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Subject: soldiers pay
interrested 2    5/10/2004 2:12:07 PM
On the Dutch television It was shown that families of US soldiers had to rely on welfare in order to get food.

It was said that the soldiers earned $1200.- US, half of what the brittish and dutch get.

I can't believe the US would do this to it's soldiers.

Can somebody shed some light on this?
 
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mike_golf    RE:soldiers pay   5/10/2004 2:40:19 PM
No, this completely incorrect. Nice job of reporting by the media. A married private in pay grade E-1 (i.e. someone who just enlisted and has not served six months) would get the following pay, assuming they are not living in military provided housing: Base pay - $1193.40 Housing allowance - $447.60 Food allowance - $254.46 Total - $1895.46 or roughly $23,000 annually There is an additional allowance for high cost living areas. Also, the allowances are not considered income and not subject to taxes, only the basic pay is subject to taxes. Many US states have very good tax policies for soldiers. For instance, if you are from California and not stationed in California you don't pay any California taxes whatsoever. Add on to that the benefits (free health insurance, shopping on post is less expensive than off post, work clothes provided, etc.) and this soldier has the equivalent wages of someone earning about $28,000 per year, or so. And as soon as he or she hits 6 months they bump up to paygrade E-2. Total pay jumps to $2052 per month. By 12 months they will be paygrade E-3 making $2144. You can figure it out yourself with this document, which is the paytable for the military. Just worry about basic pay, basic allowance for housing type II and basic allowance for subsistence (standard). link If I was still in the Army, as a first sergeant (E-8) with 28 years of service I would be making $5300 per month, without accounting for whether I was stationed in a high cost living area. $64,000 a year plus tax and other benefits amounts to earning about $80,000 per year as a civilian. That's a pretty good paycheck any way you cut it.
 
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interrested 2    RE:soldiers pay   5/10/2004 3:57:44 PM
Tnx Mike, Just another chapter in the: "let's bash the USA" story that is going on here. Just in one evening: 1. Ducht diplomats saying that Iraq will go to hell 2. Journalists that say the USA is doomed 3. Journalist saying that the US is corrupt in iraq. 4. Rumsfeld should be fired (this one I agree actually) 5. We (holland)should back out of Iraq because the USA is not honest. Gees all in one evening....long live journalism
 
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mike_golf    RE:soldiers pay   5/10/2004 4:03:31 PM
So, they used a truth for their bigger lie. It is true that a private, paygrade E-1, who just joined the Army receives a basic pay of $1193/month. However, assuming he or she is not married, their housing and food is completely paid for, as is their health care, shopping is much better priced than offpost, they have a retirement plan that is hard to beat, get 30 days of vacation per year, don't have to pay for their work clothes and more. If you were 18 years old and you earned $1200 per month with no other expenses you would be in pretty good shape, money wise. This is extremely deceptive, at best. Nothing like using the truth to tell the Big Lie.
 
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mike_golf    RE:soldiers pay   5/10/2004 4:08:38 PM
oh yeah, don't forget that for a very small investment on their part, only $100 per month for 12 months, these new soldiers will get $50,000 that they can use to attend a university or college of their choice. The money will be paid to them on a monthly basis and they can use it for whatever they want, as long as they are in university. The benefit lasts for four school years. That's a huge benefit.
 
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doggtag    RE:soldiers pay   5/11/2004 4:15:40 AM
I haven't seen the latest data, but a few years ago there was an evening news program (60 Minutes, or something similar) about the same issue. It was found that, even with the extra allowances for children/family/etc, a US Army E-4 (Specialist or Corporal), was below the US poverty level for annual income. I don't exactly have any figures as to where that is, but someone told me that for a family with 4 kids, the poverty level is $18,000/year. Agreeably, that doesn't seem like enough money to support 4 kids adequately... maybe the military needs to consider better family planning programs? A running joke that ssems to hold some truth: Poverty and fertility go hand in hand. It is not uncommon in the US, and certainly other nations, that poorer classes have higher birthrates, even though mortality is most likely higher also. Maybe it's because smarter, more educated people think before they breed..? Especially for National Guard and Reserve troops who have been deploying for extensive periods in the past few years, it can be difficult when you have a higher paying civilian job you have to leave for several months to a few years. Some employers, out of patriotism (and certainly to win governbment favor) actually will pay the deployed soldier the difference in pay they lost in deploying. I don't know if any other countries do that, though. It isn't mandatory, but it is nice that some companies actually do value their employees who serve in the Guard and Reserves enough to do that.
 
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