It seems like the army doesn't pay very well?

dsm37127

factor in free room and board, food, medical, and uniforms, you might be a little closer than what you think. i am in the guard so i have a job back home when i'm not deployed. i make more money being in the guard now than i do when i'm back home at my civilian job. sometimes its a trade off. while deployed, my family gets free medical care, can shop at the px and commissary where you don't pay any taxes, get free medicine, and i also don't pay any income taxes when i'm deployed in a combat zone like now. so there you go, that's the trade off.

lemontreegr

something is not right if you have a degree you should be going in as a e4 also there is a huge bonus for those MOSs and you did not even mention it ,are you serious

VastRightWingConspiracy

Well, I am guessing a Walmart job would not pay for your housing, travel, food, and everything else that you need while you are working there. The money you get is the money that you keep, you have no overhead costs for living.

And you get to jump out of helicopters.

Its all in the benefits.

usafbrat64

Welcome to the real world, my friend. Not every job is about the money. There are many careers out there that people have, not because they are rolling in the green, but because they truely love what they do and they feel they are making a difference in this world. Those teachers that got you through school? Trust me... they aren't in it for the money!! The cop on the beat.... he's not in it for the money either. And neither are most of the folks in the military. They had other reasons for joining. For some, it may have been the service to their country. Others, free college education. Maybe a bad home life, were unemployed, etc.
You are right... the actual paycheck is not much. But, there are other things. When we move, I know that I'll always have a place to live, either off base or on-base, we'll never be homeless. We will always have medical care.
My children have spent over half of their lives going places, doing things, and seeing things that most American children never get to! Was speaking with some moms, and one couldn't believe that I had never taken my child to Disney World! I was a terrible mom!! Then I told her that we had gone to Disney Paris, climbed the Eifel Tower, saw the Arc d'Triumphe, and saw the Mona Lisa. So, I didn't see any reason to spend the money to go to Florida! My daughter was studing ancient Egypt, so we went to the British museum to see real artifacts! Next month we are headed to Germany to walk in the footsteps of Martin Luther. Those are all worth so much more than money!

ionember2000

just go NG, keep your regular job.

VBnewbieANDherHubby

Ok let me end all the drama of these answers yes when you come in you dont make much, but the question is what do you know. You get paid for your experience and 100 to 200 a rank is false. I get promoted to E7 in october and i will be receiving a 550 dollar raise and thats nice. What everyone is not accounting for is the 50,000 dollar bonus with half up front and plus the small check tell me thats not nice. then you are offered another 20,000 bonus when you renlist that is 70,000 total in a 3 year span. Yes i can get out right now and make 90,000 a year but i love my job and the benefits are great. take a civilian job that pays 40,000 and the rank of SSG makes about the same, but subrtact medical and dental from the civilian job you are prety much left with less unlike the military and you get discounts in almost every store so yes there are a lot of benefits to go along with the army that doesnt pay well lol as you all call it.

Psoraine

The army doesn't pay well. The benefits are ok, but they don't make up a difference between civilian salaries and army pay for the same job. You also WON'T be working 8 hour days- definitely don't join if that's what you want. When you sign a contract with the army it's a 24 hour a day commitment. They can come to your house at 2 am and tell you to come in for a formation and drug test and you HAVE to go. My husband works from 5:30 AM to 6 pm- which includes pt (physical training) 3 hours a day- 5 days a week.

And yeah, the pay will go up, about $100 or $200 a rank. But you have to look into your MOS, not every MOS is promotable past a certain level. My husband is a 63J and he'd have to reclass to get higher than E5. While we have a paycheck every 1st and 15th, we never actually have a lot of EXTRA money.

Honestly, if you're just joining for money, I recommend taking the time it'll take to find another civilian job. The only benefits you're missing out on is a guaranteed house (which would be, in your case mostl likely a shared room in the barracks) and health benefits (but army clinics are notoriously bad- my husband had leg pains for 3 years before he found an army Dr who actually diagnosed him with flat feet. It took them THREE YEARS to see he had flat feet...) So I'd say the monetary value for the services just aren't going to make it break even.

**By the way- the army is NOT required to give you 4 hours of sleep a night, not once you are out of basic. My husband's unit takes turns doing 24 hour shift, every day 2 people are awake from 9AM to 9AM the next day. And if people don't like you, you get a lot of Saturdays.

