Are US soldiers paid too little?

[Bosh]

Screw the army, pay your doctors, nurses and teachers more.

IIRC nurses' salaries are going up since there's a shortage of them, the main problem with teacher salaries is the IMMENSE regional variation, for example my mom's pretty much at the top of the pay scale (would be on the absolute top if she had a master's degree) and makes in the low-30s a year which is pathetic, especially with the insane housing prices in the area.

[mactbone]

The one thing that only Shi has brought up is the college tuition. There's a reason why the armed forces use ads that feature people learning while they are serving. They hope to attract people that either can't afford a college education (and may want one) or people that aren't sure what they want to do. So, you join the military, make a little money, and either have a start-up to get a job, etc. or go to college on the military's dollar.

On a sidenote - do your respective country's military call and send letters while you are a senior in high-school encouraging you to join?
I got about 5 calls and several letters and I know other people that had similar stories.

[TCO]

Part of the issue is E-3's with families and such. The USMC Commandant got in trouble for saying that the Corps preferred single (he-man babykillers with high and tight haircuts) soldiers.*

I think Pat Shroeder was most upset. She made a career of military legislation in mandating daycare and crap like that instead of cooler guns and stuff.

*The part in parentheses was whispered under his breath. Ooh-rah.

[Midshipman]

Yeah, but the college brings up a whole new issue.

The new standard is that the DoD will pay full tuition, up to 4,500 per year. However, the Navy's standard is a maximum of 3,000 per year, or up to 12 credits, whichever comes first.

This is in direct viol;ation of the DoD policy, and is pissing a lot of sailors off, because it is worse than the 75% payment of before, with no credit limit.

What do you guys think about that?

[OneFootInTheGrave]

I am kind of suprised that Americans don't seem to care much about soldiers being paid minimum wage, or if they have a family to be on welfare . I mean if you were a third world country, but with 400 BN going into the budget and only ~13 bn barely 3% paying 1/2 of the force. If the budget went up another 3% to 412 BN you could be paying them all double and have soldiers with some financial security in the ranks, not guys on welfare.

I am actually suprised that you get so many people joining the ranks. Does the tuition later work out. Well by the time you get that tution you could have finished your college and be on the way to return the debts and get work experience... so at least.

[Panag]

hi ,

get an overseas posting , for most e1 to e5 it double s the pay , or get a special course (!)

have a nice day

[Luk]

Heh... 1000 dollars + other benefits it is not good????

Polish profesional officer(sic!) in NATO army (leutnant) has over 400 dollars per month, without rooms etc...

It is not good!!!!

And I will not mention about Russia, or Ukraine

[Dinner]

Originally posted by Caesar the Great
thanks mrs clinton for fixing our health care system!

Ceaser: He tried but the Republicans, who were payed by those HMOs and Lawyers, obstructed everything. Health care never got fixed nor will it ever get fixed as long as the Republicans can stop it.

That is just a fact of life my friend.

[Dinner]

Panag:You do get an over seas duty pay increase but it doesn't amount to a heck of a lot. Perhaphes $200 per month or so (I'm not sure about the amount maybe one of the active duty guys hanging around 'poly will know). The best over seas pay raise you can get is being in a declared hostile fire zone because then you don't have to pay most federal taxes. When I was in Kosovo I only had to pay social security and state taxes so I ended up getting a 25%-30% increase in my net pay. That meant that with per deim and 6 years time in serves I was taking home something like 40k a year. Not a huge amount but more then reasonable for a soldier.

[OneFootInTheGrave]

Originally posted by Oerdin
Panag:You do get an over seas duty pay increase but it doesn't amount to a heck of a lot. Perhaphes $200 per month or so (I'm not sure about the amount maybe one of the active duty guys hanging around 'poly will know). The best over seas pay raise you can get is being in a declared hostile fire zone because then you don't have to pay most federal taxes. When I was in Kosovo I only had to pay social security and state taxes so I ended up getting a 25%-30% increase in my net pay. That meant that with per deim and 6 years time in serves I was taking home something like 40k a year. Not a huge amount but more then reasonable for a soldier.

Oerdin how long were you in Kosovo, and where?

Anyway, so for a 6yr experienced soldier on a peace duty where he could potentialy be killed you get 40k a year (and that is with the tax benefit for working abroad). Doesn't sound much to me. 65k that UN gives that is more reasonable for sure.

I mean how much of a dent in the military budget would increased soldier pay make?

[Panag]

Originally posted by Oerdin
Panag:You do get an over seas duty pay increase but it doesn't amount to a heck of a lot. Perhaphes $200 per month or so (I'm not sure about the amount maybe one of the active duty guys hanging around 'poly will know). The best over seas pay raise you can get is being in a declared hostile fire zone because then you don't have to pay most federal taxes. When I was in Kosovo I only had to pay social security and state taxes so I ended up getting a 25%-30% increase in my net pay. That meant that with per deim and 6 years time in serves I was taking home something like 40k a year. Not a huge amount but more then reasonable for a soldier.

hi ,

most e1 > e5 get a big fat COL when in europe , so go there , together with some nato duty , .......

or be an MP at a european base

anyway , if someone wants to know about good bases , just ask , but not in public

have a nice day

[Dinner]

Originally posted by OneFootInTheGrave
Oerdin how long were you in Kosovo, and where?

Camp Bondsteel, Kosovo (in the American sector) for eight months between Feb0Oct, 2001.

I agree the soldiers should be paid more or at least as much as their civilian counter parts. That's one of the reasons I left the service; that and a desire to go where I want, when I want.

[OneFootInTheGrave]

Maybe it is a threadjacking my own thread but how was it? Tense or boring? Any contact with the locals or none at all, like going out or was it not recommended?

[Dinner]

I was in Psyop so my job was to interact with the local population plus we got considerable latitude to go where we pleased with who we pleased, when we pleased. The poor guys in the infantry though were under a lot of "force protection" rules which meant for their entire tour of duty they didn't get to leave post unless they were on patrol. The only exception for them was a three day R&R trip to Macedonia.

There were also a number of stupid rules like no alchole at any time, always having to wear 40 pounds of armor, and a number of unnecisary rules. The other countries didn't even bother with the extra rules and *gasp* treated the soldiers like adults.

I was lucky and got out of following most of the stupid rules though and I had a good time while I was there. It was fun meeting and working with so many people from so many different countries. I could fill an entire thread with funny stories and things that I saw but I won't bore you guys.

[OneFootInTheGrave]

ah - a stop here before I log off... well make a thread I am interested I am sure others would be too.