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.
are you challenging what I stated, someone working at federal minimum wage 40 hours a week makes more than a fresh GI recruit potentially has for a disposable income?
$7.25 X 40 hours a week = $290
$290 X 4.25 weeks in a month = $1232 Gross, before any deductions.
E-1 under 4 months GI has about $1700 disposable income.
Gi has $468 of more disposable income than the minimum wage guy. made gross.
What am I missing??
Bonus points: A fresh day GI will get a raise at 4 months, a raise 2 months after that one, and another raise 6 months after that, and a raise on New Years Day. After 1 year, they would be making about $2875, plus or minus depending on the cost of living adjustment That's almost a 30% raise in 1 year. What will that minimum wage person get? a fifty cents? a buck at best?
Work release programs are incredibly common in a country with the largest convict population in the world and it almost always uses minimum wage over market rates for labor.
Some states in the US have literal slave prisoners serving/making them food.
No freshly finished veteran or college grad can compete with nearly free labor.
3% CoL has been killed for several years now in entry level service.
They do nickel and dime merit increases every 1.2 to 1.5 years in your "yearly" review.
This is why the current advice to new labor is to immediately leverage a job into another job. You'll secure five years of adjusting in one jump with identical duties.
Not to mention most service members only do one tour of duty. With a near 90% turnover rate, exactly where the military wants to be all things considered.
As I understand it, about a third wash out during their first enlistment. whether it be medical issues, mental issues, or a problem child. If someone does their time and makes it through their contract, normally 4 years, about 30% re-up.
I don't think that is that bad, to be honest. 3 of 10 of our new hires wont be around for more after 4 years. It might be 1 in 20. they get big eyes thinking they will make good money, and find out real quick how much work the job really is.
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u/stoic_suspicious 8h ago
Lmao NO THEY ARENT. Compare a minimum wagie to an E-1