Military Pay?

Question

Im confused! My husband is wanting to join the Air force, and I think he should go for it. BUT, I was looking at the starting pay and its only 1300 A MONTH!!! I was shocked. Im a stay at home mother, and with making so little, I would have to get a job, and put my baby in daycare. And I don't know if I like that. Why so little....and two...what is the base housing situation? Is there really a waiting list, and how long are they usually?

Answer 1

He doesn't stay E-1 for long...6 months as I recall. Plus he'll be entitled to BAS of $279.88, and if you live off-base, BAQ of $527.10.

Availability of on-base housing varies according to the base you're assigned to. Once he has orders to a permanent station, he contacts housing and puts himself on the list. At that time they can let him know how long the waiting list is.

At some bases, I moved into base housing as soon as I arrived. At others, I've been on the waiting list as long as 18 months.

Answer 2

If you husband joins as an E-1 (Airman Basic), the lowest enlisted pay grade, provided he does not screw up, after 6 months he will be promoted to E-2 (Airman). Pay goes up a few hundred dollars. 10 months later he'll get promoted to E-3 (Airman First Class). While married he will receive around $250 +/- BAS (money for food living off base or not in the dorms. Also, depending on where you are stationed he will receive, tax free, BAH (money for housing) and that amount will vary from base to base. Living in Virginia is more expensive then Texas. So he could be bringing down almost $2000 a month off the bat. Plus there is free medical care, reduced child care costs and the tax free benefit at the commissary and BX. Yes it is hard and yes it is little but with hard work and a little time you could be living comfortably. Managing the money you have will be the most important thing.

About the base housing, yes there is a waiting list and it varies from base to base. Sometimes you can move right in and other times you'll need to rent a place until a house opens up. I've seen the list as long as 8 months.

Answer 3

Before he even joins, the recruiter will have to get him a financial eligibility waiver. They will not let him join if you can't pay your bills and live on his startng pay. They do a credt check and if you or him are behind on any bills, he can't join. I'm sure you don't have to worry about this but I just want to give you al the info!
His first checks out of bootcamp will be around $600 every two weeks (that's after taxes, nd life insurance and all that other good stuff). Yes, it sucks and it's very hard for the first 4-5 years up until the rank of E-5.
Base housing differs from base to base. Some housing is available immediately and some can have up to a 2 year wait. If you can't get base housing (or don't want it) you ill get BAH which covers most of your rent and utilities. Some base housing is wonderful and some are pretty shabby. We live in new base housing here at Eglin and we have a 2 bedroom, one car garage, one bath, 1100 square foot house with about 1/4 acre of yard and my husband is an E-4. It all depends on the base. You wll also recieve BAS in the amount of $225 or so a month for food.
daycare is available if you choose to work. What you pay is based on your husbnd's rank. Since he would be an E-2, you would be paying around $100 a week. That's why most spouses don't work. You would pretty much be working jsut to payfor daycare. Plus, it'sreally hard to find an employer that willl give you 4-6 months off a year wen your husband deploys.
There are programs set up for lower ranking Airmen. Evey base has an Airmen's Attic. This is the place you go when you need clothes for your children, furniture, small appliances anything. They generally have a very god selection and it is absolutely FREE. The commissary (the military grocery store) is very inexpensive and you save a bundle of money shopping there. The BX (the military Wal-mart) istax-free an you can always find great deals.
So my point is that it will be difficult but people do it all the time. Budget wisely and you will be fine!

Answer 4

BAH will be paid to help him maintain a home. It will be based on zip code of either his family's location or his duty station depending on how the orders are written. In many cases this is sufficient to rent on the economy, as long as you live modestly.

Military Family Housing availability and quality varies form base to base. It is allocated based on family size and pay grade. Waiting lists can be as little as one day to as long as 2 years or more.

There are additional pays and benefits that offset the lousy base pay. he will be given a stipend for HIS meals only when authorized( when not in training or deployed, mostly). when he is away form home base more than 30 days, he will get Family Separation Allowance of $250/month. Medical insurance is free, dental insurance is under $30 month for the entire family. RX s filled on base are free, off base the max is $9. two free cleanings and one set of dental xrays a year, everything else is a copy of anywhere from 20-50%. Tricare Prime is no out of pocket costs for anything, Standard is a co pay and a $1000/year cost share. Commissary(groceries) are at cost plus a nominal surcharge, meat quality is typically very good. Fresh fruits and veggies can be iffy. Tax Free shopping at the Exchange. gas can be as mush as ten cents a gallon cheaper on base than off.

Plenty of families make it on Junior enlisted pay, they just have to budget and sacrifice.. no cable, dial up instead of Hi speed internet, that sort of thing.

