• beefcat@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    only 35k to dodge bullets in some far off corner of the world away from your loved ones?

    and they’re surprised no one is taking that offer?

    • MooseBoys@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      That’s $35K, plus free room and board. If you have no loved ones, it’s actually a pretty decent option.

      • Draedron@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 year ago

        You also need a lack of conscience to invade other countries and kill their citizens and bomb their hospitals though

        • Roboticide@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Not to shill for the US military, but, uh… source on NJ paying anything comparable?

          I don’t know if you’ve looked for a job in the US lately, but the prospects for a 19 year old with just a diploma, and not pursuing a college degree or a skilled trade, are pretty dismal.

          You’re looking at something ~$30k for a Starbucks barista or a McDonald’s burger flipper, or maybe ~$36k if there’s an automotive plant nearby. Both are hourly, so gotta hope they actually give you decent hours if you go the fast food route. If you go the autoworker route, hope you enjoy 8+ hours of repetitive, non-stop, physical labor. You’re then spending at least a third of your ~$20k - $25k take home on rent and another third on food.

          Compare that to $36k, with no significant costs for room and board. You’re paying federal taxes but the deductions for active military are huge and most states waive income tax for soldiers. Your take home is better, your expenses are less, your fit, healthy, and your healthcare is covered for life, and if you leave after your contract is up you get to enjoy the government paying for college.

          Like 99% percent of military personnel never see combat, and especially now that we’re done with Afghanistan and Iraq it’s even safer.

          The military’s problem is that anyone smart enough to do that math and weigh those choices is probably smart enough to do something else, but for millions of people it’s a better choice than slaving away at McDick’s as cost of living and college tuition continues to rise.

            • skydivekingair@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              It’s probably the signing bonus, base pay for an E-1 is much lower. Going off 2023 rates the first year base pay comes out to $22,432.80 plus BAH/S, specialty pay etc. might bring it up to $30k ish. Even if they are coming in as an E-4 base pay will be $30,042.

              • beefcat@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                it’s barely more than what they offered me when i was in high school and i told them to fuck off? military service does not pay all that well

                • pythonoob@programming.dev
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                  1 year ago

                  There are absolutely jobs that have a 35k sign on bonus. Or did at least. The way the OP is worded would be strange for it to be base pay. Sounds like a bonus to me. But you can think what you want.

        • Hboc22@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          As a vet, believe me you welcome the fucking bullets. I would rather be deployed than be in garrison. You have no idea how insufferable the bureaucratic bullshit in the military is. Im not downplaying the war part, but your mileage will vary with exposure to life threatening situations depending on where you get placed. You may land in an assignment that places you directly in harms way on a constant basis, you might never end up in a combat situation at all, or anything in-between. It’s all luck of the draw, you don’t pick your duty station. However the one constant thing you will find wherever you go is the most asinine frustrating circuitous bullshit that you have to deal with on a daily basis. The hoops you need to jump through for the most basic shit. The dumb old fucks that outrank you getting anal retentive about regulations that they’ve clearly never read. The ridiculous amount of busy work. So much bullshit. There were plenty of times when I was in that I WISHED someone would fucking shoot me.

            • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
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              1 year ago

              … You think the US military is weak because it relies on technology, and how it fared in a simulated war against itself?

              Are you forgetting stuff like how we’ve actually seen it go to war? Or how we’ve all become so used to how it fights that when Russia invaded Ukraine, we were all startled that it didn’t unfold like the typical US invasions do?

        • spookedbyroaches@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          Do you think that all army jobs are bullets and action? It’s most likely gonna be administrative stuff. Especially since the Afghan war is over.

        • MooseBoys@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          The US military has 1.4M active-duty personnel. With a turnover rate around 20% per 36 months, that’s about 2.9M cumulative service members from 2001-2021. During that same time period, US forces suffered about 7000 casualties. That’s a fatality rate of 0.24%, which is not that much higher than that of a civilian living in Detroit in the 90s.

    • guckfoogle@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      Lol not even close, it’s 35k for someone just entering the service. If you get deployed to a conflict zone you’re coming back home with 60-80k, but there’s no conflicts right now so without hazard pay you’d still come back with over 50k cash for traveling through Okinawa or fucking Germany with your housing and food payed for. So for the right personality a career in the military is extremely lucrative, but it’s not for everybody.

    • ricecake@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      I think that’s a signing bonus. As in “we’ll give you $35k to take this job that also pays a salary”.

      I tried to look up equivalent total compensation for a new recruit would be, but it looks like it’s nontrivial to figure out. It’s something like $25k/year, and full dental, medical, housing, food, and retirement and it’s all tax exempt.

      Not a bad deal for almost no prerequisites to joining, other than the “selling your freedom” and “directly contributing to violence” parts.