Military pay study overlooks key factors (3 LTTEs, 2 from vets)

[deadparrot]

All negative:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usatoday/militarypaystudyoverlookskeyfactors

[lindisfarne]

1. Military members also get housing allowances tax free and that is

not considered part of their military pay, as I understand it (I know several military members who get such an allowance, and it is more than adequate to rent a decent apartment or in most areas, will pay most or all of a mortgage).

Non-combat Military pay excluding the housing allowance looks pretty meager, but once the housing allowance is factored in (as well as the benefit gained by it being tax free), it doesn't look too bad.

I do think it's horrible that we're significantly cutting back on medical care for veterans; that is inexcusable. Given our current lack of a national health plan and the current state of health care and the number of uninsured/underinsured in the US, we need to ensure that the VA cares for veterans during their life, and this care must be of a high quality (much higher than that currently provided).

I also agree with the 3rd LTTE at the link provided by the OP: our military should not be paid less than contracted employees. If we can pay contracted employees so much more than our military, then we should raise the pay of our military to a comparable rate.

[Yollam]

2. I think housing allowances are only for officers & NCO's with families...

Enlisted men, who make up most of the military, have crappy quarters, crappy pay, and increasingly crappy health care from what I understand.

But I guess it still beats slavery at McDonald's

[lindisfarne]

3. It's not just for officers, and it's not just for people with children.

I know someone who isn't an officer and who received the allowance before he got married; when he got married, the allowance was increased to reflect the cost of larger living quarters, but the allowance before he got married was adequate to rent a nice one-bedroom apartment.

Additionally, the allowance is paid in full, even if the place they live costs less. In other words, if they find living quarters which cost less than the allowance, they pocket some of the allowance, tax-free (and in fact, these people do - their 2 BR, quite nice apartment costs about $150/month less than the allowance).

See here:
http://usmilitary.about.com/od/housingallowance/a/05bah.htm
Below are the rates of tax-free housing allowance (Basic Allowance for Housing, or BAH) that are provided to military members (with and without dependents) who are authorized to reside off base at government expense.

Note also that my comments refer to full-time military, although reserve members can also obtain these benefits if called to active duty for 140 days or more.

[Yollam]

4. From your same source:

http://usmilitary.about.com/cs/joiningup/a/military6.htm

"If you are single and below the rank of E-6, you will probably reside on-base in the dormitory, or "barracks." (Although in some services, single E-6s, or even E-5s are authorized to live off-base). If you are single in the higher grades, you'll be authorized to reside off base."

I never knew any lower enlisted that got BHA unless they had dependents. In the navy, we slept on the ship, in bunks stacked 3 high, with a little storage space. It was pretty much a sardine can. There were gang members there, and if you left your gear unlocked for a minute and looked the other way, it got stolen. It was the worst time of my life. That was 1989 and the pay was about $750 a month! I never went into a combat situation, so I never got that extra pay, but I found it to be the opposite of how my recruiter represented it.

[lindisfarne]

6. I don't know the stats as to how common it is for single people to live

off-base, or for that matter, how common it is for married people to live off-base. Amongst the people I know who are in the military, it doesn't seem uncommon, esp. for married individuals.

In any case, my comment was about how military pay isn't as low as it might seem, when you consider that housing is provided tax-free (either on base (which I agree isn't as nice as off-base) or off-base.

With closing of a lot of military bases in the early 1990s, the military may have less housing - the military did give up some housing (by transferring the housing to a city, etc.)

(Your comment about being aboard ship also reminded me that the off-base housing allowance is provided even while someone is on ship, so if that person sub-lets their housing, they can pocket the housing allowance tax-free. I'm not saying this is a negative thing (it is reasonable to expect that a person will need to have a place to keep their belonging while on ship, and it's not reasonable for someone to put their belongings into storage once a year (I know a member of the navy and for each 6 year enlistment period, he spends approximately 6 months of each year for three years on ship, and then for the next three years, generally spends minimal time on ship (short periods of training, but not 6 month stints). (My aunt was in the navy in the late 1960s/early 1970s, and theft was a problem even then in military housing, at least petty theft involving taking ("borrowing") some belonging.))

[AllegroRondo]

5. I was Army for 15 years

got out in 2000.

The housing allowance is primarily for married soldiers only. If you are single, you either live in the barracks or pay for housing out of pocket. There are some very limited exceptions - senior NCOs (E7 and above) can get the housing allowance even if they are single. Officers can always get it. If you are divorced and paying child support, you qualify also. If there is a big shortage of barracks space, the post commander can authorise housing allowance for lower enlisted, but this rarely happens.

Another nice perk was Sep-Rats. If you do not live in the barracks, they Army pay you a food allowance in lieu of eating at the mess hall. It was about $220 a month when I got out. Tax free, also.