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Sir-Kevly t1_j3z32op wrote

Reply to comment by InflamedLiver in Amid recruiting crisis, Army makes new companies for recruits who don't meet academic, fitness standards by GaryOaksAlcoholism

They already let some incredibly dumb people in. Young people just aren't signing up because they aren't willing to vaporize Afghani children for $40k a year.

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6disc_cdchanger t1_j3z6zr5 wrote

$40k? More like $20k for a junior enlisted service member

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Manawski_ t1_j410zbm wrote

Base pay, sure. If they're calculating in BAS/BAH, then 40k isn't far off.

If it were a true apples-to-apples like some fresh out of high school retail worker making 23k was going up against our hypothetical E-1 buddy to rent an apartment off-base (highly improbable that an E-1 ends up off-base but let's just play the game here), the E-1 is going to all of the sudden have a whole lot of tax-free BAH money to pay rent where the civilian can go kick rocks.

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Paladoc t1_j41cvph wrote

In a nigh infinitesimal number of cases would BAH/BAS be approved for an E-1, but you can calculate like a third of that rate, as they do get fed and housed, just sometimes in 24 man bays or 4-6 man rooms.

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monogreenforthewin t1_j41wdak wrote

just sometimes in 24 man bays or 4-6 man rooms.

that's really only in training or deployment scenarios. stateside, i never had more than two soldiers to a room in the barracks.

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Paladoc t1_j44nq9q wrote

Yep, why I said sometimes. Someone shouldn't be an E1 for that long post boot

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[deleted] t1_j3zbh2a wrote

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[deleted] t1_j3zcfdu wrote

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PMMEYOURCOOLDRAWINGS t1_j3zcxdh wrote

You can make more hourly at a Wendy’s. My god.

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[deleted] t1_j3zeowi wrote

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I_Have_Run_Amok t1_j3zhxvo wrote

Exactly. With the exception of snacks, cell phone, and internet you can get away with no other recurring expenses. If you're smart you can put away a decent amount of money.

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usedTP t1_j4057tq wrote

We had an E5 who got out with $20k 30 years ago. He lived like a monk and only bought toiletries.

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[deleted] t1_j3zewp7 wrote

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dingos8mybaby2 t1_j3zg69j wrote

Well you technically don't have to if you are fine with doing some time in a military prison, possibly a handful of years. I doubt that refusal to deploy or desertion would be met with execution in today's world unless it's during an invasion of the U.S. or something else very dire.

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6disc_cdchanger t1_j3zcgoe wrote

https://www.goarmy.com/benefits/while-you-serve/money-pay.html

I’ve been out for a decade, so I was a little off. $21,999 annually for E-1 (private)

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PMMEYOURCOOLDRAWINGS t1_j3zcrrg wrote

Man that number needs to be higher. No wonder they are having an enlistment problem. I had a national guard guy try to convince me to enlist in the officer corps after meeting him at a blood drive I was working at. Then I noticed him asking everyone lol.

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bad-autocorrect-bot t1_j40kbx2 wrote

Im barely surviving, and i make more than that, why the fuck would anyone want to do that?? Seriously, we dedicate hundreds of billions to our military and they dont even pay a living wage...

Are other branches any better?

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Manawski_ t1_j40x6sk wrote

What is your amount for a "living wage" when the following are provided:

1.) Housing (Either housing on base or tax-free Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH))

2.) Food (Either on-base food or tax-free Basic Allowance for Subsistence (BAS))

3.) Healthcare (100% coverage free of charge)

4.) GI Bill

5.) Pension plan

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Hammerpamf t1_j411guz wrote

People are forgetting all of this. I was stationed at Ft. Carson. The average monthly rent in Colorado Springs is $1500, monthly health insurance premium $370, food for 1 $300.

That's 24k a year in benefits without considering the GI bill. Some states, like Illinois, will also pay for 4 years of tuition/fees to CC and state schools. Illinois does this with the IVG (Illinois veterans grant).

My 4 years of service was well worth it.

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Paladoc t1_j41d2r0 wrote

Texas has Hazelwood, you enter as a Texas resident, you get 120 hours of college at public schools covered, in addition to GI Bill

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IntincrRecipe t1_j40o2g1 wrote

No, pay is standardized across all branches. The usual rebuttal that leadership and the DoD as a whole gives is along the lines of “WeLl YoU gEt BeNeFiTs On ToP oF tHaT lIkE hOuSiNg, MeDiCaL, aNd DeNtAl, So StOp CoMpLaInInG.”

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No-Entertainer-2862 t1_j40o345 wrote

Coast Guard here and most of my friends and family have some military affiliation.bthe other branches are no better. Thankfully the medical benefits and housing helps a lot so there is a lot of variance depending on a lot of factors.

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Hammerpamf t1_j411ng8 wrote

Because you don't have to pay for rent, health insurance, food, or college?

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SteveHeist t1_j40nhw3 wrote

Probably not. Federal job, federal minimum wage.

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HumanConsideration61 t1_j43esfb wrote

The fuck are you talking about? The taliban/ISIS were the one putting ordinance and shit on their women and children and detonating it in crowds. You sound like a 12 year old who asschugged bullshit propaganda and thinks war is some Fortnite lobby.

There is almost a divine sense of ironic idiocy to think that the guys who were trying to kill the sick fucks who were abusing women and children were somehow the ones doing that shit. I can guarantee my fucking life that the soldiers who have to live with killing a kid sleep a LOT worse than the bastards who strapped bombs to them. Or beat them. Or raped them. Or poured boiling fucking water on them. Or stoned them.

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