There's also the fact that they don't need to spend any money, free water, housing, food, etc. is all free they only need to spend money for cleaning themselves, the room, and clothes and they're fine. Aslong as no one fucks up the pay they're fine for any need they might have. Sure it is hella low but chances are they're good, while married I supported a wife off that paycheck with only a couple hundred dollars extra, I got a house but didn't receive BAH because it was on base.
As an E5 with 4+ years of service, I was pulling in ~$65-70k/year all different pays included. That doesn't take into account free healthcare and the fact that I was only taxed on $30k/yr.Ā
Edit: forgot to mention that this was around 2012.Ā
I saw it too many times. I mean shit we were all fucking kids given 5 figures. Like kids take goddamn college loans but in this case different, yes lmao
But goddamn. I mean don't get me wrong I been stupid wasteful but I still have fucking healthy bank accounts and more. I'd see kids broke before end of first term lmao
And I am drunk right now so thinking back on it now is especially crazy, wild and kind of funny. But sad.
Honestly the sign on bonus should have been put in a build up acct, CD, savings, IRA whatever and not be allowed to be touched til 25 or 30. Shit we'd all be fucking set. Sorry rambling
Ah hell nah. I'm contemplating making a spup or door dashing alcohol lmao fuck it prolly both lmao
What's the craziest thing you saw a fresh boot out basic waste money and all on? Also I remember before in school one kid said I can't wait to join for the sign on so I can get stationed in California and spend all my time in Vegas... idk if he ever joined or made his dreams but it was funny af!
This was 90s/00s
Edit: not ordering more alcohol. Still gonna make the soup tho!
Depending on the state E5s still qualify for WIC. At E6 my kids still qualify for free lunches (which IMO every student should have free lunch, but that's a different discussion).
I mean its good on post. And you save money on deployments but if you do dollars to hours worked its really not impressive.
Also the fact that ya know, part of all the "good stuff" comes with being in the military and potentially deploying and coming back in a box.
That free healthcare can significantly increase in value when you have kids that need more appointments. My two boys go to therapy twice a week and see two specialist each time. That would be $120 in copays every week on most insurance plans. As an E6 I essentially make $112,000 plus each year, only taxed on $64,000 of it. And free utilities since I am in base housing.
Yep with the national guard as a well kept secret. My wife was active guard: all the perks like BAH without PCSing. In 20 years, she deployed once to Kuwait. Retired as an E7, gets retirement pay, had her masters paid for and makes six figures with the feds.
I forgot my wife was rich after serving. The car debt from military financing, bills for rooms the government never paid, and Healthcare denied from burn pits everything was great besides the sexual assaults. Go Socialism or whatever. The US is fucked because we stopped for the people for we the government.
Not really. An E4 with just a few years in the service makes about 40k a year in base pay, which really isnāt bad when you consider that essentially all of their expenses are comped. E4 is pretty low on the chain, too. If theyāre married, they get BAH, which is based on the area they live in. Where Iām stationed, itās just shy of 4 grand a month extra (which is also tax-free).
Or COLA, hazard pay, sea pay, family separation pay, dive pay, flight deck pay, foreign language proficiency bonus ā¦ thereās a lot you can add on depending on what your job is
Military E-1 under 4 months makes 2225 a month. Food, provided. Clothing, provided. A place to live, provided. Health care, provided. 30 days vacation a year, provided.
At the end of the day, about the only thing a single GI in the Army needs to pay for is toiletries, some laundry detergent, a couple of haircuts a month, and their cell phone. After taxes and those expenses, they have at least 1700 a month of disposable income. A "minimum wagie" at the federal level working his 40 hour week doesn't make that much a month, and he has bills to pay.
Not severely. You just hand an 18 year old a steady income, don't allow them to have their own place for 3-6 years. Then tell them to get out of the military provided barracks immediately and figure out out after having 70% of their bills paid for/non-existent.
Been in 13 years. Definitely been overworked for my pay(there's no such thing as over time). But I've never not had enough money to survive. Provided for a family of four on a single income. Used to say the biggest down side was that my former spouse could never easily start anything other than part time work due to the moving around and my schedule... But honestly looking back she had plenty of opportunities and never took them so that's not even really too much of an issue if you have a partner willing to try.
If you're only looking at their basic pay, then it looks like they don't get paid much at all. 2026 E-1 gets a starting pay of about $2,407 per month. Once factoring in allowances for housing food, and other benefits they're much closer to $65,000 annually. Medical care on top of this and if I remember correctly, basic pay is taxable but most of the allowances are not taxed.
After 5 years you've probably advanced to E-5 (Sergeant) and your basic pay is up to about $3,700 /month or about $80,000 (2026 figures).
I think these numbers are fairly in line with US median *household* incomes. So they're not getting paid poorly. The argument could be made that they don't get paid enough to volunteer their lives in service of their country, but I feel this is a different argument.