And yes, you get 30 days vacation, but command can deny your requests for no reason, they say it's a privilege not a right. So there are people in my husband's unit who have been stationed in Germany 2 years and not allowed to take the paid vacation they earn to go home and see their family.

Johnny Law III

You are SOOO right. I just realized that if I had a degree I could be making somewhere between $87,000 and $100,000 just starting out in the FBI as an intelligence analyst. As oppossed to 5 years in the Army as an E-5 making just over $40,000 before taxes. And don't do the hourly wage thing, buddy. In the Army, they only HAVE to give you four hours of sleep. That's up to 20 hours of work a day. If you really want to do it and you've got a degree, GO OFFICER. I think you'll start out making about $50,000 or $60,000. Good luck.

jackpi21

Take the 18K and then add all the medical provided, all the food, housing, transportation, and clothing and you get much more than most people receive! And that's just to start! You also receive 30 days paid vacation and no one in the private sector gets that! Before I sound like a recruiter, stop complaining !

pal83

donÂ´t worry, the army will pay your rent and utilities,they will give you BAH ,and depending on your rank and the state you are stationed. Also,if you get stationed overseas,or Alaska or Hawaii, you get COLA, thatÂ´s extra money. And you are saying you have a college degree...you might be able to go to the officers school, you have to go talk to the recruiter in your zone, he can inform you,and might give you a 20k bonus if you go to basic training in the next 2 weeks hehe

Marine5

Well now that you have stirred up the pot,
are you happy now ??

You never intend to join the Armed Services !!!

Annie

YOu should take into consideration the fact that your housing will be covered. Of course that depends on where you are, but for my family that is an additional "$20,000 a year (we are E6, 15 years in and living in one of the more exspensive areas of the country). Of course there is the fact that your health care is free,no insurance premiums except for dental and that is minor really. So while your take home (and taxable income) is $18,000, you are probably doubling what you "earn" with your other benefits. That being said, it still isn't all that much, especially if you are trying to support a family. BUT, there is something to consider..an 8 hour day in the military isn't always the norm..many work 10, 12 or even 24 hour shifts. And while you may not be in your office, you are on call 24/7/365..so when you average out the hourly you should be doing if for 24 hours a day,not 8, because if that call comes, you better be there. So, once you do that, even with the adjust income and all that, the hourly barely makes minimum. But the military isn't something you choose for money or benefits..you choose it for the chance to serve your country and to try something new.

gregpasq

I always had money as a lower enlisted...but then again I didn't go out and blow it like the other guys did. If you can't put about $600 in the bank at the end of the month on an E-4's salary, then you just don't know how to budget money correctly. Of course i'm talking single E-4. Plus, EOD is a good field to get into with a coupla extra pay benefits that regular soldiers don't recieve. I was EOD for awhile and It's a fanatstic MOS. Besides regular deployments you get to do FBI and Secret Service support.

blase' blahhh

the army is not the place to go if you are 18 and trying to support kids you had in high school before you dropped out. If you a re a single soldier, then the money is fine. I survived of $9000 a year in the 90's.

and with a degree you should have applied to OCS not enlisted.

King Of Battle

Yes you may only be payed 18,000 dollars a year
but you are not paying for a lot of things
ie.
food
housing
electric
heating
medical and dental are all free
the bills you would have really is if you have a car.
If you are joining the for the money then you are joining for the wrong reasons all together. just stay a civilian

todd t

benifits man, and once u rank up ull get better salary

Wife

Let me tell you about a friend of ours. This is a good friend of my husband, they deployed together twice. If your young, single, and do not own a home yet, a deployment can give you a very nice nest egg. We have a friend who is single who volunteers to go on almost back to back deployments. He was very smart, saved almost all his money and at the age of 25 has over $150,000 in his bank account. (I only know because he came to me for financial advice) When he comes home from the deployment he just went on now, he will not have only added to his bank account once again, but he is going to finish college FOR FREE, while collecting his BAH. He chose to build his life with the military, now before the age of 30 he is set. I don't know many other people who can say that they have accomplished what he has in such a short amount of time. I have 3 friends who are all doctors; optometrist, veterinarian, endocrinologist, who all cannot seem to make ends meet yet, because of their monstrous student loans. My one friend wishes she would have joined the military just to get her school paid for. You need to do more research and add BAH, BAS, etc. Then factor in all of the other benefits before you make a final decision.

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