I often see stories about how military families are barely surviving and have to turn to food stamps, payday loans etc. Didn’t military pay increase substantially during the Iraq war or was that just sign up bonuses? Why is there such difficulty getting by on a military salary, don’t they get free medical care, low cost base housing and health insurance?
Is the pay really that poor?
I think a good amount of what we hear could be people living above their means. Not for all the cases, but no doubt that plays a factor.
Well, here’s the military pay chart by rank. Assuming I’m doing the math right, the average private makes a yearly income about equal to the general average US yearly income.
I retired 25 years ago, so my information is out of date. At that time, the Navy did very little toward financial planning for its enlisted, so living beyond your means was common. Also, in some parts of the country, the pay and allowances for a family of four qualified them for food stamps. “Base Housing” has always been hard to get, and we were just beginning to see the reduction in the amount of health care that was available to dependents.
I don’t think you’re reading the chart right. As I read it an E-5 (a sergeant, if my memory is correct) with 6 years in the service makes $2,499 a month, or about $30K per year.
Base housing for families is limited; depending where you’re stationed, there may be a waiting list. If a family lives off-base they receive a housing allowance. The allowance is based on rank, not family size, so the allowance for lower-ranking personnel may not cover the cost of adequate housing for a family.
Military health insurance is set up like insurance in the private sector. There’s a no-cost “HMO” option, but if you want or need medical care outside the network, you’ll have to pay a deductible and co-pay. Given that there are relatively few pediatricians or family practitioners in the network, most military families are probably paying pretty close to what civilians pay for medical care.
And since the military tends to shuffle people around a lot, that probably limits career options for the spouse. All in all, I can see how young families of lower-ranking enlisted personne have to pinch pennies.l
Ah, your right, I read it as amount per pay period, not month. So a private actually gets closer to half the average US salary.
Soldiers are paid fairly well considering what most starting positions pay. Add to that housing is free to Soldiers and their families. I strongly encourage Soldiers below the rank of E-5 to live on post, the housing on post is based on family size, not rank. Above E-5 the Soldier may make enough to secure off post housing for a better price. There was a post upthread about Soldiers moving around a lot, and I have to say, not in my experience. I have spent almost 9 years with Fayetteville, NC as my home address. I am Active Duty. Many Soldiers are the same way. The Regular Army tries to keep its troops in one station for 7 years. I don’t know about the other branches.
Medical care is 100% free for Active Duty Soldiers and their Families. Elect Tricare Prime, and see an Army Doctor. No cost for procedures or prescriptions. No co-pay, totally free.
College classes, totally free for the Service Member. Foreign language training, free. Walt Disney World, this year, totally free for up to five days.
The thing is, and I hate to say this, but there are a lot of Non-Commissioned Officers that are not doing their jobs. The disconnect comes in when Squad Leaders do not look at the standard of living of their Soldiers. When a Soldier is living above or below his means, he needs to be told. That isn’t being nosy, that is being a good leader.
SSG Schwartz
Military families barely coping has been around for a long time. I remember my mom collecting donations for Navy Relief when I was a kid.
My experience as an Army Reserve Wife for 20 years and a Family Readiness Group Leader for much of that has been that it’s a myth. All of my soldiers families were either doing as well or better than they were in the private sector. I had one Col who’s civilian job was a mid-level management position and he was earning slightly less when deployed. The reduction in pay hardly made the family soup kitchen candidates.
I can see where the salary of some of the higher paying private sector jobs such as doctor, lawyer, technical expert, or football player may not be comparable.
Not sure that that’s as true as it used to be. When I got out of the service in 1970 it was pretty common for servicemen to be transferred every 4ish years. I don’t believe they still do this nearyly as much. Sure you might get sent of to the Middle East every little whipstitch but you family can keep stay where they are.
The $2,499 is also augmented by a married/family allowence. While it is tied to your rank it is also (as I remember seeing someplace sometime, how’s that for a good cite?) adjusted for locale.
When I got out of the Marines in 1970 I was making the most money I’d ever made. $283.50 as a Cpl over 3 years, $90 for the wife, $16 combat pay, $7 overseas pay.
There have been plenty of studies about this. About half of activated reservists get more when they deploy. About half earn less. Some earn considerably less. And despite laws protecting their jobs many come back to careers that are gone or in shambles. The only way I’ve been able to stay in is because I have a government job which is pretty secure.
