Paying off debts is hard.
You will need to pay them by living frugal and using part of your take home pay to pay your debt load.
If you are considering the military lifestyle, and you need to pay off debts; I would be asking around, as to which branch pays the highest take home pay.
Until my 18th year in uniform I had thought that all branches paid roughly the same level of pay. We were living in Naples Italy, in a housing complex with Army, Marine, Air Force and Navy families, and I got to know other E6s all with 15 to 20 years in service.
I was shocked at the differences in take home pays.
We all got the same base pay. Some branches got tax-free status while working side-by-side with branches who did not get it.
In the case of the Navy personnel, we were getting more other pays and allowances [which is the norm for us], while the Air Force personnel got only base pay.
At the time base pay would have been about a third of my pay check. But those families were only getting base pay and nothing else.
Some branches have wonderful huge bases, and they assume that by providing everything you need [swimming pools, cafeterias, movie theaters, golf courses, etc] that you simply do not need any further money.
The Navy way of looking at life is that the Navy needs a base to be a row of piers and warehouses. The focus being on supporting those ships and subs. So the Navy does not desire to get into the housing business. the only time the Navy has the ability to feed people is when they are living on a ship. the same goes for providing Rec facilities. So the Navy prefers to pay personnel to house themselves, to feed themselves, and to amuse themselves.
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.
Each branch may pay Re-Enlistment bonuses to attract trained personnel to stay in uniform.
Just ask any navy recruiter how much the current SRB level is for a ET1 Nuclear Reactor Operator, buckle your seat belt, as it will take a few minutes for him to look it up, but then $90k will be his answer.
I was not a nuc, but I got $65k every 4 years when I re-upped.
Also when you look at the pay charts, keep in mind that the Navy commonly pays sailors bunches of the extra pays and allowances.
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.
It is tempting to take a commission as an officer, assuming that officers earn more money than enlisted do. Officer pay charts are higher when looking at base pay, for lower ranking personnel.
I have known many sailors who got degrees while serving in uniform [I did]. A few to them went to OCS and became LDOs, some of us did not. I did not. Once you get half way through a career, if you are good at ladder climbing, you notice that an E9 gets paid better than an LDO does.
Also officers do not get SRB, or many of the other regular pays that NCOs get paid.
So if you only consider base pay, than it is commonly assumed that offices will earn more money. However when looking at take home pay, such is not the case.
Good luck with your career.
May God bless you.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
