Joining the armed forces.

[Benjamin]

What's the yearly pay?

http://www.military.com/Resources/ResourcesContent/0,13964,49020,00.html

 

[lucky_fool]

I wasn't saying I wouldn't serve combat but it isn't my first choice either.

I was looking into Chemical Operations Specialist(or something fabrication/chemistry/physics related), after serving would go to college and do the extra three years.

I was Army ChemOps. If your recruiter told you that it was a lab job you should go back and laugh in his face. ChemOps is responsible for NBC decontamination, NBC recon, and battlefield smokescreens (at least it was 10 years ago, times may have changed). It is a direct combat support position, meaning that you aren't directly on the front line, but the line is just over yonder.

I have to second the sentiment of not believing everything the recruiter tells you. They aren't out to trick you (too much), but they do have an ulterior motive.

 

[Fu-man Shoe]

Knock yourself out if you wanna be in the military, but there's a
lot better stuff out there. I'm still in, and it's not all it's cracked
up to be sometimes. It's got it's moments, but it's not for everyone.

Fu-Man Shoe

 

[f4t9r]

Good luck
Wish you the best in whatever choice you make

 

[C-grunt]

Any job you choose in the military can see combat. Im Army infantry and have been in firefights with airforce EOD blowing doors for us and my companies chem. specialist comes on patrol every once in a while. The first time I was here, during the invasion, a lot of our mechanics, supply, and other rear echelon got in serious firefights.

The pay sucks!! Being in three years, E4, married, living off post, I only pull in about 2200 a month. Luckily Im in southern Georgia and housing is cheap.

 

[Cpl.Parker]

Army life

I did a stint in the Artillery when I was a lad. People thought that I was crazy to join the army, but I served my country, the pay was low, $19 bucks a day, work was hard, but looking back I wouldn't change a thing. If you join then God Bless you.

"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap"

Ubique
P

 

[stolivar]

guns

I was in both the army and the air force. I did not have any trouble with guns on base. at Ft Benning I could check out my guns at anytime with no prior notice. It was the same when I was in the air force at Semour Johnson AFB. It is true you do want a quranty in writing first. I loved the AF and hated the Army. I was EOD in the AF and a Medic in the army.


steve

 

[wingnutx]

I was enlisted in the Air Force from 92-96.
Bottom line, if you have to wait for what you want, so be it. You can reserve a career field.
.

Great advice. Navy did that to me, but it worked out pretty well.

If you want to be in fabrication then you might want to look into being an HT in the fleet or a steelworker in the Seabees. (lots more guns in the Seabees, but HTs are better fabricators)

AF has fabricators. I've seen some of them attending Seabee schools.

Check out each job, decide what looks good to you, then go from there. You can get what you want, but like the man said there might be a wait. It's worth it.

 

[chopinbloc]

Actually, I'm pretty sure they are all 8 year contracts.

sorry, had a brain fart. yes, they're eight years. whether you are regular army, army reserve or army guard, the active portion is when you actually go do stuff. for regular army that means a full time job, for reserve and guard it's the one weekend a month, two weeks a year shuffle. after your active time - say the average four years - is up you go on inactive ready reserve (IRR) this is where you have already outprocessed, you've turned in all your gear, you never go to work or drill but you can be called back at any time. in today's world you can almost guarantee that you will be stop lossed before you get out or you will be called back from IRR status.

 

[LBTRS]

sorry, had a brain fart. yes, they're eight years. whether you are regular army, army reserve or army guard, the active portion is when you actually go do stuff. for regular army that means a full time job, for reserve and guard it's the one weekend a month, two weeks a year shuffle. after your active time - say the average four years - is up you go on inactive ready reserve (IRR) this is where you have already outprocessed, you've turned in all your gear, you never go to work or drill but you can be called back at any time. in today's world you can almost guarantee that you will be stop lossed before you get out or you will be called back from IRR status.

IRR = Individual Ready Reserve

 

[coylh]

Thanks Benjamin. Do I interpret this correctly as a starting salary of 1235.10 per month at the lowest rank, (unless you're an officer who would start at 2343.60)?

It looks like an E-5 will make about 26k a year (before federal income taxes) after 8 years in the army. Is this a typical rank after that much time?

