E1 starting out at $40,000 a year and so on.
The Government take our men and women in uniform for granted. Congress give themselve raises of 10 or percent but only give the military 3 or 4 if that. I support pay increases for the troops.
2007-10-30 04:22:45 · 21 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Military
Thanks Avaitor exactly.
2007-10-30 04:29:06 · update #1
We have the best military in the world, and we pay more for military then the next 18 highest countries combined. I think what you are saying is that we have the best military personnel in the world, and we should pay them that way.
2007-10-30 04:27:06 · answer #1 · answered by Take it from Toby 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋
I am in the Air Force, and I think with the benefits we receive the pay is ok for some areas. Where I am at now (Colorado) it is much better than where I was (Maryland). Giving an E1 $40k/yr would not be a good idea in my opinion.
For Tiffy:
I live off base, and pay for my electricity, water, gas, cable, phone service. It is not provided to me by the military. Even if I lived on base the service member is responsible for non-essentials such as cable and phone service. As for shopping at the commissary the prices are lower for a reason. The commissary is not in business to make money like your civilian grocery stores.
In my 18+ years the military has never sent me home to be with my family. If I want to go home I take leave and pay out of pocket for the trip. BTW it has been over 5 years since I have been home.
Shipping us all over the globe at the drop of a hat is what we are here for. We don't always like it, but that is all part of the job. It makes me laugh when I hear people talk about their spouses going away for a week on a business trip. Try a whole year in Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan and only being able to go home once if you are lucky.
I am not sure where you got all of your information, but as you can see most of it is wrongly stated.
2007-10-30 04:58:57 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
God that would be nice. Maybe not 40K but more would be good. Just to comment on what a few people have said,
1. Yes we are high paid compared to other military but not in comparison to other Americans especially when you figure we work 24/7
2. We only get our money tax free if we are in Iraq or Afghanistan
3. Just because our country has an all volunteer military doesn't automatically mean that we are well enough paid, maybe it just means some people want to serve their country
4. Anyone who wants to try to blame our pay on him, we have gotten a raise every year that he has been in office
5. I've paid out of pocket for every trip home I've taken and this year a ticket home from Korea is running around $900
6. The commissary isn't that much cheaper
This is just my two cents. Thanks.
2007-10-30 04:42:02 · answer #3 · answered by thewedge226 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
a cost of living adjustment is definitely needed....i dont think 40 k a year for an 18 yr old E1 is necessary however......and btw for those of you that said the US military is the best paid....i have a friend who is in the Australian army and makes 70-75k a year and has only been in 2 years..my husband has been in almost 10 and makes roughly 36k.
as for tiffy....i can see your obviously bitter towards your ex husband so im gonna dismiss your blatant lies. first of all.....BAH isnt enough to cover rent in a decent part of town at the base im at....so you either rent a place in the hood, pay 200-300 a month out of pocket (for rent alone), or live in base housing which is now contracted and they take the entire BAH to pay your rent.....10% of that is put towards water, gas, and electric (at this base for my husbands rank that is $114 a month) which leaves us OWING the developer that owns our on base house around $200-250 a month for utilities.....plus phone, cable, and internet which we have to get on our own and pay for.
They get sent all over the world at the drop of a hat....ok this made me laugh . Your calling this a BENEFIT???....what other job can you get sent away from your family for a year at a time to be shot at on a daily basis and get $3 a day plus $250 a month to compensate you for it. In the rare occasion they get to take their family with them (we just returned from 3 years in Japan) the government does NOT pay to send you home once a year. (we came home once during the 3 years there and it was over $4000 for our plane tickets that came out of pocket)
Yes if the military worked a 40 hour 9-5 job they would make more than minimum wage....but my husband worked 62 hours last week and will probably have 70+ this week.....and he will still bring home an $800 paycheck on thursday. they say they are on call 24/7......my husband (who is a 9 yr E5) makes exactly $2.13 an hour if that is the case.
Our health insurance is a joke....seriously and anyone who thinks it isnt hasnt dealt with trying to get a referral through tricare or get an appointment at a military doctor (who may or may not be a civilian doctor who has had their license revoked...or an officer with a 4 year degree instead of a civilian doctor with a minimum of 12 years of education)
oh and btw also the comissary (and definitely the BX) are not cheaper than shopping off base.....they have nice sales from time to time....and you dont pay tax there but it doesnt usually make up the difference.
oh one more thing my sister does the same job as a civilian that my husband does in the AF....she has a mortgage on her house in FL (where her husband and daughter stay) but the company she works for pays her way home every other weekend. the company pays to move her .....gives her $300 a month either to go towards a rental car or a lease on a car. they provide her apartment, rent and utility free.....and she gets paid $38 an hour. last year my husband made $38,900 (we were overseas so there was cola in that).....she made $84,000 with better benefits.
