Lawmakers look to boost Jr Enlisted pay.

[KevinB]

Why can’t I see MP’s in Canada doing this…

Lawmakers eyeing even more boosts to junior enlisted pay

Expect more conversation from House lawmakers in coming months about ways to bump up enlisted personnel paychecks.

www.militarytimes.com

 

[Navy_Pete]

Why can’t I see MP’s in Canada doing this…

Lawmakers eyeing even more boosts to junior enlisted pay

Expect more conversation from House lawmakers in coming months about ways to bump up enlisted personnel paychecks.

www.militarytimes.com

Probably because they have fobbed that off to Treasury Board and there is no standing committee to look at CAF service issues or things like pay. Similarly our military ombudsman is at the whim of the MND and not an officer of Parliament.

 

[dapaterson]

Looking at the article: on enrolment a US NCM gets $22K USD (~29K CAD); a Canadian gets $37K CAD (~27.9K USD).

 

[KevinB]

Looking at the article: on enrolment a US NCM gets $22K USD (~29K CAD); a Canadian gets $37K CAD (~27.9K USD).

Junior Enlisted down here don’t get much.
There are some advantages though because most bases here are in low cost of living areas (admittedly also shitholes) so money does go a lot further. Plus the USD goes further with gas and food comparably.

 

[dapaterson]

The CAF rate I cited is as of 31 March 2020, so there's three years of compounded increase to that inbound as well.

 

[rmc_wannabe]

I would point out that while US service personnel get shafted pay wise, they (for the most part) don't have to worry about housing availability, expensive local economies ( I remember hitting the Commissary at JB Pearl-Hickam and seeing "normal prices" as opposed to the 6 USD for a quarter of milk on the rest of the island), and generally a better set up for morale and welfare than anything CFMWS could dream up.

I have said this in previous posts, but a lot of the reason our Jr. folks are screaming for more pay is because DND writ large has downloaded a lot of the CoL/QoL costs onto individual members.

Good to see the US is trying to at least provide somewhat both better pay and backstopping necessities to serve in these places.

 

[Rifleman62]

The cost of living in the US is lower, taxes and tax exemptions at all levels of government are more beneficial, vehicles prices, 25 year term mortgages, etc etc. Their pay goes farther.

Based on owning/selling a US residence and living in TX and AZ for 15 Winters.

 

[Eaglelord17]

Looking at the article: on enrolment a US NCM gets $22K USD (~29K CAD); a Canadian gets $37K CAD (~27.9K USD).

Don’t forget the new PLD in there. When that gets factored in for many the pay is substantially higher than 37k.

 

[dapaterson]

The US article is pay only, to compare, we shouldn't include housing allowances.

 

[Furniture]

The US article is pay only, to compare, we shouldn't include housing allowances.

Why? TB looks at our benefits alongside our pay all the time, so why should we exclude benefits when comparing ourselves to others?

 

[dapaterson]

Why? TB looks at our benefits alongside our pay all the time, so why should we exclude benefits when comparing ourselves to others?

Because then we need to dig in to their detailed benefits package for comparability.

If I make a throwaway comment with 45 seconds of Google effort, it won't have that level of analysis.

 

[KevinB]

FWIW

Federal Benefits

View fact sheets for all Federal Benefits available to Soldiers and Families sorted by Category, by Component, by Life Event, and listed alphabetically. Eligibility for any benefit or service is based on current Army, DoD and/or VA regulation. Therefore, additional categories of non-Army...

myarmybenefits.us.army.mil

Some individual states have their own as well.

 

[Halifax Tar]

Don’t forget the new PLD in there. When that gets factored in for many the pay is substantially higher than 37k.

You're not wrong; but that new PLD falls away fast.

 

[Halifax Tar]

FWIW

Federal Benefits

View fact sheets for all Federal Benefits available to Soldiers and Families sorted by Category, by Component, by Life Event, and listed alphabetically. Eligibility for any benefit or service is based on current Army, DoD and/or VA regulation. Therefore, additional categories of non-Army...

myarmybenefits.us.army.mil

Some individual states have their own as well.

Are all members of the US Armed Forces on the same pay and benefits package ? Or do all the services have different packages ?

 

[TangoTwoBravo]

The US article is pay only, to compare, we shouldn't include housing allowances.

You absolutely have to look at how the US Military compensates their members for housing to make any form of comparison to our compensation. In addition to their pay, they either receive housing at no charge on a military installation or receive the Basic Housing Allowance (BAH).

An E5 with dependents posted to Fort Knox and living off-post will receive $1155 USD a month in BAH to cover housing. An E5 in Boston MA with dependents living off post will receive $4188 ESD a month.

 

[KevinB]

Are all members of the US Armed Forces on the same pay and benefits package ? Or do all the services have different packages ?

Benefits are the same in that respect for Active Duty personnel. I’m unsure about the Reserve and NG. Allowances for trades are different, as are reenlistment bonuses.

A friend of mine got a tax free 250k bonus - not too shabby - but he also pointed out that of one spread that out over 5 years and as E-8 at the time he was about on par for a what an Assaulter Sgt was making at the Hill…
- but I didn’t think that was a good apples to apples comparison, as he was leaving out some benefits beyond pay and allowances on his end.



As @TangoTwoBravo points out there is BAH or On Post accommodations.
BAH is scaled by rank and dependents.


They are two very different systems (DoD versus the CAF), and it’s hard to extrapolate between them due to that.

I believe at the E-1 to E-5 level for single members the CAF works out to be ahead for most (location dependent) but when one has family, the situation can be reversed.

 

[Halifax Tar]

Benefits are the same in that respect for Active Duty personnel. I’m unsure about the Reserve and NG. Allowances for trades are different, as are reenlistment bonuses.

A friend of mine got a tax free 250k bonus - not too shabby - but he also pointed out that of one spread that out over 5 years and as E-8 at the time he was about on par for a what an Assaulter Sgt was making at the Hill…
- but I didn’t think that was a good apples to apples comparison, as he was leaving out some benefits beyond pay and allowances on his end.



As @TangoTwoBravo points out there is BAH or On Post accommodations.
BAH is scaled by rank and dependents.


They are two very different systems (DoD versus the CAF), and it’s hard to extrapolate between them due to that.

I believe at the E-1 to E-5 level for single members the CAF works out to be ahead for most (location dependent) but when one has family, the situation can be reversed.

So an E8 makes the same salary in the USN compared to an E8 in the USAF ?

 

[KevinB]

So an E8 makes the same salary in the USN compared to an E8 in the USAF ?

Yes.

https://militarypay.defense.gov/Portals/3/Documents/2022%20Basic%20Pay%20Table%20-%201%20Drill%20Pay.pdf

Allowances and other trade/position specific things are different of course — similar to the CAF.

 

[dapaterson]

For individuals who ultimately receive a pension, pay is more valuable than allowances, as allowances are excluded from the pension calculations (per regulations).

 

[TangoTwoBravo]

For individuals who ultimately receive a pension, pay is more valuable than allowances, as allowances are excluded from the pension calculations (per regulations).

Sure, but you still need to look at those allowances if you are going to compare compensation. Let's look at a US Army E1 with two years of service. It seems their monthly pay would be $1833 USD. If they were posted to Fort Cavazos in Texas and lived on-post they would not pay for those quarters (single or married). If they lived off-post with dependents they would receive an additional $1,284 a month in BAH. We can talk about pensions etc, but for the young troop we should not minimize the effect of getting and additional $1,284 a month when you make $1,833 a month.

So I think it is deceptive to simply draw comparisons between the basic pay rates of a US Army E1 and a Canadian Private.