• atrielienz@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Base pay for an E1 is $23,011.2 per year. Granted you don’t have to pay for food or shelter as an E1. But. Well. Let’s not pretend it’s actually $35k a year.

    • Carlo@lemmy.ca
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      9 months ago

      I have no idea what kind of recruiting incentives are available now, but when I enlisted in 2001, a 35k enlistment bonus was not unheard of.

      • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Seriously. I joined as a Nuke in 2000. $72,000 enlistment bonus. One year later the bonus shot up to over $200,000 once 9/11 happened.

        • SARGEx117@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago
          1. My nuke bonus offer was 10k with “up to 100k upon reenlistment at the end of an initial 8 year enlistment” I ended up with AECF anyway.
        • greywolf0x1@lemmy.ml
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          9 months ago

          I imagine the money was the reason most of you were eager to murder as many brown ppl as you possibly could. It also possibly explains why most sane individuals who should have opposed the war supported it, once the dollar is involved common sense is gone.

          • Agent641@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            Nukes dont doo much murdering, they mostly just sit next to the spicy thermos and wait for their shift to end.

          • wanderingmagus@lemm.ee
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            9 months ago

            I joined the SSBN fleet to have my finger on the toggle switch when the order comes to launch thermonuclear missiles. I spend my days when on patrol in a tin can at the bottom of the sea, not shooting anyone. But if we’re gonna end human life, I want to be there to watch the world burn and make way for some species less destructive.

          • Dadifer@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            You’re being downvoted, but why else do people sign up to kill other people and be shot at voluntarily?

            • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              Because of you want a job that’s not flipping burgers or a trade, you either need to have money for college or need to join the military to pay for college later.

              The reality is, most jobs that require a degree shouldn’t. I have a degree and have a great job, but what I do isn’t at all related to what I studied in college.

              • snippyfulcrum@lemmy.world
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                9 months ago

                Not 100% true.

                I never finished college and have a pretty nice IT job now.

                Admittedly I had a lot of shit jobs before by some luck one of those places I worked at for a couple years had an IT opening. I applied and had somewhat of a reputation for helping out the less technically savvy peeps on my line, went to the interview, answered their questions and got my foot in the door for experience.

                It wasn’t a great paying position but eventually I was able to move elsewhere and a couple jobs later I found myself making decent money, better money than some I know that do have college degrees.

              • Dadifer@lemmy.world
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                9 months ago

                What if we - and bear with me here - built a society where you didn’t have to kill people to go to college?

                • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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                  9 months ago

                  Sounds great.

                  But until then don’t blame 18yo kids with no other prospects for taking the path that will keep them from being homeless.

            • stevedidWHAT@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              Idk maybe try talking with someone about it without being an asshole and maybe you’d see the other side and it wouldn’t spiral into an unruly argument

                • stevedidWHAT@lemmy.world
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                  9 months ago

                  People who have served mainly and in person if you can.

                  Pretty hard to verify identities of people on message boards and forums so you could be talking to 1 guy with 20 accounts and 1 direction they want to take things.

                  We’re vulnerable people to mass opinion, and on the internet mass is easily manipulated.

            • atrielienz@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              Because they’re poor and joining gives them a way to feed and shelter themselves and their family.

              • Dadifer@lemmy.world
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                9 months ago

                Imagine living in a world where you have to kill other people before society thinks you’re valuable enough to feed and shelter your family.

                • atrielienz@lemmy.world
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                  9 months ago

                  I mean. There are a lot of places like that including ones where it’s mandatory. So, what was your point again?

                  Not to mention the fact that not everyone who serves actually kills people, but I imagine that distinction is lost on you.

      • atrielienz@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        An enlistment bonus generally isn’t included in your yearly income for the purposes of recruitment until they know for sure what rate/mos you’ll be. Until then it’s not something a recruiter can offer unless that enlistment bonus is available to all enlistees. And it’d still only be for the single year. They aren’t giving you $75K every year of your 4-6 year first enlistment.