves off in their offices and leave all the actual managing to the Enlisted guys only peeking out to give occasional pep-talks. Those Officers will handle a good deal of paperwork but I've seen those same guys constantly asking the Enlisted guys to update them on what's even going on with the troops because they have no clue and they need that info to even write up those reports in the first place. I'm not saying all Officers are like that, I've seen a good number of them who know their Soldiers just as well as the Enlisted guys and who effectively manage both the paperwork side as well as getting out there among the troops too. But painting them with a broad brush as if all Officers are capably handling more overall responsibility than Enlisted is just closing your eyes to those Officers who rather leave the brunt of it to the Enlisted. I know my last Commander would have been completely lost without my 1SG helping him along day in and day out. Most of my last PLs were good except one who was outperformed by 1st year PVTs.
But who is ultimately responsible? An enlisted guy isn't the one who answers to the CO about what happened. Just like the 1sg or CMC is not going to be going to meetings with the Commodore or answering to Admirals.
Quote:
The other part I mentioned was in how we're regarding responsibility. I knew Officers who not only planned the missions while we were overseas but also went out on every patrol they were able to and so they ultimately held the majority of responsibility while outside the wire for what happened whether it was taking responsibility for a call made or making sure everyone came back alive. However, there were also the Officers who planned the missions but never went outside the wire so the Squads that were out there often had to move outside of the mission planning due to outside circumstances such as being attacked or other things that required reactions that couldn't be pre-planned. In those cases, I'd say the bulk of responsibility fell on the Enlisted due to them being the only ones out there in it needing to make the snap decisions and having to be prepared to deal with any potential fallout. Those Officers who never left the wire with their troops and just hung back waiting to hear how the mission went from the relative safety inside our outpost's walls couldn't possibly feel the same level of responsibility of those Enlisted who knew their decisions while out on the mission could mean the difference between everyone coming home or not.
No one is saying enlisted aren't capable. It's the expectations placed on Officers. Are you saying you went on missions with no Officers at all? I've never seen that happen.
An active duty O-6 with 20 years service currently gets a basic pay of $9,529.80 per month, about $114,000 per year. I know some who get paid more in the civilian or Federal market when they retire from the military...
Plus a BAH payment and a BAS payment. Also, any other allowances like flight pay, bonuses, and sea pay. So the real number is over 150K. In San Diego it's a 150K or 12.5K a month with no other bonuses or allowances.
To make that as a fed you'd have to be a maxed out GS-15, SES, or a higher GS with LEAP pay. The odds of getting a Step 10 GS-15 position or SES after retiring aren't very high. You'd have to be Flag Officer with a very specific skill set. The only private sector jobs I've seen that paid that high have been contracting for overseas work.
Last edited by Pyramidsurf; 10-14-2013 at 09:15 AM..
When I lived in San Antonio (Military City, USA) I was amazed of many military people had Mercedes and BMWs.
Say all you want, but I saw with my own eyes.
probably fly boy officers
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Are the military under-paid? some may feel that way, others might not.
