Is not paying rent, food, utilities, etc., a benefit received while on active duty (in addition to your pay)?

To get a good comparison between a private sector job and a military job you need to compare total benefits and compensation for each job versus the work requirements.

The way I look at is this: I'm a single SGT. Been single my whole career. If/when I get promoted, there's roughly a 25K pay increase once you factor in the allowances. Now, that goes without saying, I'm used to it and conditioned to do more with less. I know people that flat out make more than I do and always seem to be in a bind. I think in many ways it hinders your ability to manage money. The only way it maintains its integrity is if the check for your rent is allotted and you simply dont see it and when you go to grocery stores there's a cap (your respective BAS) on what you can spend. Otherwise, people will do what they want with it; which they'll continue to do anyway but BLUF, I don't really see the entitlements as a benefit. The real world isn't going to give it to you so don't get complacent and used to it.

All of the “pluses “ add to the equation of equivalency to civilian pay. Some of which are not taxable income. As a manager/professional employee in the civilian sector I rarely, if ever, worked a 40 hour week and was exempt from the overtime provisions of the FSLA. However, my civilian employer never asked me to lay my life on the line for my job. They also didn’t count weekends as a part of my vacation. Or tell me how far from work I could be on my weekends. If I was sick, I called my boss and stayed home. The list can go on and on. Having worked on both sides of the coin, I will NEVER begrudge the pay, allowances, retirement and time off that our service men and women receive. If anything, it’s too low!!’

Do they still pass out the yearly earnings comparison statement?

Single soldiers pay for their meals. $250-$350 every month is deducted from a barracks soldiers check. Regardless if they go to the dfac or not. Barracks soldiers don’t recieve BAH or BAS. If they do, it’s less than $10 a month. HAD and combat pay is only given on deployments and certain duty stations. Clothing allowance, while nice, is given once a year. Medical, while extremely cheap, isn’t free either. Just because they don’t recieve a bill every month for these things, doesn’t mean they’re free. As an E-5 living in the barracks, $858 is subtracted from my check every month for these “free” benefits. Not that I’m complaining. The cost of all this is still far lower that what I would have to pay as a normal civilian. Our actual benefits are pretty awesome. TA, MGIB, not paying for rent or utilities, commissary, payed leave. All pretty sweet to me.

The pay is a living wage. But if you were to base our pay on an hourly scale we are definitely getting under cut, especially in the beggining of our career.

I believe it is a benefit of active duty service. Now whether or not it adds ups to being competitive in the private sector is someone else's job to figure out. For a young service member, these things must be looked at as a benefit. We all choose our professions, even in the service. We choose to defend freedom, and take everything, good and bad, that comes with it. Receiving free rent, food, healthcare, utilities, etc. is not something other professions offer. So chalk that part up to the good. As for no overtime....well....like I said, someone else's job.

Technically, it is a benefit.

The only reason I will disagree is, and this may have changed since I got out in 1989, you do not get to choose the location or the room mates. You do not get to choose what you eat and you may be moved at any time from one room to another.

Example: As a private, I shared a room with 3 other Marines. The room was probably 12 x 12. The room was smaller than my bedroom when I was growing up. (Trust me, my room at home was not very large.) My room mates were all a bit on the strange side. In fact, until I was a Corporal, I had to share the room with many others. Additionally, you did not have the right to do what ever you wanted. Example, if you are renting a place in town, than you can drink. If you lived in the barracks, NO BOOZE!!. Also, no cooking, and you were subject to inspections at any time.

And, does living in a tent count as part of your room and board?

As for the free food. Only at certain times of day and only what is being served. If you didn't like was being served, then you have to go pay for it elsewhere.

Granted, you didn't have to pay utilities, unless you had cable in your room, but you also had no control. At MCAS Cherry Point, if you needed AC, you had to wait until after May 1st. It may be 90, but you are only authorized heat. If in the spring, it got really cold, then sorry once again, you are authorized AC, but not heat. Maybe you would be issued extra blankets. And yes, this did happen. In 1983, They had 85 degree weather on day and a light dusting of snow on the ground on the next.

I truly hate that comparison that has been floating around. We do have a lot of benefits that need to be taken into consideration such as the ones mentioned and also free medical and dental. All of that adds up to a lot of hidden compensation that civilians do not get and still have to pay for. Now you can make a couple points about not getting overtime or holiday pay, but that hardly makes up for the level of compensation we receive beyond our base pay. And for those of us out of the military working salaried positions (not hourly wages), we don't get overtime or holiday pay either.

One additional factor people fail to realize is that were the minimum wage to be raised, it would force an increase in incomes across the board to adjust. It would not be $15 an hour for ONLY the Johnny Fryboys out there.

Hmmmm, reminds me of the 70s when civilians were complaining about the military's "country club" lifestyle, mysteriously few tried to cash in on it. Don't forget you are also provided a spiffy and stylish ensemble, well suited to almost any social occasion, at no cost. You are provided, at no charge, access to an amazing array off weapons—pistols, rifles, grenades, mortars, assorted rockets and missiles, the best tanks and artillery in the world— these are the goodies that many civilians would do anything to use (except enlist); don't forget free range time, on the outside that can cost more than $20 per hour. Now the quality of life issues—what's it worth to have numerous people trying to kill you with firearms, bombs and lots of other things. What value do you assign to sleeping in a mud hole, eating MREs for weeks on end, taking a shower every week or two, seeing your spiffy camo ensemble caked with filth and torn to shreds. There are not that many civilians, other than scouts, that know the unique satisfaction of digging a hole with your entrenching tool then taking a dump in it I haven't mentioned snakes and poisonous insects. Oh, an to top it off, FREE MEDICAL CARE from some of the best trauma specialists in the world and some of the finest prosthetics in the world. Did I mention the part about getting shot at?

What would the average civilian be willing to pay for the above. The way for envious civilian workers to cash in on all these "freebies" is simplicity itself, all they have to do is enlist.

If you people are seriously convinced of the value of these benefits, I suggest you work out a number and apply the proper amount to your taxes. If you really think you're getting over kick in what you think you owe—everyone should pay their fair share, we need to spread the wealth around.

All of these things are part of the cost of the military doing business. For thousands of years armies have supplied their troops clothing, quarters, food, weapons and the other necessities for making war—it is expected and required. At its core I see little point to this discussion.