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

The debate stems more from can a person have a -minimum- quality of life based on their current financial situation. While there are many sacrifices we make, we entirely could/can because of the benefits that are included. People at the current minimum wage can not, especially if they have any sort of family to support.

It could be looked at as a benefit, for some. For most of the Soldiers in the barracks, though, their peers are likely still living at home with their parents anyway. If they were not in the military, many of them would still live at home. If they were stationed close to home, they would probably still be living with their parents. This is not to say that they are immature, but most kids don't move out at 18 years old, unless they join the military or go to college. Living in the barracks is a replacement for a bed room at mom and dads. Moms dinners have been replaced by the DFAC. The bottom line is, the people that should be working minimum wage jobs are children who live at home, not adults raising families. Room and board are not benefits when compared to a minimum wage worker, they are a replacement for living with parents.

Technically we do pay for food, rooms, and utilities. They just deduct it from our pay and we get the rest, unless you are married and making the BAH and BAS.

Yes, there are many benefits you receive beyond Base Pay when you serve. Straight Base Pay is not a good measure of what you make while serving on active duty. Besides Base Pay, BAS, and BAH, there are still many other benefits.

When I was making about $120 a month, with food, lodging, and everything else covered, my pay was ALL spending money. I'd say the former are definitely benefits!!! BTW, your first survey response is a double negative and, as such, invalid as written.

Yes, it is a benefit, but as others have said, this is very much an apples-to-oranges comparison. Once, while working on a Navy program (as a civilian contractor) we were running a 24 hour test, and I pulled a slot in the middle of the night. I was there along with a civilian with no military experience and a sailor, and we got talking about the military life. The civilian opined that the sailor had it pretty good because he got free housing, free food, and didn't pay taxes for anything. Needless to say, we educated her about reality. Even worse, the sailor was on shore duty, but worked odd hours, which meant he rarely got to chow during serving hours, so he ended up having to buy his own food, and his command wouldn't give him separate rats.

I'm going to reply again because I can't find my first post.
In terms of compensation anything that isn't "pay" is a benefit in much the same way as an employer offering 401k contributions is a benefit. Regardless the value of a benefits package does not offset the requirement for minimum wage and the wages in the military are often terrible depending on your specific job and advancement opportunity. An E3 with no dependents earns less than a full time cashier despite working twice the hours. Benefits are nice, but if you can't use them, or worse can't spend them, they're little more than filler for the recruitment brochures.

I think that your perspective greatly depends on what you do in the military. I'm an electronics tech. Even as an E6 my base pay tops out at 37k per year. Compare that to a civilian working the in the same field but with a straight 40 hours per week no deployments, workups, etc that notary life entails. The average for a civilian electronics tech is in the 50s. Now with BAH and BAS and I'm making a little more, probably enough more to justify holding a clearance IMO.

If the military had to pay for what you do versus what grade you are, this wouldn't be an argument at all. The real argument should be how they use BAH as a tool, single versus w/dependents rates to retain otherwise underpaid service member with families.

None of those things are really "free". There is a monetary value associated with each. At any time, if one of those is provided, you see a reduction in your paycheck. Heck, even living on post these days you still pay your own utilities.

I was in 1968 to 1972. the pay was not good then, especially when you look at the very long hours that I worked. The food was not great at the mess halls except in boot camp. In Vietnam, the C Rations and other things I ate were nothing to write home about. The Quonset hut in boot camp was one of the nicer places that I stayed in. With all the sacrifices that service men and women make, you really can not compare military pay to civilian pay.