Are Military Service members paid enough for what they do in your country?

Question

ChrisMaster69 · Accepted Answer

The military at times are never paid enough and are often simply political pawns.

Your basic squaddie (infantryman) is paid peanuts really, however when you start getting to technical trades and going up the ranks, the pay does start increasing. Then you have Officers who similar to other ranks are paid more for technical stuff, pillows, dentists, doctors etc.

Where it does get silly is when you realise you can be doing 12-16 hour shifts for 3 months with no time off and then have to go away for 9 months overseas.

They do get some ‘bonus items’, free dental care, free gym use, ability to log on expeditions all over the world, ability to be a volunteer in the community, grants for education and for kids schooling (private schools which we obviously call public), all while serving.

Fairly decent pension and discounts off things like cars.

That’s it though after we leave we are pretty much forgotten.

It’s then up to Military charities to put support in to place.

I think it’s always going to be the case that the closer you are to the sharp end, the less you often get paid.

My wage was far higher than that of a junior up in Sangin Valley etc (guy or girl) and I was either at Kandahar, Bastion or back in Qatar.

Then back in the UK the Military are on call for all disasters and Covid and anything else such as covering for Fire Service when they strike. It’s always a hard call do you pay a Nurse more than a Soldier?

The annoyance has always been the chipping away of things such as extra money for being deployed overseas, that has dramatically been reduced as part of various penny pinching exercises (usually conservative governments).

For the UK serving is usually okay, it’s the support when you leave that is shocking, people leaving prison are actually entitled to more lol.

ShadezMcgee · Accepted Answer

Depends on your rank and time and grade if we want to be real, but I will say some soldiers have ranks and responsibilities they should not and some that don't have that should. I think lower enlisted should have a higher pay rate, particularly up to at least specialist, otherwise a lot of that money is gone by the time they get it depending on their branch of service and whether they are active or reserve.

The military is hurting for retention across the board and it is harder to keep troops motivated and retained through service, and I believe a lot of that comes from leadership and lack of accountability. Leaders don't do what they should for the best interests of their soldiers or are not motivated to keep training and give soldiers something that they signed up for. Reserves really struggle because it gets reduced to a lot of downtime admin work eating up weekends and a lot of channels are needed to keep good training going. Especially if it is field related for AT or just a simple weekend on post using ranges for something simple as land navigation, drivers training, rucking, weapons qualification, etc.

I think a lot of it stems from who also is acting as Commander in Chief. For example, lots of soldiers I know personally still active and others retired detest Biden as a leader and how his decisions and policies are impacting morale across the board from him down to the Joint Chiefs and so on. That trickle down affect is hard to combat and fight when your own superiors don't do much to inspire or be accountable to what they push.

purplepoppy · Answer

I had to Google the wages for UK and unless your an officer you might as well stack supermarket shelves. The problem of course is outside of war what do these people actually do? I know they're always training but training isn't actually producing anything.

Apple1996 · Answer

All depends on rank/time in service. Some of them get paid a lot to do nothing and others get paid very little to risk their life. Overall tho I think most don't get payed enough for what they do

NaultD · Answer

The pay is below poverty levels in America. The benefits help but not nearly enough with how many veteran homeless people we have.

bolverk · Answer

No they are not paid enough for putting themselves in harms way, and there is not enough back up for when they leave service, both physically and mentally, most of the time they are having to rely on charities to get the help they need.

Anonymous · Answer

No. And they're not treated very well after their service is complete. But my gov't has a way of doing that after your usefulness has passed.

EnglishEuropean · Answer

I don't know, but look at it this way. You get free food and lodging.

UdontNeedtoknow · Answer

as ex military, I'm a little biased. However it is how i think it is.

Citizenkirk · Answer

Buck privates aren't paid s*** in this country

888theGreat · Answer

They should get $40,000 a year

Anonymous · Answer

The national guard currently get a bum deal

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