2007-10-30 08:05:10 · answer #4 · answered by CRmac 5 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Congress: Rank-and-File Members' Salary
The current salary (2006) for rank-and-file members of the House and Senate is $165,200 per year.
Congress: Leadership Members' Salary (110th Congress)
Leaders of the House and Senate are paid a higher salary than rank-and-file members.
Senate Leadership
Majority Leader - $183,500
Minority Leader - $183,500
House Leadership
Speaker of the House - $212,100
Majority Leader - $183,500
Minority Leader - $183,500
A cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) increase takes effect annually unless Congress votes to not accept it.
these men and women vote for their OWN pay raises and yet think it's ok to give military a 3.5 % pay raise and to raise minimum wage over a few years time up to $7 hourly...
the military men and women do deserve a better pay wage but so do the rest of americans struggling to make ends meet each month...
btw tiffy...
how long has it been since you were a military spouse because times have changed...we pay rent either living on post or off post, pretty soon people that live in housing will have to pay electric & gas, the commissary might be slightly cheaper then civilian grocery stores but not on everything, the medical sucks ( i believe someone already mentioned that)..we've never had the army pay to send us home...now my HUSBAND who is in the army can come home on R&R and have the military pay for him to come home but as for us getting to go home on the army's money..that's not happening! and actually alot of companies do pay to transfer their employees to other states so the military's not the only one paying to ship people all over the place...you sound very hateful..and don't know everything that's going on with the military anymore
2007-10-30 05:23:33 · answer #5 · answered by ♥ Infantry Wife ♥ 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Hell yeah we sould get much more. My hubby is Army and we get like 3000$ now that he is Iraq. But we also have more bills.When he is here we have like 1000$ every 2 weeks. That is not much with 2 kids,a car and all the stuff you need as soon as you make 5. He is spending like 400$ every month on work stuff. You know gas and printing Papers for his guy's. We know the unit is has to pick that up. But ours cant there just dont have the $$ for that. And by the way a E 1 is not making that much. Hell a 5 is making like 30,ooo$ or less a year.
http://www.army.com/money/payrates_enlisted_a07.html
Look at this and you know how much you get when you put your life on the line
*For E-1 with less than 4 months of service
2007-10-30 05:28:17 · answer #6 · answered by queenunicorn1977 1 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Ok, who cares if the US military personnel make more than other countries militarys? The pay should be compared against other americans. Sure military gets good benefits, BUT, how many other jobs have to endure deployments to horrible places and living in horrible conditions for extended periods of time??
2007-10-30 06:53:30 · answer #7 · answered by angelosdad 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Being that they are 24/7 they deserve alot more than what they are paid. But, add in the benefits that they have, housing, insurance, tax free pay in certain areas of the world, they get alot more than people think.
Our military men and women don't do it for the pay, they do it because they feel it is the right thing to do. Proud of them!:)
2007-10-30 04:49:04 · answer #8 · answered by Diane 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
it would be nice if they did get a decent pay raise..but honestly it won't happen...on average a sgt in the military makes about $3.50 an hour considering the fact that they are on "duty" 24hrs a day 7 days a week...they are gone from home either deployed or training..
yea they get tax free pay when deployed to a combat zone and lets not forget that they're getting shot at, having ied's explode near them, raiding buildings for that tax free money...
and for those that think the medical is wonderful...there was a report a few years ago about civilian doctors that work in military hospitals...30% of them have had their medical licenses revoked or suspended in other states but yet they're allowed to practice on the soldiers and their family members and we don't get the choice to pick our doctors out of a list that most company insurances allow...and free housing HA HA HA! if you live on post/base you pay rent since housing has become contracted out...and yea we get to shop at the commissary but at times it's cheaper to go to walmart and get groceries so the commissary isn't as cheap as some people believe...
2007-10-30 04:50:09 · answer #9 · answered by armyangel74 2 · 3⤊ 1⤋
i was in the military and nope, i don't think paying an 18 year old E-1 40k per year is a good idea. I believed and did join for Honor, Courage, and Commitment, not monetary incentives. All these bonus's (20k-40k) for initial enlistment is going to ruin the Branch's that are using this tactic.
Thank God that the USMC hasnt gone this rout.
2007-10-30 04:36:41 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 0⤋