Answer 5

yes 1300 does sound a little low BUT take into consideration you wont be paying for medical insurance, shop tax free at the commisary and BX.....and you willeither get a free house with all the utilities provided...or money to rent one off base (BAH varies by location so i cant tell you what that will be) basically that 1300 is to pay for things like groceries, clothes, your car payments and insurance, and things that arent included in your base housing (phone, cable, internet)sometimes your BAH will be enough that if your willing to take a little smaller house or whatever you can have enough left over to pay for that stuff. waiting lists for housing depend on the base. when we were at pope the waiting list was 12-18 months, in japan it was about 30 days, when we got to langley we got a house the day after we went to the housing office. also most airmen with families qualify for public financial assistance (good thing we look out for our troops huh?) so you may want to check on WIC for your child. also if you have to work the CDC on base works on a subsidy and your childcare fees are based on what you can afford. when we were at our last base i knew a single mom with 3 kids that paid $80 a week total....and i knew a mil to mil couple (one E5 and the other E6) that had one child and paid $140 a week. you can make it work believe me, my husband and i are financially stable now (hes a 9 year E5) but believe me it was rocky for awhile. and we have FIVE kids. the other thing you may want to consider if you have money troubles is doing in home daycare....the family child care office is always looking for providers, you can basically pick your hours, stay home with your child, and decide how many kids you want to take on to meet your financial needs. they train you and get you licensed and everything and its a great job really.

Answer 6

yes you will start with a low income. I mean there are quite a bit of military members that receive food stamps just to help them get by. Daycare can be expensive on and off post.

These are pay charts and you can see that as one gets promoted their pay goes up:
http://usmilitary.about.com/od/fy2005paycharts/a/paycharts.htm
http://www.airforcetimes.com/benefits/pay/
http://www.military.com/Registration/Pay_Chart?backURL=military_pay_charts
http://www.dfas.mil/airforce2.html (this one even tells you how to read his LES (leave and earnings statement)
http://www.military.com/benefits/military-pay/military-pay-overview

Again like everyone else is saying:
-if you use the on-post hospital or clinic, your medical will be for free
-you pay a small amount for dental and get dental care (you will have other copays though)
-Housing is "free" or they will give you a certain amount if you choose to live off post depending on rank and where your stationed at (this is called BAH)
-if you live on on-post housing you don't pay utilities (well unless you go over the amount and that is extremely hard to do)
-you do get some extra money for Food (called BAS)
-we get a pay raise every year

Now as for housing, this all depends on where you will be stationed. Each base has a different set of housing as well as a different waiting period. And also if you are moving to a high cost of living the housing will be more for offpost housing than other areas around other bases.
http://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=utf-8&fr=ieas-tb&p=air+force+housing
http://www.airforcetimes.com/benefits/pay/online_hbgr06_basicpay_basicpayandallowances
http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123013622

Hope this helps and good luck

Answer 7

It is tough for the first few years, of that I totally agree. It will improve with time, but it will take a few years. Many spouses work part time, but just as many don't work at all as childcare can eat up what we earn and we can't really depend on our spouses to have normal schedules to handle the kids for us to work nights. Base housing varies from base to base. Bases in higher cost areas tend to have longer waiting lists. We are stationed at Andrews in the DC area and the average wait for base housing for the junior enlisted is 12 months. In Japan, it took us 18 months to get on base. Your housing will also change as your husband goes up in rank and as your family grows. Keep in mind that on bases with a housing crunch, siblings of the same sex, within certain age ranges can be required to share a room. Your housing allowance is decided on where you are stationed and is supposed to cover 80% of the cost of living off base. The truth is that in most areas, it won't even make that...hence the waiting lists for on base. The food allowance is meant to feed the military member..if he deploys to an area where he is put on chow hall or cafeteria passes for more than a few months, you may loose that altogher while he is gone. And, lets be real..$225 is not really enough to cover groceries for a family of three..even with a baby. That being said, there are a lot of programs that can help. WIC is on almost every base worldwide and accepted at all commisaries. Some junior enlisted can qualify for food stamps. Every AF post has an Airman's Attic where families of the junior enlisted can get everything from babyclothes to dishes to furniture. Most bases also have thrift shops..another great place to find things for the house. Military commisaries and BX's cost less than off base and accept coupons on top of that. Overseas commisaries even take US coupons up to six months past expiration! Military friends share...I didn't have to buy anything when my second child was born as all my girlfriends let me use thier cribs and such..and will know where all the best buys are within a 50 mile radius! It can be done..we did it. it took some careful planning and we only had one car for the first few years, but here we are at year 17 and doing ok. The benefits have outweighed the struggles...our kids know people the world over, we lived in Japan for over 7 years, medical care is good and the coverage (except for dental) is outstanding. This is certainly not the life I would have imgined for myself when I was young but now there is no other life I would want to live. welcome to the family.

Answer 8

You raise up through the ranks quickly. YOu make LOTS of money during deployments also. And depending on where you are based, you may get COLA pay.
As for housing, here is a quick description of my house (on base):

3 bedroom
2 bathroom
living room
kitchen
pantry
fenced in backyard
carport
utility closet

approx. 1200sq. ft.

Answer 9

If your husband takes officers courses than he will make a lot more money. My friend's dad is a recruiter and they give him free housing in a military area.

Answer 10

Well, to start with, you and he get marriage allowance added on top of the pay scale. If he will be an enlisted man, he will have to contribute part of his pay and the marriage allowance will be added and sent to you. Depending on rank and location, you may NOT be elegible for base housing.
If you care, when I was drafted in 1967, my base pay was $92.50 and they took $40 dollars out of that and added, as I recall, about 60 bucks and sent it to my wife.