Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Common Interests Poll: Armed Forces paid enough, to much, could ues more?

In response to another poll I was wondering....

I'm an Army brat, we were always comfortable... but dad was an officer, I guess that helped out in the $$$ department.

my brothers stationed in hawaii, i think he gets paid enough, its just him and the rest of the guys in his platoon spend $ like crazy, every time hes on libo he buys something new, or goes to 5 movies etc.. i have weekends too... i average about $20-$40 spending a weekend, its not that hard and i have plenty of fun.

The military pay is alright...if you are single.
But if you have a family, with children, car payment, and rent, then you are on WIC. I'm not in that situation, but I have friends, supervisors, and one of my troops is in that situation. That is sad.
We signed up to put our lives on the line for our great country, and in return, some have to get welfare so little Jonny can have milk in his cereal in the morning.
And if you think about it, since we are on call 24/7, our pay really comes out to being well below minimum wage.
I can get out and work at an airport, do less than I do at work, without the risk and deployments, and have more cash.
No wonder retention is a problem....

I agree with 2000SVT The pay is good if you are single but if not it sucks. I am single it is alright but the on call and deployments suck. I somtimes wish I had a few extra bucks.... but don't we all? Oh well I agree more people would join if the pay was better but tax payers would not allow that.

P.S. I am a tax payer also.

yep...
another thing I wish to point out is that fact that the general public doesn't even fathom that sacrifices we as military men and women have to endure to provide the very thing that 7 out of 10 people take advantage of. Now I'm not trying to start a rant or anything I merely wanted to see how most people feel.

think of this...
We as military men and women are in fact conidered professionals however until just recently (the past year or so) we (enlisted, not officers)have been getting paid below the proverty level (in most cases)
Yes housing is afforded to us (when availible)but the quality of homes is in fact substandard. case in point, here on Fort Leonard Wood we have people from all 4 branches stationed here and the Air Force troops who live in housing get paid extra because of the living conditions.

well enough of me ranting...sorry
later
MP

Speaking from the officer ranks, pay for them wasn't so hot either. Certainly not poverty. But if you figure a Major General (2 stars) is a division commander in charge of about 40K-50K people, compare his salary (I think around 80K/year now) with that of the CEO of Sun (Where I work) with about 40K employees.

When you look at the responsibilities involved, military are grossly underpaid, in all ranks.

TB

miltary pay chart

Look at this...it says for army but it should be the same for all four sevices
I'm an E-5 with 6+ years

Later
MP

MP, when did you come in? I'm E5, 6+ also.

Had I stayed in, I would be an O4 with 14 years as of March 13.

I now make more than that.

Ok, so the Maj General, O8 makes a bit more than 80K, now about 120K/year, but then still a lot less than someone in the civilian sector with similar numbers of people under him in the org chart.

Not to mention, you really want the best and brightest defending the nation.

On the upside, we know the people who serve are generally patriotic. Because they sure ain't doing it for the money

Thank you to those who have served and continue to serve our nation.

TB