Pay, benefits make military towns affluent

[unhappycamper]

Construction workers frame up office space in Belcamp, Md., in February 2009 that was intended to be used by firms relocating to the area due to BRAC. Military communities are being aided by rapidly rising pay and benefits in the armed forces.


Pay, benefits make military towns affluent
By Dennis Cauchon - USA Today
Posted : Tuesday Aug 17, 2010 21:03:47 EDT

Rapidly rising pay and benefits in the armed forces have lifted many military towns into the ranks of the nation's most affluent communities, a USA Today analysis finds.

The hometown of the Marines' Camp Lejeune — Jacksonville, N.C. — soared to the nation's 32nd-highest income per person in 2009 among the 366 U.S. metropolitan areas, according to Bureau of Economic Analysis data. In 2000, it had ranked 287th.

The Jacksonville metropolitan area, with a population of 173,064, had the top income per person of any North Carolina community in 2009. In 2000, it ranked 13th of 14 metro areas in the state.

The USA Today analysis finds that 16 of the 20 metro areas rising the fastest in the per-capita income rankings since 2000 had military bases or one nearby. Other examples:

• Manhattan, Kan., home of the Army's Fort Riley, is the state's most affluent metro area. In 2000, it was the poorest of the state's six metros.

[Obamanaut]

1. Closing military sites worldwide (700+ of various size in more than

30 countries) would be good for this as well.

Spread the returning personnel and their families (many have their families with them on accompanied tours) amongst the formerly downsized bases in the US.

Immediate boost to the local economies.

Saves the money currently being spent on local civilian salaries at those out-of-US sites, saves money being spent on upkeep of those sites, saves money on transporting replacement personnel and supplies.

Begin to reduce the overall size of the military active duty via normal attrition and reduced recruiting efforts. Use the Department of Defense as actual 'defense' rather than policemen to the world.

[Lance_Boyle]

2. Hm... so how's the economy around Moyock, NC

and the other mercenary towns?

[pipoman]

3. Military bases have, by definition, 100% employment

I am not believing that enlisted benefits and salaries have increased in any meaningful way...maybe the brass?

[ProgressiveProfessor]

4. Neither really have

People forget that some of the benefits are tax free, which does help immensely.

[Obamanaut]

5. With base pay, allowances for subsistence and housing (BAS, BAH)

salaries for even junior enlisted people may be higher than you think.

Check out the current pay scales, they might surprise you. A young enlisted person with a spouse and two dependents makes more than a beginning school teacher in my area, even with a master's degree.

And, there are no dental or medical bills, no dental or medical insurance.

[Hello_Kitty]

6. Meanwhile, single childless enlisted people are shat upon.

Really annoyed me how as an E-5 I was making less money than an E-3 with a wife and kid. And I got to live on the ship full time while he got a housing allowance.

[hayu_lol]

7. It is the result of stability...

Good payrolls and jobs that don't up and disappear. Stable workforce, both military and civilian. Supply firms are stable...providers of all the materials the base needs.

Good jobs, good benefits, solid town businesses, good city infrastructure.

Living wage jobs.

[Hello_Kitty]

8. Just think how much better it would be if single enlisted people got housing allowances?

[Obamanaut]

9. I saw many, many single enlisted personnel request and receive

both BAS and BAH during my career.

When we deployed, BAS and BAH for the unmarried personnel were stopped and we all moved to the ship, and even the BAS for married personnel was stopped - because we were being provided meals by the ship.

I don't know of a single instance where a request to move off base and receive BAS/BAH by an E5 was disapproved. I did get to see a lot of these requests - for the last three duty stations I was the senior enlisted, and such requests were routed through me on the way to the XO/CO.

[Hello_Kitty]

10. Things must have changed since I was in.

I got a housing allowance and comm rats only when I was on shore duty and the barracks were overcrowded. So it's a good development if high ranking single enlisted people are finally being treated like adults. However, it does raise the question of why the singletons have to make rank to get these things while a 19 year old E-1 gets them automatically upon marriage or becoming a parent.

[Obamanaut]

12. When was this? I retired in 1988. Basic in 1960. nt

[Hello_Kitty]

13. I was in from 87 to 97.

Single sailors with no kids only got housing and food allowances if the barracks were overcrowded and never if they were stationed aboard ship.

[pipoman]

11. My single

Marine lance corporal son would be in serious poverty if it wasn't for base housing. The medical benefits are good. There certainly isn't any low enlisted who are getting rich.

[Hello_Kitty]

15. The base pay for junior enlisted people is crap.

Which is why I saw so many people marry the first idiot who came along so they could get a bump in pay and move off the ship or out of the barracks.

[Obamanaut]

16. E4 with 3 years service is about $2100 a month. Assume he or she

is single living on base, consider there are no food expenses, no rent, no utilities, no medical, dental, or health insurance expenses. If he or she moves off base and gets BAS/BAH, that goes up to about $40,000 a year. Here is a pay calculator where various pay grades and length of service can be entered. The pay scales can be found as well. http://militarypay.defense.gov/pay/calc/index.html

The pay isn't as bad as some people think. Also, it was my experience that MOST young people can make E4 in the Navy in 4 years. I worked with one who came to my squadron as E3 fresh out of A school, and was a CPO (E7) in less than 10 years.

[Hello_Kitty]

17. $2100 a month for a job where they own you and your hours can be unlimited sucks.

And the fact that they so generously give you a rack on the ship to sleep in or a barracks room you have to share doesn't make up for realizing that your subordinate two pay grades lower brings home a lot more money than you do because performed the heroic act of marrying and having a kid. I also spent plenty of my paycheck on food because it's pretty unrealistic to plan your life around eating all your meals on the ship or mess deck.

Whether or not you agree the base pay is too low, IMHO the military's pay/benefits structure is anachronistic and unfair to single and childless people.

[Obamanaut]

19. Well, sometimes life is hard. Especially when, looking at an earlier

post one discovers that you were in a time when there was no draft, when you had access to the pay scales prior to entering, when there were people who had been around whom you might have asked, when you may possibly have noticed these things during your first term but looks like you stayed an additional few years.

You buys your tickets, you takes your rides.

"Man, I hate this stinkin' place"

"You wanna re-up"?

"Sure, Chief. I hate this stinkin' place, but I'll stay."

[Hello_Kitty]

20. Typical condescending attitude. eom

[Obamanaut]

21. Or possibly an accurate observation. eom

[JonLP24]

22. It would've been nice for me

to get all of the BAH at once. They split it from 1st and 15th, which landed me in debt. It doesn't do me any good to get the other half of the BAH on the 15th when the rent is due on the 1st. Also due to un-flexible training hours I often missed the 1st of the month payments because offices close around 4:30pm and they docked you an extra $50 or so. Yes it was my own fault for not having the foresight to see that and for not getting a cheaper apartment. Lessons learned and all that.

[SoCalDem]

14. Which is why so many rust belt areas that lost bases, have additional woes

:(

[Owl]

18. Our country can't afford to prop up all this military crap.