I've heard there are grunts that can't even afford food with their pay these days and are getting official guidance from the Army on how to apply for food stamps. Combined with the huge numbers of young people being disabled by Covid I really wonder what the war machine plans to do for manpower over the next few decades.
One of the points on my own personal Belden plan involves proposing tripling the salary of the enlisted by cutting money from weapons purchases, to cause a larger rift between the enlisted and the commissioned officers who are trying to get a job consulting for a defense contractor. Like why shouldn't a US Army private make $75K a year plus benefits?
In the army, unmarried enlisted soldiers below the rank of staff sergeant (E6) live in the barracks and eat at the mess hall.
Married enlisted and all officers get an allowance for food and housing, the amount varying from base to base.
For example, a married PFC (E3) with 3 years of service stationed in San Diego gets $2.4k (before taxes) in base pay, $3.6k for housing, and $452 for food. This is all well and good for soldier and their spouse (barely), but when you add kids into the mix and how fucking expensive they are it quickly becomes obvious why families are struggling.
I've heard there are grunts that can't even afford food with their pay these days and are getting official guidance from the Army on how to apply for food stamps. Combined with the huge numbers of young people being disabled by Covid I really wonder what the war machine plans to do for manpower over the next few decades.
One of the points on my own personal Belden plan involves proposing tripling the salary of the enlisted by cutting money from weapons purchases, to cause a larger rift between the enlisted and the commissioned officers who are trying to get a job consulting for a defense contractor. Like why shouldn't a US Army private make $75K a year plus benefits?
I honestly thought you lived on a base and ate mess hall food, or do they charge you for that???
In the army, unmarried enlisted soldiers below the rank of staff sergeant (E6) live in the barracks and eat at the mess hall.
Married enlisted and all officers get an allowance for food and housing, the amount varying from base to base.
For example, a married PFC (E3) with 3 years of service stationed in San Diego gets $2.4k (before taxes) in base pay, $3.6k for housing, and $452 for food. This is all well and good for soldier and their spouse (barely), but when you add kids into the mix and how fucking expensive they are it quickly becomes obvious why families are struggling.