As for the OP, young soldiers do earn crap for money. Try reducing it to an hourly wage for what they do. When I was on active duty as a young soldier it didn’t matter much. I didn’t have any expenses except a car and beer. Those with families had difficulty. And I came in after some decent pay raises. Prior to the 80s it was really bad. I joined in 1989. E1 under 6 months time in service was making something like $600 a month then.
You don’t get a family allowance. It is for housing. If you live on post you don’t get the money. If you live off post you get the housing allowance and not the free housing. The housing allowance is based on location and rank. Location is the bigger factor. I looked up the difference between an O3 (captain) and an E5 (sergeant) in the same zipcode and the captain only got about $200 more a month. BTW I am currently activated. My housing allowance is about half of my mortgage.
I can see why someone might need to step in if a soldier is living above his means. But why is it a problem if someone lives below their means (assuming their spouse, if any, has no problem with it)? Or should the officer be saying “good job” to those soldiers living below their means?
I am currently in the Navy and will be until late 2010.
Any ways, as far as military families living in despair is, as how it was mentioned earlier, on how they manage their finances. I am an E5 with 6 years in, my wife works, and we have a $404k townhouse in the DC area. I think I’m doing pretty good. But, there are my “shipmates” who are married and have a working spouse, and have to have payday loans just to make it. And, they don’t have anything to really show for it. No big screen TV’s or cool toys or nice cars. They just blow money on whatever like eating out three meals a day, etc. Too much MTV and wanting to like like a “playa” I guess.
Also, there are some factors that have not been mentioned is that most people that come in are either out of high school, or, out of college, and still slightly co-dependent on someone taking care of basic things for them and throw in the closed-knit community of the military and you have a recipe for disaster. So, they make a lot of mistakes with just about everything they do: buying a car, renting an apartment, etc. Another factor, is that base pay for a single member, under four years, is what that chart shows. Unless you are married or have kids then that’s all you get BEFORE taxes. After taxes its a bit less and the money goes quick. I remember those days.
I have also seen a lot of stupid mistakes made like people getting married just to get the BAH (the money for housing) only to divorce or just blow it away. The member to take their high school girlfriend with them that is still in high school and they get pregnant! Single members buying new cars versus used cars and/or getting an apartment on single member pay. The list goes on and on.
But, it should get better as they are talking about letting single members have BAH or a partial BAH so they can live out in town. This is a good idea as actually expecting someone to live on a ship, sharing a room with up to 265 people (like I had to), with no reasonable expectation of privacy anywhere you go. Is really quite optimistic. $500-$600 a month per person so they can group up and live out in town is decent enough. You really do need your own place to unwind after going underway.
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That’s another element that comes into play – what other economic factors apply to the particular family unit besides the military element: debt burden, number of dependents, educational levels, spouse’s income. As SSG Schwartz points out, below E5 you’d be better off using the free services/housing than going out into the market , but there they can run into an important issue of availability, depending on the post. Maybe your family has to stay behind at your last hometown or live on short leases off-base until space opens up.
Historically, a military career as officer/senior NCO for the head of the household would afford a family a respectable, decent but modest living, but it was certainly not the path for those interested in upward social mobility. However, also historically, it was indeed the career officers/NCOs who had wives and children to support, not the junior ranks. Junior Enlisted doing just the one tour, would be expected to marry the girl back home **after **being discharged, or if you married her before shipping out you would be going back to her after being discharged.
True, many of the troops, like many Americans in general, do not have the money-management skills they should. Doesn’t even affect just families, I’ve known single guys who go in, make decent promotion, got their bonuses, and when they discharge they’ve got no cash in the bank for it and are deep in debt as they just spent like, well, drunken sailors [or insert service of preference here].
Thing is, even if it’s not a statistically greater proportion of military families in true hardship, the very notion of a serviceman’s family on Food Stamps hurts public sensibilities and thus gets played up.
He didn’t say it was bad. He said the soldier needs to be told. A lot of the time, rank is correlated with age, and age is correlated with stupidity with money. That’s all he’s saying.
I think.
Not military myself, but without exception every military personnel I’ve known has enjoyed a very comfortable living. Not plush by any means, but certainly comfortable. And my acquaintances/relatives range from enlisted men to retired Navy captain. In fact, it seems like most of the military men I know actually enjoy considerable luxuries but picking their spots on where to economize and where to spend.
But if you are going in as an enlisted man out of high school and expect to be able to support a family at a relatively high level, you are mistaken. And I don’t see why that is a problem.
I took it to mean living in squalor rather than being frugal.
In my experience, age is inversely correlated with stupidity with money.
In the Air Force, you are expected to move about every 4 years. You may stay longer, but once you get to the four year mark you’re on the chopping block.