 

[LBTRS]

Thanks Benjamin. Do I interpret this correctly as a starting salary of 1235.10 per month at the lowest rank, (unless you're an officer who would start at 2343.60)?

It looks like an E-5 will make about 26k a year (before federal income taxes) after 8 years in the army. Is this a typical rank after that much time?

I would say at 8 years in the Army most people are E-6.

LBTRS

 

[Benjamin]

I'm technically not AD until early on Tuesday, when I swear in again.

The military.com link should display a pay scale that looks like the official DoD 2005 pay scale. I didn't compare side by side.

Per my read, an E-1 gets slightly less than that for the first few months, then bump up to 1,235.10, for a grand total of US $14,451.60 [edit - first year's pay] before taxes, without any particular signing bonus or extra pay (combat, flight, language, hazardous duty, etc).

BTW, signing bonuses don't appear when you sign. In the USAF, half appears when you complete training, the remainder is paid annually. Army didn't discuss that aspect in much detail.

Rank depends upon performance and the status of your branch.

Thanks Benjamin. Do I interpret this correctly as a starting salary of 1235.10 per month at the lowest rank, (unless you're an officer who would start at 2343.60)?

It looks like an E-5 will make about 26k a year (before federal income taxes) after 8 years in the army. Is this a typical rank after that much time?

 

[coylh]

Per my read, an E-1 gets slightly less than that for the first few months, then bump up to 1,235.10, for a grand total of US $14,451.60 before taxes, without any particular signing bonus or extra pay (combat, flight, language, hazardous duty, etc).

Wow. That's less than minimum wage here.

 

[UnknownSailor]

Navy E-5 over 10 here. I make $1480 a payday (twice a month), but I live in town.

 

[chopinbloc]

IRR = Individual Ready Reserve

curses! 'nother brain fart. well, the other thread told me to use bacon grease between the layers in my tinfoil hat, should have listened.

 

[chopinbloc]

Wow. That's less than minimum wage here.

that's true but it's also only base pay. when you add bah (basic allowance for housing) and separate rats - if applicable - you get more, sometimes substantially more. also consider that while on active duty, the army has a responsibility to take care of all of an enlisted soldiers NEEDS or pay them extra. that means that either they feed you for free or provide extra money for you to buy food; either they house you for free or pay you extra for housing. medical care is, of course free. bah is tax free and i think separate rats pay is tax free, too. a single soldier doesn't really NEED anything that's not provided for by the army so you can think of the pay as basically mad money. oh, and you get paid more if you have dependants. plus, if you are deployed to a combat area you get a whopping $250 extra a month but all your pay is tax free. while i was activated for the homeland defense mission (helping af pogs secure their airbase in the us) i took home about $1200 twice a month, after tax at e-4. it's not great pay but it's liveable.

bottom line: we don't join the army to get rich, we do it because we love our country or some leeches do it for college money and then bitch when they find out they might actually have to fight.

 

[DeadCalm]

Sorry to be off-task from you original thread, but here are a few comments regarding your career path. Disclaimer: I did not serve in any branch of military service. Regardless, let me share some observations from my best friend, who served in the USAF reserves in the early 90s and functioned as an analyst and liaison to other branches. All observations are very general and second hand.

USAF treats its people about the best. The Navy follows closely. Army, not so good by comparison. Marines, better than Army. Other branches unknown. No flames please. Just passing on some info that might be useful if you are "comparison shopping." Research all of them if you're really looking at pay, ed., and career. Your parents and maybe older family friends and relatives might help you. Heck, turn it into a research paper for a school assignment and evaluate the differences among them all. These are serious choices and while you're obviously, and admirably, a forward thinking person, there are very distinct differences in what each branch can offer you. Don't forget the Coast Guard either if you're looking around. I've known a few service people who really loved it there.

Take all of this with the salt flats of Utah. But do your research, because you could be in for a commitment that might occupy 10%+ of your entire life. (Bench mark and reality check: measure any 10% span of your life so far and see if you've changed in any way during that period.) Good Luck!
—Ross

 

[coylh]

I suppose the perspective on money changes as you go through different phases of your life.

When I was 17, I fried about ten thousand doughnuts to pay for an ar-15 on lay-away. Now my rent is $1000 a month.