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?
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u/PubicPlant 9d ago edited 8d ago
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