Minimum Wage
Catfish sent me this.
Low military pay was not mentioned in The State Of The Union speech. Just increasing the minimum wage was . . . Hamburgers or Minimum Wage.
For those fast food employees striking for $15 an hour, let’s do some math. At $15 an hour Johnny Fry-Boy would make $31,200 annually. An E1 (Private) in the military makes $18,378. An E5 (Sergeant) with 8 years of service only makes $35,067 annually. So you’re telling me, LaTisha McBurgerflipper, that you deserve as much as those young men getting shot at, deploying for months in hostile environments, and putting their collective asses on the line every day protecting you.
Here’s the deal, Baconator, you are working in a job designed for a kid in high school who is learning how to work and earning enough for gas, and hanging out with their equally goofy high school pals. If you have chosen this as your life-long profession, you have failed. If you don’t want minimum wage, don’t have minimum skills.
Update: A few people have pointed out that the military provides food, clothing, and shelter. Not bad if you are single. However, if you are married, that changes things. A married E2 is poor. I know. I was one. The military gives you Basic Allotment for Quarters which helps some. Back in 1966 it was $55 a month. If you’re married and living off base you get Commuted Rations which helps to buy groceries. Of course, now if you want to eat in the chow hall you have to pay for it or that’s how it worked back in 1966 when I attended ET School. So, a married burger flipper makes more than a married military dude for at least the first six years of his enlistment.