Do Military Members Get Paid Enough?
Last week I wrote an article on my other website about food stamps in the US and how they are not providing enough assistance for some people. Many people are finding that food prices are quickly rising and they are running out of food stamp benefits before the end of the month. In some parts of the US, people who receive food stamps are lining up at stores at midnight on the first of the month because that is when their benefits are automatically deposited in there accounts.
This reminded me of how the base commissaries are always crowded on the 1st and the 15th of the month, because this is when military members get paid and they need groceries.
I mentioned this in the article, but followed that up with the fact that military members get paid twice per month vs. once per month, and military members have received several good raises over the last few years. However, it wasn’t too many years ago when it was fairly common for low ranking military members to be on food stamps. While not unheard of now, it is much less common than in previous years.
Over the last few years, Congress has voted on several consecutive pay raises, which greatly enhanced the quality of life for most military members. Here is a link to the 2008 military pay chart. If you compare the new pay rates to historic military pay charts it is easy to see how much has changed in the last few years.
But is it enough? Everyone knows the dangers of being in the military. Many military members put their lives on the line every day. But there are also other considerations, such as working with hazardous materials and in dangerous situations, being on call 24-7/365, and dealing with long term deployments and family separation. This begs to ask the question, is a job worth your life? But to me, being in the military is more than just a job. It is a duty and a way of life.
The benefits. On the other side, there are multiple benefits military members enjoy that many people don’t consider. Military members receive tax free housing and food allowances, free health care, access to high tech training and other educational benefits, multiple pay allowances depending on job and/or location, numerous veterans benefits including the GI Bill and the VA loan, military discounts, and other veterans benefits which may vary depending numerous factors including state of residence, disability status, and more.
There are obviously a lot of pros and cons to military pay. It is a complicated system, and there are many people who receive relatively little compared to other military members and their civilian counterparts, and there are others who receive more than other military members and their civilian counterparts. I think a lot depends on the individual military member and their personal situation. There simply is no cut and dry answer to whether military members receive enough pay for the service they provide our country.
In the end, you can never put a price on a human life, and I am not going to attempt to do that. Even though most military members will never get rich off their paycheck, most earn enough to live comfortably.
This article was included in the 7th Edition Of The Carnival Of Careers.
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July 11th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
It is most definitely not enough, if you ask me. Military, teachers, police, fire, etc are all underpaid for their value to society. They should be getting all the help they need!
July 11th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
My opinions on military compensation vary from what most others would say. I feel that for young members that the pay is very competitive with what they could get in the civilian sector. How many HS grad do you know can have about $1000 spending cash a month. If you join the military right out of HS (I would veture to guess that is about 95%) you shouldn’t have many problems as long as you live within your mean. Most officers are very well compensated as well. I think the problem lies in the mid to senior enlisted ranks. I believe that most E-6 through E-9’s should get paid more so than they are now.
July 21st, 2008 at 11:01 am
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July 27th, 2008 at 11:26 am
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November 10th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
The military men and women should definately get paid more. We risk our lives for the rights of others. We waived them rights when we sign our contract. Actors, atheletes, and other highly paid people should take a pay decrease and help support us. After all its their rights we protect. The benefits are great I can’t argue about them but we harldy use them or we have a hard time to use them. Overall a pay increase should definately be increased. And not a small percentage, a raise that we can actually notice.
November 14th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
Paid Enough? Well lets put it in prospective shall we. Some say a H/S grad making a $1,000 a month or more is great for that age group? Well I think his life is worth more than a $1,000; myself but that is just me thinking out loud. When I first entered the service it was a hell of lot less than $300.00 a month but we servived. But times have changed. Prices of basic’s such as home,car,food and furniture have gone through the ceiling. So it is not a question of pay its a question of economy. As for OFFICERS well they are OVERPAID like POLITICIANS talk the talk but can’t walk the walk!
November 14th, 2008 at 10:13 pm
Oh one other subject shall we.
What are your feeling about the middle and upper age groups joining the military to make up for the shortages of soldiers in combat areas? Now look at this is real terms. That would mean younger men and women would not have to serve until they reached their peaks in life. This gives them time to raise a family. Buy a home. Live some of their life fun and fancy free. Instead of having it snuffed out at 19 or 20 in a battle zone. Covered in sand and dust!
I for one would re-enter the military to curve the shortages of man power. But that is just me. Hell if we can elect a Hussein President, we can do anything Right?
November 18th, 2008 at 10:31 am
The military should be paid wages correspendent to their civilian sector counterparts. Govenrment has been struggling to equalize the military wage with the civilian rate, instead of giving a one time significant increase they have been slowly increasing the wages in yearly pay increases. I encourage all to use the benefits available to offset the lower wages.
November 18th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
Lloyd: I agree that it makes sense to pay military members based on civilian counterparts, but then you would get some major discrepancies between, say an E-6 in a computer field vs. an E-6 who works services. The military pays everyone based on rank and time in service to ensure each member of the same rank gets paid the same regardless of job. If you start paying people more or less based on the job they perform, fewer people will want to work lower paying jobs.
One change I would like to see is paying based on time in grade instead of time in service. For instance someone could make E-7 in 10 years (pretty fast in all services). Now let’s say he has the stripe on for 4 years before his counterpart puts on E-7, and his counterpart has 18 years in the military. Even though the first person outranks the second by 4 years, he would earn substantially less money. Paying by time in grade instead of time in service provides extra incentive to make rank, and would help keep troops around longer.
November 21st, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Noooo, not nearly enough.
(Adam, officers are hardly overpaid, compared with their own civilian counterparts. Apples to apples, here…)
But what will lead the fed to pay service members more, when they are in the middle of a financial disaster? The mismanagement of resources truly boggles the mind.
The advice above about utilizing every available benefit (GI Bill, insurance, etc.) is sound, indeed.
Jerry