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Progressive Fact Check
Jason at Iraq now handily disassembles a recent "troops = beggars" article that recently appeared in The Progressive
[The author Barbara] Ehrenreich's $16,000 per year figure--while not far off the mark if the soldier's a screw-up and doesn't get promoted and you only count base pay--is wildly inaccurate when it's vetted by someone who actually knows what he's doing.And the LT? The first year 2nd Lieutenant while deployed in Iraq, makes an after-tax equivalent of $61,462.67 (somewhat less than that, actually, because he's in a marginal 15% bracket, not an effective one. But you get the idea.)
Where ELSE can you be 19-24 years old and pull in that kind of salary?
(emphasis original)
Sometimes I wonder if having meals, clothing, and shelter provided to me would be worth putting up with seargents and getting shot at. Then Ellen hits my head with the ol' cast-iron skillet, and I feel much better. ;)
*Sigh* One to the Left.... One to the right.
Your pay in the military does increase a great deal if your married and have children (Which is the assumption this author uses for the higher pay rate).
If you’re not married AND have children (Which most 18-21 year olds aren't) Then your pay rate is exactly what they said it was. They don't figure into the pay rate your cost of living (IE Free Room, Free Board, Free Health care etc) but that is the money you take home. (For most single soldiers who don't mind living in the barracks that's fine. It can get a little tight if you choose to live off post though)
Also the only folks going into their units at pay rate E-4 and above are ones who have VERY long schools (Which the basic 11B Infantry Course isn't I want to say it's 11 weeks but I could be mistaken) Unless a soldier comes in as an E-3 then they usually wont get their E-4 until sometime in Year 2. Most 01’s are college graduates so they are usually over 21.
Now you take his figure of a married E-4 with two years and a spouse: $25,887. That's not a lot for a family to live on.
There are also documented shortages (Most now addressed) of items that should have been supplied to the soldiers (Body Armor etc) that they bought themselves.
So it depends on who you like as to weather or not the glass is half full or half empty
Posted by: Jeff on April 6, 2004 04:25 PMIf the E4 is unmarried and has no children, AND he lives in post housing, then he shouldn't have much trouble getting by on 25,887. That's more than a lot of 20 year-olds make on the outside. Certainly more than most college kids make on a work-study program. It's certainly well above the poverty line. Things get tighter in markets like Hawaii where there is a chronic shortage of post housing *and* BAH rates don't quite keep up with housing prices.
I used the 2nd year assumption because that's the one Ehrenreich uses in her article--most 'front line battle troops' in Iraq are in their second year of service.
If true, than he should expect to be reaching E-4 shortly if he's not already there.
And no, Barbara's figures are NOT correct for any soldier serving in Iraq. Family separation pay, hostile fire pay, and per diem combine to make a 7,400 difference for every married soldier there. Subtract 3,000 for unmarried soldiers, and you still have 4,400.
No matter how you slice them, Barbara Ehrenreich's figures come up peanuts.
Jason
IraqNow