this post was submitted on 05 Feb 2024
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35k in 2022 is not a living wage.
It's not the wage. It's an enlistment bonus for shipping out to basic within a short time frame of enlisting. Meant to help fill vacancies in the Army.
Nobody wants to join the military because people are tired of going to fight strangers in foreign countries they have no beef with. We're figuring out that our military is actually more of a terrorist organization with veto power in NATO.
Plus you know, people are worried about the impending climate crisis and the future water wars more than the geopolitical dick swinging the military is used to enforce.
plus all we ever hear about from vets is how this country refuses to take care of them... the abysmal state of veteran care in this country has broken the line in many traditionally long running military families. like, if big papa breadwinner of the traditional southern family comes back broken and unable to work that family just ends up on the street. that alone breaks that chain of what may have been 10 generations of military men. now think of every less extreme scenario and how common they are and how they affects the minds of those children that may have previously been gung-ho to sign up.
veterans these days have little pride over what they accomplished or failed to accomplish, the war stories are hard to make glorious sounding, they all have some severe medical issue caused by the military that the military refuses to acknowledge and/or help them with, so very many homeless veterans...
I'm not at all pro military, but even I can see how ridiculously fucked it is that a man can sign his life away to fight for a county and for that county to not even have the decency to pick him up out of the fucking dirt after...
I don't disagree with your conclusion but fyi - korean vietnam and 80s conflicts vets very rarely have gung-ho battle glory stories to sell. they experienced as much trauma as iraq/afghanistan vets, there's not a lot of glory to go around. the familial tradition of service is being broken, but the service is also trying to diversify and get away from being 80%+ legacy/ mil family tradition we had in the 90s.
i wasn't trying to be exclusive to only the most recent conflicts. this is a thing that's been developing and getting worse for a long time. i never thought anyone had any proud battle stories from those eras either. pretty much since wwii as far as i can tell...
Sure, was just mislead by:
yeah, that's fair 😅 my phrasing could've been better. that was admittedly a bit of a quickdraw of a comment.
I thought it was to help boost sales of Dodge vehicles
Same thing.
Not to mention clothing, housing, food are all taken care of too. Not to mention perks of military base discounts and programs.
Plus, you abandon all bodily autonomy and you might be wounded or killed.
And even if you're not, the chances of PTSD are astronomical! Not to mention the likelihood of having to do something morally reprehensible.
hope you enjoyed music in your youth because the vast majority will come home with degrees of hearing loss, most of which the mil will assert happened away from service.
All bonuses in my book
This is not unique to the military, a lot of jobs are dangerous.
Sure. I work from home, so my risk is slightly lower, though.
Harder to get PTSD at home.
I'd say that depends on how many calls you're on every day
And your family.
I am so glad the pandemic hit when my kids were preteens. I can't imagine what trying to get eight year olds to sit on a zoom call while you also sit on a zoom call would be like.
Or what teens would be like after that long stuck at home with their parents! 😬
You don't know my cat.
I have stubbed my toe on the way to my kitchen a time or two. Dangerous times to work from home, and watch our for Legos folks!
But that barely makes a difference, assuming you stay loyal to tradition and purchase a brand new Charger with 33% apy.
Oh I'm aware
It is when you are in the military and housing, food, and healthcare are paid for. At that point all you REALLY need the 35K for is to buy a V6 Camaro (or Mustang).
bah, someone hasn't been on post in the last decade... it's all about 'dem chargers now. fucking chargers, as far as the eye can see..... oh look, there's one getting repo'd now, to later be resold to some e3 on a ridiculous loan! the majesty of nature!
I remember my base tours where they desperately try to accentuate the "for sale" lot your fancy car will inevitably be on in 6 months, unsurprisingly it deterred approx nobody.
recruiters might be scummy, but the used car salespeople right off post - oof now that's pure evil lol
That's the sign on bonus. The salary is around $22,000 a year starting. Abysmal, but you don't have to pay for much. Food, and housing and insurance is covered.
Army wouldn't be my choice, but my best friend did his 20 and out in the air force and climbed high enough in the ranks that he was making six figures. He got to retire at 38 with free Healthcare the rest of his life and gets like $60k a year and got to go to a lot of cool places (as well as shit ones, of course). AF or coast guard be about the only ones I'd consider.
Guy I worked with retired from the Navy as a captain and got whatever very generous pay came with that. Then used his veterans preference to get a job in my agency, did that for 20+ years, retired as a gs 14 so he gets that annuity plus his TSP savings plus social security in a few years. He's still barely 60, so he is working as a consultant. I'm guessing he's pulling down $200k with all the various incomes and maybe working 20 hours a week, and he's got the Healthcare and other benefits for life. People trash talk the military and government but if you work the system right it can be worthwhile. Hell, I wish I'd joined just so I could get USAA.
I knew a marine growing up. Fully into all things marine, vietname vet. Right around the time I turned 18 he told me to not go into the Marines, go into the Air Force, go into anything except the Marines.
Maybe he didn't like me, but I don't think that was the case.
The odds of you being comfortable go up, while odds of dying go down, in the AF.
That was like twice my wage in 2022 lol.
Well private annual salary is actually $23,011 according to goarmy.com. Idk where the 35k is from, might include a signing bonus or something.
Army is currently doing $35k sign on bonus. Salary for bottom rank is like $22,500.
For the vast majority of those enlisting, I'd say the 35k must go towards a down payment on a 4wd, lifted truck (with balls hanging off the back).
There are so many predatory car dealers around every American base. All the sign say will finance E1 and up. (E1 is the lowest enlisted rank) They know once they get them to sign if the teenager tries to default they can contact their command and put a lien on their pay.
In a lot of places, yes it definitely is. With 2.5k a month I have a lot of money leftover.