Yes e-1s don't even make minimum wage.
Answered By: plhudson01 - 1/3/2007 |
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Service members have pretty much always been underpaid in my opinion.
Answered By: dem4six - 1/3/2007 |
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The military has ALWAYS been underpaid. They compensate with the three hots and a cot, but if you are a married junior enlisted person, life is rough. When I joined in 1973, base pay was $307.00 per month. Minus taxes and a $95.00 a month car payment, I couldn't afford to walk anywhere, let alone drive..........
Answered By: tallerfella - 1/3/2007 |
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Yes, my husband is in the Army and I see tons of people struggle. Example our housing, water, and electric should be covered but there was no open base housing so we are off base and our water and electric is not covered so that is out of pocket not to mention this is an area that has a high cost of living.
Answered By: 2007 - 1/3/2007 |
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Considering benefits, food, and housing in there, you are fine pay wise, though it hurts right now. You are making average at about E-3 and two years in. Its not so bad once you hit E-4. Get a few deployments under your belt, budget yourself, stay away from using credit cards, and work on the promotion. You will see there is more than enough for you. If you are laden with bills that you brought with you before you enlisted, then go to your supervisor or First Shirt, and tell him/her that you are really struggling with a few bills. There are programs for that. Hit up the Airmans Attic for goods and what not..
Good luck to you!
Answered By: Shawn M - 1/3/2007 |
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What do you mean? you get a huge benefit if you die, you're not trying hard enough, not something to joke about I guess, I would rather pay soldiers than Haliburton
Answered By: J. A. Prufrock - 1/3/2007 |
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Yes and no. I served in the military for 8 years. The point is you are accepting the conditions of your employment. It is a volunteer military. If you want more, then don't reenlist. However, you'll notice the longer your in the more your pay goes up. If your serving for a paycheck, then you are in the wrong place.
It doesn't get much better on the outside unless you have a profession. In the military, many of your benifets are paid. Medical, free, housing, free if you are in base housing or you get a housing allowance if you live off base, food, you either get it free in the dining hall or you get an allowance. In civilian life, you get no such allowances or benifets. All those things you have to pay for out of pocket.
If your struggling now, it might not get better on the outside. You need to evaluate your skills and compare them to a civilian career. Prepare yourself for the income you want to receive in civilian life. That means college or training. Don't just party and buy a new car. I had a friend of mine that was a real penny pincher. He didn't spend his cash and lived in the dormitory. We seperated at the same time. He managed to save around 40 thousand. He did it because he didn't have expenses and he invested. It's harder if you have a family. Then you do have a family and expenses.
Answered By: krzylove - 1/3/2007 |
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Takes management of your money but it is doable. BTW, the military is always underpaid.
Answered By: netnazivictim - 1/3/2007 |
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My NCOIC told me he remembers making 99.00 a month in the early 70's. I felt I was poor as a Airman basic making 389. a month. Same story different day.
Answered By: Leogirl0804 - 1/3/2007 |
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Yes, i did 20 years and sometimes i wonder how i paid my bills on time, yes we get all these benefits, medical, housing, insurance but we also have to contend with outside cost of living, when i was in Southern California i knew a couple of E-5 that were using welfare to help with family food costs, rent was high and base housing was so far away. if you work in San diego, forget it you will be living check by check, spouse will have to work also and if you have children well daycare and babysitters will eat up some of your pay, yes this is a voluntary service but the military has to realize also that military men and women do have families to support, but no they should not raise E-1 pay because i found most E-1 to E-3 that were single did not know how to budget their money so they were always broke. Will you ever make a lot of money in the military, i dont think so but hopefully they will increase the pay so junior enlisted will have enough money to survive but knowing how to spend your money wisely counts also.
Answered By: paki - 1/3/2007 |
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We are at san deigo naval base and my wife is E-6 and does 36,000 a year i'm e-7 and do 40,000 do the math.
Answered By: Jeffrey E - 1/3/2007 |
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I am not going to say no... The military pay has always been at the mercy of those in Congress. In the last 20 years I can remember only one 5?ay raise and that was in the 1980s. Most of the other pay raises were 2 or 3?t most, and anen they were penalized by rases in FICA, and other taxes. The benefits for the military personnel have shrunk as well. When I first enlisted in 1980, A person could go 30 years and get their full basic pay as a pension. Several years later Congress made it where the most you could receive is 3/4 of your basic pay. They also made where many medical benefits that were covered by the military at retirement are now chargeable, such as many dental, and vision treatments and services. Not to mention that if I serve 20 years in one Branch os service and retire, then get a DOD or other civilian government job and work for 20 years. I can only recieve 3/4ths of the highest pay that I recieved for my total time in Government service. I have to surender my current retirment, and cant even draw a pension while I am working for the Civilian Government job. Im of the opinion that if I work for 20 years on any job I should recieve compensation for each retirment and not be penalized for wishing to continue my service to my country. As for the pay as an Airman... I'm sorry, it gets a little better as you pick up rank, but not much... I'm an E5 and still find paychecks needing to stretch to cover bills. Good luck. The real kick in the teath (In my opinion) is that Congressmen are allowed to recieve their full basic paychecks on retirement... It seems they can take care of themselves but the little people (All Government workers not just military) get shafted... It seems odd where a government body such as Congress can vote for its own pay raises, but we military and government "employees" have very little say in what we get... MAKES YOU THINK DONT IT!!!
Dont get me wrong I do respect those in office, with out them our Nation would have serious problems. But for the fairness of the discussion, When did I get to vote for a congressmans raise in pay, or for that matter one of my own?
Answered By: eldertrouble - 1/3/2007 |
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Yes they are....my husband is an E5 and doesnt get paid very much at all and we live pay check to pay check...sure we get medical and housing paid for but what about money just to live...
Answered By: sherichance79 - 1/3/2007 |
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Yeah they kinda are if you think about it, they are risking their life to protect the country,
that and the fact that most of the ppl in the state hate them right now.
but then again if they paid a hole lot then they would get more ppl who just wanted the money and didn't really care about their country and they would make bad soldiers, so if your going to join do it because you want to not because you need the money.
Answered By: dark5dragon - 1/3/2007 |
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I think the pay needs to be reviewed so yes i think military does get underpaid, but in other areas, we are very very lucky. As the wife of a soldier, i am currently pregnant. 100?f my pregnancy is covered medically, i pay nothing for my prenatals, blood work, delivery ect. Medical expenses are extemely expensive. My husband and i do live pay check to pay check though. We make it but thats about it. The post we are at has a 2 year wait for housing, so we live off post and the BAH doesn't cover all the expenses, so we just have to wait out the rest of the 2 years to get on post housing, that will help!! I try to look at the big picture, i wish we had more money, but im grateful for the medical. Also my husbands unit allows him to attend every doctor appointment which is AWESOME because he didn't even get to meet our twin sons til they were 3 months, and then left again back to Iraq until they were 8 months, so im extremely happy currently. Most civilian jobs would not allow time off for every doctor appointment. A little extra pay wouldn't hurt though :-)
Answered By: misty justin - 1/3/2007 |
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In1968 I was getting $67 a month, That was in the army. Figure it out.
Answered By: ARFED 13 - 1/3/2007 |
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YES the military is underpaid.
Answered By: Michelle2002 - 1/3/2007 |
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