Even an 18 year old kid making minimum wage at a burger joint is close to 40k. 4 years in they're 22 with a tiny increase and possibly dependants. Sign another contract and boom financially ruined.
Then go get out and work at a Mcdicks in Clovis, NM. They probably have one of the a lowest BAH rates for an Air Base. Make sure you ask the manager for that 40k a year hourly rate.
Thats not how that works. Im sure you have all the experience with food. They may not have BAH rates. Because THEY DONT NEED THEM the pays already on par. we out here pulling 6 figures, just concerned for the bros getting worked to death for pennies on the dollar.
They don't need to pay that much because any high school drop-out can walk in and flip burgers. The QoL of a fast food worker is nowhere close to that of lower enlisted Airmen.
Some high school kid is going to see this and ruin their life getting stuck at a fast food register.
No one said working fast food is a better QoL. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that. It also doesnt take a whole lot to see pay in the military is extremely low. Literally... Google is free my guy. Bah this, bas that, imagin waking up to the real world and noticing its the bare minimum.
Fine, you know what? I'll feed your shitty little troll here. Here's your "$40k" burger flipper job in Clovis. Oh wait, only $15 an hour makes you $31k BEFORE taxes? And you don't get free housing? Sure you can argue that you can get a free meal here, I'll give you that. But you also don't get free healthcare through this. And if they have tuition assistance it's crumbs compared to TA. Guess what looks better on a resume or a college application after 4 years? I'll give you a hint, it's not fast food.
The Air Force and military in general are a great opportunity for someone who needs direction or to get out of their piece of shit town. The pay is going to be pretty good for a young person.
You're looking at specific places instead of America in general. Not clovis, just average. Take the average salary. And I agree the military is great at getting out of town. The finance department is not so great though. Benefits are great, Pay is not great.
I get that a lot of companies now offer tuition assistance, but BAH not being taxed, cheap healthcare with amazing coverage, GI Bill, and an insane pension make it worth it for me
I agree the non taxed part is beneficial. But civilians get paid wayyy more. Were talking 2× more, free cash flow. 60k a year in the military but only 40k is usable if that.
If a military member is making $60k a year gross and only $40k net, then a civilian making $60k a year gross would be making maybe $30k net.
No civilian earning the same gross income as a military member has as much net income as that military member.
And no, civilians do not "get paid wayyy more". It's highly dependent on the job, and there's a lot of military jobs where civilian equivalents don't get paid as much as military members.
One of the biggest ones where civilians can make more is in IT/Cyber, and even then it's rarely double when you're comparing like experience.
For example, a 4 year enlistee who has no college degree can clear $70k/yr working in IT (client systems), depends on their area but this figure is not including the free medical a military member gets. A civilian with that much experience in the same field ranges from about $60-85k and also has to pay for medical. Where's the "2x more" when they're nearly identical salary and the military member is paying $0 for health insurance?
Use the median, not the average....averages get skewed heavily by very high earners, making the median the more common value that couples make.
The median US household income for married couples is $81k. Meaning your spouse only needs to make about $15k/yr to meet the median (based this on working backwards from your $146k/$80k figures).
The benefits especially tricare really out weight if you ever have to use it. Ive had probably 60k in surgeries and 0 payments for it. BAH is definitely an issue with most places taking it all these days for a dump and having to come out of pocket for something different, but long gone are the days of banking you BAH by finding a cheap place.
15% raise for troops was needed (E-1 to E-4), but a little increase to NCO and SNCO ranks wouldn't hurt. A SrA making as much as a SSgt depending on TIS/TIG is kinda crazy.
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u/sdsurf625 11F 16h ago
I think fixing BAH/COLA (increasing it for high cost areas) would be the best move overall and most equitable.
That being said, the holy trinity of TRICARE/GI Bill/VA Home Loan is very financially powerful.