• The_Walkening [none/use name]
    ·
    1 year ago

    It's not that the US Military pays it's troops a "middle-class" wage , it's that troops in general come from middle-class families and communities.

    Also a lot of the compensation is housing and healthcare, so them making 34k is maybe more comparable to someone getting paid 50-60k depending on the housing market where they are.

    • the_post_of_tom_joad [any, any]
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      It's not that the US Military pays it's troops a "middle-class" wage , it's that troops in general come from middle-class families and communities

      This is what i was saying, though reading my post i can see that was unclear. My scant data shows demographics of enlisted prior to enlisting is 60% 34-80k and 20% below that bracket.

      • The_Walkening [none/use name]
        ·
        1 year ago

        Ahh gotcha - yeah I got my info from a CFR report that basically says the same thing, but the breakdown was by median household income: https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/demographics-us-military