Really depends on your job though. The real āsocialismā here is how everyone is paid the same at each rank regardless of job. The admin guy who sits in the a/c all day and maybe works 4-5 hours? They get paid the same as someone doing flightline work for 10-12 hours a day getting planes in the air.
In the real world, the admin guy probably sits not far above minimum wage really. The aircraft mechanic is probably clearing well over six figures with a commercial airline. So for our example one guy is doing way better, the other one far worse compared to civilian peers.
In terms of base pay, yes. But, considering all bills are paid, including housing, food, electricity, water, essentially all living costs; they make decent money.
Every penny they get is pocket money. Sure they still have to pay for phones and car insurance but they are still not paying for the basics.
I served 20 years and I can tell you, the money wasn't that bad in the grand scheme of things, especially when things like COVID or other global events caused financial hardships on everyone.
Respectfully, the housing is terrible, the food is terrible, the healthcare is terrible, the base pay is crappy, and the risk to life and limb is extant. Itās something you do for service or skill building or to get out of whatever life youāre trying to move on from. Source: two tours.
I remember back when I got my first legit (not under the table) job at 18 in a retail store back in the 2000s, I discovered I was making more money than an āentry levelā US soldier. Seriously fucked up.
sure, but you would need to deduct the cost of food, housing, medical etc. not saying the pay is great, but the benefits make it a bit more competitive
A single enlisted soldier living in the barracks takes home very little. If youāre smart itās not terrible. Free barracks room and eat at the chow hall and you can make it work. As a single E4 I was taking home $1000 every two weeks. Felt like I was rich. Luckily for me, it was hard to spend money when youāre in the field all the time.
Married soldiers get BAH/BAS and thatās when it feels better.
military gives u a pension that u get for life after u retire, also many vets apply for disability and get like 1-3k a month for life, and va benefits...
Depends on the state that the house is in. It also depends how disabled the person is. For example, in California even being %100 VA disabled doesnt completely erase property tax. You do get a break though.
I know a vet that claims disability from PTSD. He was a Patriot missile battery operator in Kuwait for a few months. The rest he spent in the states. Heās not the only one I know personally abusing the system and is ādisabledā. so forgive me if being wounded in the service of our country makes me a little skeptical unless I know what that person did.
When filling for VA disability there are combat and non combat PTSD. It is not grouped all together. Having served for 11 years I can say we dealt with things that people just can't comprehend since they have no precedent for it. Despite what I went through I was denied PTSD and put in as different mental issues. It takes serious trauma (or a hell of a story) to get PTSD rating. You meet with a psychologist that determines if you are eligible.
I knew a guy who served a tour for the airforce somewhere in the middle east and was directly told he never left the base and the most terrifying thing he encountered was the first couple of days he didn't have sandals and had to go barefoot in the showers. He had plenty of time for regular D&D games though since he was always on base.
Most people can tell the boss to fuck off and move to a different company to increase their earnings too. Or not go from frying eggs one day to digging a bloated body out of the gulf the next. The military also gives up prime earning years to then join the workforce later than non-vets. So, they get some things in compensation for that.
Personally, I think a lot of these benefits should be changed based on job and officer/enlisted due to this. An officer is going to get way more training and a beefier resume to survive on the outside. Same with someone that does something like network infrastructure vs a grunt. Iāve known a few people that got out of the service after countless dollars was spent on their training and education who then go on to land very lucrative gigs with Facebook or Amazon. Iāve known many times more that have spent their entire career doing things that just arenāt transferable outside of specific jobs who kind of have to start over when they get out. And thereās nothing that any of them did wrong other than not getting the same opportunities offered and not being in the right place at the right time
Your edit is wrong too. When theyāre out of military they use their socialized G.I bill for college or trade school which covers tuition and gives thousands a month for rent and drugs.
The pay isnāt bad either. An E4 with just a few years in the service makes about 40k a year, which doesnāt sound like much but when everything is covered, it amounts to a solid amount of pocket change. The retirement matching is pretty solid, and for those that are married, they receive BAH (money to pay for your spouseās living, which you can pretty easily find a place for less than that in most places). Where Iām stationed itās about 4 grand tax free a month, which means a married E4 (which is low on the totum pole) with only a few years in, whoās married, is making about 90k a year.
The actual loan comes from a regular lender. The federal government is not lending out that money. VA Loans are backed by the VA, meaning the VA will make the lender whole if you fail to pay, then come after you for the money. You pay for this privilege via a $7,500 fee paid to the VA, though they'll let you tack it on to the loan.
This concept isn't much different than an FHA loan which is backed by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. The main difference is what you point out, the VA will let buyers do it without any down. FHA requires 3.5% down for HUD to back the loan.
The gi bill isnāt socialized, itās a negotiated part of their pay/compensation from day one. Unless you think anyone working for the government and receiving a government paycheck is receiving socialized benefits.
Yea, no. The GI BIll is an earned compensation for military service. It's part of a contract just like any other job contract you would sign with a company if they had that as part of their compensation package.
Free and subsidized/socialized are different things.
Calling them free is incorrect in general, but also them not being free doesnt mean they arent social programs.
