Current Events > Wow the US Army pay is terrible, it's sad.

(+) Yeah! (+)

Australian army pay is 2-3 times more.

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Its not bad if you're an officer.

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It is until you're either married or reach E-5 and depending on your rank and location your take home pay is potentially doubled.

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As long as you know how to take advantage of all the services they will pay for, its really not bad. Someone in the army making 40k a year can easily afford the assets of someone making 60k a year in the civilian world.

Get married right before you join the Army $$$

Ya but think of all the PTSD and possible lost limbs if you survive!

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I never saw the appeal.

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Not to resurrect a dead topic, but just looking up the salary isn't going to indicate the actual earnings, because there are several sources on untamed income provided on top of the salary.

BAH, if you're married or E5 or higher.

BAS, a few extra hundred dollars a month for food, if you aren't stationed at a command where your meals are provided.

Enlistment bonuses, depending on your Rate/MOS.

Pay to PCS, when you relocate to a new command. Pay for uniforms.

Pay for being stationed overseas. Pay for being on deployment. Pay for being separated from your family. Pay for being on a submarine.

Nearly annual raises, between being paid more for your time in and the baseline salary increasing. Pay increases as you advance in rank.

And so on.

Not counting the money you save on housing, healthcare, and education or technical training. Retirement if you do a full 20 years.

Of course, officers also make substantially more.

Bread in Australia costs 2 to 3 times more


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Yeah I went in as an E-2 and it was shit, but you are fed 3 meals a day and are housed, so there's little to no expenses. I was surprised to learn you have to pay for a haircut on post though, so I bought clippers and shaved my own head on the regular.

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MabusIncarnate posted...

Yeah I went in as an E-2 and it was shit, but you are fed 3 meals a day and are housed, so there's little to no expenses. I was surprised to learn you have to pay for a haircut on post though, so I bought clippers and shaved my own head on the regular.

Well that's a pretty good deal if you get free housing, in Australia you still pay rent (although it's subsidised a fair bit).

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if youre enlisting and planning on being a short timer then the real perks are the GI Bill and veteran hiring preference. I'd kill for a job at the VA but they wont hire me because they basically froze civilian hiring.

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Yeah as active duty in the Army, I lived on post in the barracks, granted it's like having 15 roommates and everyone shares a mass bathroom/shower, but it's all rent-free. There is actual housing on post, but it's for families and at the time I was single.

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I was supposed to go to army OCS, but MEPS did not like that I couldn't touch my fingers or something dumb af....**** the army lol

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ColdOne666 posted...

Well that's a pretty good deal if you get free housing, in Australia you still pay rent (although it's subsidised a fair bit).

Most commands have a barracks/housing and the ones that don't will typically provide BAH (Basic Allowance for Housing) to pay for your housing.

The military pays you an untaxed allowance, the amount based on the region you're stationed in, to pay for housing.

However, if you find a home that is less expensive than the allowance, you do get to pocket the remainder. So, if you're provided $2000 for housing per month, and you find a place for $1500 a month, you can keep the $500. So, if you get a roommate, you can keep a substantial portion.

Work hard for those promotions and look into all the benefits you can.

Dont be one of those people that work a minimum wage job with no desire to move up, but bitches every day that 20 hours a min wage should be able to fully fund a family of 4.

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Flauros posted...

Work hard for those promotions and look into all the benefits you can.

Dont be one of those people that work a minimum wage job with no desire to move up, but bitches every day that 20 hours a min wage should be able to fully fund a family of 4.

Yeah this, it's all about what you put into it. I was promoted 3 times in 4 years before deciding not to re-enlist and left out a Sergeant E-5. Some guys spent their entire 4 years that I served with not being promoted once. The opportunity to develop and grow is always there if you put in the work and effort. The military isn't all about killing and weapons, I learned viable computer skills that I applied to my current career.

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Living rent free tho

T.C. i noticed that you posted about Australia. Gonna assume you are there right now (or know about things). How was Black Summer?

https://www.theguardian.com./environment/2020/jul/31/australias-black-summer-bushfires-showed-the-impact-of-human-wrought-change-aoe
^Don't know if this article is accurate. It looks horrible (and i'm not being funny).
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I used to be in the US Army. I wasn't rich. But with the Great Recession in full swing, employment was few and far between.

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MabusIncarnate posted...

Yeah this, it's all about what you put into it. I was promoted 3 times in 4 years before deciding not to re-enlist and left out a Sergeant E-5. Some guys spent their entire 4 years that I served with not being promoted once. The opportunity to develop and grow is always there if you put in the work and effort. The military isn't all about killing and weapons, I learned viable computer skills that I applied to my current career.

No kidding. I've been in the Navy as an IT for almost 2 years now (just made E4 this past cycle, looking to pick up E5 in March). And I notice at my command that there are a lot of others who don't really seem interested in taking advantage of resources like Navy COOL to pay for certifications or TA to pay for college. Our command was just giving away vouchers to take the Sec+ exam a few months ago and only 5 or 6 people bothered to try.

The military, in my experience, is willing to provide for those with the drive to work for improvement.

