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Trust me dude....we don't have it that good. I spent 5 years in the Marines stationed primarily in Kaneohe Bay, HI from May '99-Aug-03. I arrived as a PFC (E-2) and left a SGT (E-5). Those figures are counting every possible bonus for a married marine. You get extra pay for the number of dependents you have (wife and kids...up to an extent i'd imagine), either a free place to stay on base (the one's i'd been in were basicly 2 bedroom 1 bath apartments or duplex's although i imagine there are better and worse than the ones i've seen) or you get an allowance to live out in town if your command allows it. the money alloted is based on the housing in the area and the local economy. Hawaii is obviously one of the most expensive places to be stationed in. As a sergeant of 5 years i was pulling in roughly $24,000 annually. Now i would recieve more in some cases (hazardous duty pay in iraq and afghanistan, also no u.s. taxes taken out) which boosted my pay, but nothing near the figures you provided. There may be some military lads that pull in around that much if there living off base with a wife and several kids, but the majority of marines where i was were single lads not pulling in all that much. $24,000 aint that much for some of the shit i had to deal with (war) but hell, it was my decision to sign the dotted line. No complaints.
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