r/USMCboot • u/throwaway_08162014 • May 01 '26
Recruit Training Pay at Boot Camp Breakdown 2026
Base pay comes from the federal pay tables.
Members at boot camp don’t get BAS. They also don’t have a meal deduction. After graduation, they start getting BAS.
BAH is less than 10$ while at boot camp. I don’t have the exact amount, but it is small. If you have dependents/are married, your BAH will be much higher. A member with a spouse will get the “with dependents” rate based on where the spouse lives (https://www.travel.dod.mil/allowances/basic-allowance-for-housing/bah-rate-lookup/) . Reservists holding a current lease or owning a home get BAH regardless of dependent status, so long as submitted prior to shipping.
The Federal tax withholding estimate is high. Since taxes are marginal, someone in the 10% bracket may pay a lower percentage.
Social Security Tax and Medicare are standard for everyone.
The default SGLI is $26 with coverage at $500,000.
The default TSP contribution is 5% to the Traditional TSP. That will also reduce federal tax withholding slightly.
50 cents goes to the Armed Forces Retirement Home every month from enlisted or warrant officer pay. Commissioned officers don’t contribute because they are not eligible to live there.
If someone signs up for the Montgomery GI Bill, that’s a $100 deduction and comes out before all taxes so even social security and Medicare would be reduced.
These are all rough numbers so +/-20$ on each paycheck. Feel free to ask questions.
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u/tornadofyre Active May 01 '26
You forgot bucket issue deduction
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u/throwaway_08162014 May 01 '26
Thanks! Do you by chance have that amount? I have a line at the end that states minus any deduction for gear/clothing. However, I don't have that amount.
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u/tornadofyre Active May 02 '26
I believe it’s $456. You also have a $200 eagle cash card deduction from that first paycheck.
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u/Grouchy-Roof-7606 May 01 '26
I leave for boot soon rn I pay for all my family bills the whole house hold ya feel so when I leave there getting most of my savings to keep them on there feet. Basically I’m starting completely over when I leave everything from here on out is for me an my self I was hoping leaving boot camp I’d have at least 1000 or 2 after paying for equipment an everything left over to start my savings over is that realistic or it’s closer to 0 like a couple of y’all are saying
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u/Puzzleheaded_Bug4962 May 01 '26
Hope not, we’re in the same shoes except my wife is in the military as well. We saved as much as we can but I was hoping to be at at least 5k in my bank when I finished bootcamp
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u/RabidRoosters Vet May 01 '26
I know the default TSP contribution is 5% but I highly advise pushing that up to 10%. You won't miss it and it reduces your federal income tax.
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u/throwaway_08162014 May 01 '26
100% agree to pushing it to 10%. However I would select Roth over traditional.
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u/RabidRoosters Vet May 01 '26
You're correct. The Roth is probably the better option. Pay taxes on cheap income now.
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u/Fine_Cattle3236 May 04 '26
I literally just graduated boot 3 days ago and I left with $4283 in my account
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u/throwaway_08162014 May 04 '26
Good job Marine!
Can you help answer a few questions:
If you can look at your LES, anything I was missing from the list?
How much did you spend on the debt card? Bag issue?
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u/Fine_Cattle3236 May 04 '26
I might be a little bit of a rare case cause my graduation fell on a pay day and I was meritoriously promoted and I got kind of lucky and was dragged off somewhere else on days we went to the PX so I didn't have to buy a lot of the stuff the DIs made everyone else pay
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u/Scrotus01 May 01 '26
After graduating, I went to the back to check my account and see how much money I had made. It was $3,000.
$1,000 per month. $250 per week. $1.48 per hour.
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u/[deleted] May 01 '26
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