A lot of people seem to think of the military as, basically, infantry or something.

Pepys Monster posted...

I used to be in the US Army. I wasn't rich. But with the Great Recession in full swing, employment was few and far between.

Not going to lie, I'm glad to be in right now. If I were still in the private sector during this pandemic, I'd probably be out of work and in a real bind. Instead, I'm working every other day and getting paid my full salary.

I guess it depends on when and how far you got.

My dads been retired from that for a while now and his yearly pay from that is more than a lot of people make.

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gatorsPENSbucs posted...

I guess it depends on when and how far you got.

My dads been retired from that for a while now and his yearly pay from that is more than a lot of people make.

That's another valid point, it's 20 years to retire. You can join at 18, retire at 38, and get a full paycheck for the rest of your life. I look back on it as a 38 year old wondering if I made a mistake, because i'd be retiring next month and getting paid until I die. The things I have done since opting out haven't amounted to a tremendous increase like I anticipated. Live and learn, I guess.

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MabusIncarnate posted...

That's another valid point, it's 20 years to retire. You can join at 18, retire at 38, and get a full paycheck for the rest of your life. I look back on it as a 38 year old wondering if I made a mistake, because i'd be retiring next month and getting paid until I die. The things I have done since opting out haven't amounted to a tremendous increase like I anticipated. Live and learn, I guess.

I made the mistake of enlisting late, since I spent my 20s not knowing what I wanted to do.

Now, my current plan is to finish my degree and try to get into OCS for an officer career. Half way to finishing that degree...

Esrac posted...

I made the mistake of enlisting late, since I spent my 20s not knowing what I wanted to do.

Now, my current plan is to finish my degree and try to get into OCS for an officer career. Half way to finishing that degree...

That's awesome though, pay is a lot better and a lot of values and respect learned along the way. That's a massive positive on your resume in the future also. I don't regret a moment of my service, good luck going forward and do great things.

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MabusIncarnate posted...

That's awesome though, pay is a lot better and a lot of values and respect learned along the way. That's a massive positive on your resume in the future also. I don't regret a moment of my service, good luck going forward and do great things.

More pay would be nice, but if I just wanted to make more money, I'd just finish the degree, pick up some valuable certs, and take my TS clearance in the private sector or go government contractor.

One of the guys I worked with who just got out after picking up Sec+ became a contractor and started at $94,000 a year, doing basically what he was already doing in the military.

working at McDonalds is better

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Cornhuskers posted...

T.C. i noticed that you posted about Australia. Gonna assume you are there right now (or know about things). How was Black Summer?

https://www.theguardian.com./environment/2020/jul/31/australias-black-summer-bushfires-showed-the-impact-of-human-wrought-change-aoe
^Don't know if this article is accurate. It looks horrible (and i'm not being funny).

@Cornhuskers

It was really really bad, thanks for asking. What made teh fires even worse was that they came after record high temperatures and years of drought. Whole country was a tinderbox, now we are getting Coronavirus, hate to think what's next.

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T.C. do you support climate change legislation in Australia?
Do you support getting off all fossil fuels including COAL, NATURAL GAS, and PETROLEUM?

Sorry for the caps.
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I'm fine with getting rid of coal and gas, Australia is large, sunny and empty, we could have billions of solar panels. Getting rid of Petroleum is a terrible idea though. 90% of the population can't afford expensive electric cars. Not to mention all the other businesses that use oil related products.

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Let me stop you right there about the cost of getting rid of electric cars.
And let me propose to you the following idea.
1) All Australia petroleum-based cars and trucks are phased out.
2) The cost to 100% charge it at home or at work could be almost $0.
Paid for with government subsidies. For leisure purposes, the cost would be what it is now (which in the U.S. is very low. I'll post a link in a moment.)
3) Electric costs in Australia drop to almost 1/10 of what they are now. Because of widespread football fields of solar panels in the outback and suburbs. Also on the tops of homes and businesses.
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Electric cars are still extremely expensive upfront even with free/ cheap filling up.

Last time i looked the cheapest was $46,990 which is way to expensive for a large swathe of the population.

Hell lot's of people can only afford a few thousand to get a cheap old second hand car.


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MabusIncarnate posted...

That's another valid point, it's 20 years to retire. You can join at 18, retire at 38, and get a full paycheck for the rest of your life.

Damn, Im trying to think how long my dad was in. He went to Vietnam right out of high school, and I know was still in the army during and after Pablo Escobar.

My dad did a lot of shit though, so his pay probably reflects more on that then the length.

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Basic housing allowance is huge.

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In the Navy here (base pay, BAH and BAS are identical across the services) and the pay is actually pretty damned good imo.

I hate those meme pics that are like "a guy at McDonald's makes more than a guy in the Army!!" because it never takes the full picture into consideration, which is that we get Tuition Assistance, the GI Bill, discounts on a lot of services (like cellphone bills), access to pretty decent credit unions that don't charge random ass fees for things, full medical and dental...

I barely have an Associate's Degree and I make close to 90k a year. Not saying like whoamg I'm super rich!, but it's definitely enough for a comfortable lifestyle.

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