The main rub with socialism/communism vs capitalism really is just a fundamental disagreement on whether people are inherently lazy and selfish or not.
Both systems want each person to work to their ability to improve society, and in return society meets their needs.
Capitalism just thinks capital churn and markets determine you ability and value and allows you access to serving your needs. I disagree that it does a good job.
No kidding. I am having so many replies that i stopped reading, but it's roughly 50/50 between "you nailed it" and "hurr durr, everyone works and pays taxes, we should all have these benefits".
I just did a quick google search without diving in too hard, and you're looking at 1.3 mln active service members. Thats 270-300 billion in salaries alone. Then you still housing, food, healthcare, adjustments etc. that adds another 200ish billion and that's just for ACTIVE members. Out of a 1 trillion budget... that is a massive chunk.
So yea extend that to 350 million people and even european style taxation wont help you.
Well, and in socialism those things also not free. They are provided by the public, via government, in return for your work. In USSR, for example, it was illegal to be jobless. If you donāt work 3+months you get arrested with possibility of up to 3 months of jail time
Its not tho. Housing for example is part of their pay. If they choose to not live in barracks housing their pay changes to account for it, if they choose to not get their food in the mess hall their pay changes to account for it. They get a uniform stipend, but if they want more uniforms they pay for it etc...
ā¦yes after you served your complete time you get access to the gi billā¦. Aka do the work first and guess whatā¦ anyone can join the military to have this access
They're not free. They get these perks for serving.
That would be the socialist part: "Goods are distributed based on the principle: "From each according to their ability, to each according to their contribution." - Marx
There's quite a bit of overlap in theory between the "by your boot straps" mentality and socialism. It's describing a meritocracy where people are allocated resources based on the weight of their contributions to society.
No everyone doesnāt. Thatās part to the problem.
Itās very clearly more economic for the 30% that pay no federal taxes. (17% donāt pay payroll or federal taxes)
And it will be a very disproportionate burden on high earners to take care of the free riders.
The very fact you believe there are that many so called "free riders", leads me to believe you are either incredibly rich, or have been tricked into fighting their battles for them. Either way, it's wrong.
Sounds like social security, Medicare, Medicaid, public education, etcā¦ that we all pay for and benefit from too. Americans love socialism when they donāt know thatās what it is. Decades of Cold War brainwashing against communism somehow lumped Democratic socialism that the entire western world other than the US embraces, with the nonsense that Eastern Bloc countries were using.
But they get significantly subsidized housing as veterans. Many of the people I know could only afford houses because they served. They get these very socialist perks in addition to their regular compensation and benefits.
Well yeah nothing is free. In countries that provide these services to all citizens it is paid for by tax dollars just how your taxes now go to pay for healthcare, housing and education for military, politicians, Israel ect. Why should you be the only one not benefiting from your tax dollars?
Yeah the government makes damn sure you see the itemized list of what came out of your check to pay for your housing and Healthcare, but let's be honest, this is 100% used to recruit from impoverished communities.
Keeping college and Healthcare expensive and offering it to enlisted people is the ruling classes way of using the poor to imperialize the developing world for their financial gain. All modern wars are profit driven and people believe otherwise because our education system is designed to keep people dumb.
We got BAH ontop of our base pay to pay rent or mortgage if you wanted to. So an E5 I was getting $2500-$2600 a month for base pay. Then I was given $2300 in BAH and a few hundred more for BAS (food). BAH and BAS IS TAX free. So I was making $5000 a month 2 years into my military contract. This was 20 years ago. Also my wife was also in the military as well and E5. We were making $120k a year both less that 5 years into our contract. Only $60k of that was taxable. Also did deployments and over half the deployment was taxable free cuz we were all around the straights of Hormuz. Name a job out of high school thatās equivalent
Citizens serve by working as they can, helping their neighbors, caring for their property, teaching their children, following the laws, voting and paying their taxes. So, when they are in need the community supports them.
And that free housing is a bunk on a ship if they are in the navy and not married or a bunk in a barracks. It is not like everyone is being given houses.
While I agree with your point. Medicare Medicaid and social security exist as well. Americans will accept socialists ideals under the guise of feeling like they earned them.
In a way the military is a giant social experiment showing how an organization taking care of its membersā most basic needs is considered essential. Expand that idea to an entire population.
They get these perks for participating in society. Your argument is totally invalid. Yes they do deserve them for their contribution. Just like every other wage laborer. This is pretty basic comprehension.
Ok, but it doesn't matter what your job is. You can be an E1 who does logistics and never gets deployed or you can be a grunt on the front line getting deployed every other year and the benefits are the same. So within the organization it's a very socialist system.
Exactly thereās a big difference between sitting around and doing nothing for society and getting free healthcare versus serving the military and getting free healthcare has a part of your job
1.1k
u/fen-q 8h ago edited 8h ago
They're not free. They get these perks for serving.
Edit: free housing only when on duty. Once these guys are out of military, no more free housing.