• TallonMetroid@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      To be fair, for at least the first couple years, your cost-of-living expenses are also essentially zero if you’re single, since you’ll be staying in the barracks and eating in the mess hall without having to pay anything out of pocket. So that $35k stretches a lot further than it would outside the military.

      • Haywire@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        You also don’t have much time to spend it because they keep you pretty busy. In addition there are tons of other perqs. Looking back I’m disappointed I didn’t join. You get retirement very early, and you can start other jobs that you wouldn’t have the opportunity for otherwise.

        I didn’t want to get yelled at. That was what kept me out. Now that I get what that was about I think I could have done it for the required six weeks.

    • BottleOfAlkahest@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      The 35k reads to me like an enlistment bonus not a base wage. You can google base wages for the US military if your actually interested. That said if we’re talking the US military there isn’t a chance in hell that it’s a 40 hour work week. He’d be lucky for a 60 hour work week and 80 is pretty standard if your leadership sucks. I had a cot in my office I used multiple nights a week when working for a particularly dickish commander once.

      There are plenty of terrible things about the military, stupid long hours, highly toxic work environment, alcohol abuse is encouraged, rape culture is accepted, etc. But the pay isn’t all that bad when you add everything up (base pay, tax breaks, housing allowance, on post child care discounts, uniform allowance, free health care, dependants, re-enlistment bonuses, etc). The per hour rate isn’t good but I’ve also never gotten the equivalent time off in PTO that I got in leave either.

      There also isn’t a wage gap for minorities, there’s a ton of other bigotry, but no wage gap.

        • BottleOfAlkahest@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Yeah the entry base pays not great but you do have to keep in mind that there are fewer federal taxes taken for some forms of pay from the military. At lower ranks you also get a barracks room free so you aren’t paying rent (or utilities) and you can eat in the mess hall 3 times a day so technically you don’t need to buy food. There is also a clothing allowance in addition to your base pay so clothing doesn’t come out. You also aren’t paying premiums for medical, vision, or dental either.

          Once housing, clothing, utilities, insurance, and food are covered that $23k a year isn’t as bad as it looks.

    • IndiBrony@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Assuming you work for 40 hours.

      Dunno how it works in Murica, but here in Britain you serve your duty from 00:01 to 23:59

      So the equivalent of about $4 per hour…

    • roro
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      1 year ago

      To be fair, people will also say “thank you for your service” n 'stuff

      • doggle@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 year ago

        That’d be a damn high bonus for nearly anyone going into the military. Not that recruiters are above lying about a bonus

        • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          That would be the lowest possible bonus these days. My sign on bonus was $72,000 in 2000 and the next year it jumped to $275,000 for my job in the Navy. It’s come back down to $75,000 from what I’ve heard, but I’ve been out since 2004

        • ZapBeebz_@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I mean, the USN is currently offering enlistment bonuses between $50k and $75k for anyone going down the nuke pipeline. The lie is probably that the $35k is for one specific rate he’ll never qualify for.

            • Sconrad122@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              People who work with naval nuclear reactors, so the supercarriers and the submarine force. The US Navy is the largest US-based nuclear power plant operator, by reactor count