RE: military overcompensation

[Orsyn]

Originally Posted by Alcoholica

We all choose our jobs. Why does my girlfriend who BARELY graduated High School make about $75,000(US) working as a waitress at HOOTERS. That's about twice as much as a high school teacher who has a Masters degree.
Not to mention I pull in almost $100,000 working as a prison guard. Both of which require no degree, and not much experience.

You could even go further, what about Actors, Professional Athletes, Models, etc? Why not complain about how much these people make?

Grats to you, that is one job I don't think I would ever take, a prison guard. My buddy did that and he says he makes soo much money by covering peoples shifts that it is crazy, but still, I wouldn't want that job.

[massgrunt]

Originally Posted by d brooks

Thats fucked up

They shouldnt get payed a dollar more than the least paid US troop

Do you understand that nobody would work for them at those wages? Do you care, or are you just blindly ideological?

[d brooks]

Originally Posted by massgrunt

Do you understand that nobody would work for them at those wages? Do you care, or are you just blindly ideological?

Im paying for it, I should care.


heres the reality of what went on in Iraq

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...600193_pf.html

[Evil Eye Gouger]

Originally Posted by Lubaolong

There's nothing wrong with being in the military. It is a noble job. The pay and compensation is just too much.

Compare Joe that joins the military at 18 to Timmy that goes to a good university, gets an engineering degree (the most challenging, highest paying bachelor degree) :

Joe, age 22, married, Army Seargent, hanging out in Hawaii, surfing having a good time:
Yearly Regular Military Compensation: $61,016.32
(Basic Pay+BAS+BAH+COLA)
http://www.dod.mil/militarypay/pay/calc/index.html

Timmy, age 22, college graduate, Electrical Engineer:
Average Yearly Starting Salary: $52,009.00
http://money.cnn.com/2005/04/15/pf/c...ex.htm?cnn=yes

Tell me why someone that joins the military with a high school education should earn that much more than one of the highest paying, most technical college degrees? They shouldn't.

After 8 years, do you think maybe the engineering degree will pay off?

Joe, age 26, married, SFC, still surfing his life away:
Yearly Regular Military Compensation: $80,652.96
same site as above

Timmy, age 26, 4 years professional experience, working on his master's, Electrical Engineer, also in Hawaii:
Medium Yearly Salary: $72,205.50
salary.com

Again, why should Joe that maybe went to a 6 week training course to teach him to type numbers into a database be making more? It's ridiculous.

I don't know what to make of this clusterfuck, but it sounds like you are complaining that people are more successful than you are, and that you are not getting as much out of life as you deserve, given the work you feel you put in.

Well, ultimately, you have to stop hating people for being more successful than you.

A wise person once told me this, and I took it to heart. I hope it helps you sort out your life too:

Originally Posted by Lubaolong

I can't help but feel that I need to share something profound with you, but I'm sure it will only fall on deaf ears. I will try my best to share some wisdom I have read and experienced.

I've known a lot of successful people in my life and there is something all of them have in common: focus and determination. They don't want everything, just some things. They have been happy reaching some measure of success in a venture that they took to heart. Successful people, unlike foolish failures, know they can not have everything. We accept we need focus and hard work to reach success, a lot of effort spent in one direction, long hours to that goal we have set for ourselves.

Foolish ones want everything with no effort. They look around enviously at those getting all the glory, the money. They spend the little money they have foolishly buying lottery tickets in hopes of gaining success overnight. They want to have it all with no effort. They want it all and they end up with nothing. Then like many we see here, they envy those more successful that haven't squandered away what little chance and opportunity they did have.

You want big success with small effort. You don't understand, nor appreciate, the hard work and focus that goes into success. You have no idea of how dedicated and hard working I am. You see the diamond necklaces I buy for my wife, the expensive cars, the large passive incomes, but not the hard work that went into these things. You don't know what hard work is and can't appreciate hard work. That is why lottery winners and those that reach success overnight by luck quickly lose everything they have. Have you not heard a fool and his money quickly part? These people do not understand the fundamental principles of success, which are focus and hard work.

I don't completely blame you. Today, many lack parental skills to raise competent children. Many parents neglect teaching strong work ethics. The result is the next generation of degenerates with no desire or drive to work hard. They try to take shortcuts and then wonder why the next guy has more than they do. Exploitation, right? Lol. If you want your children to be successful, teach them success. Teach them to focus and work hard, not blame the rich and buy lottery tickets. Focus and work are the cornerstones of success. They allow you to best hardships and pass difficulties that block your way to success.

No matter how incompetent you and piedra are today, if you focus and work hard, things are only going to get better. We have all seen this. Even the lowly janitor at Walmart that sticks with his job, goes to college part-time, and works hard eventually rises to the management level. The ones that do not focus and keep the goal close to heart jump around from one thing to another. They quickly become a jack-of-all-trades and master-of-none.

I know it is a bitter pill to choke down. But it isn't inheritance or luck that makes the difference, it is focus and tireless dedication to make it in this world. You don't have to be a genius to succeed; it just makes it a little easier. But we all know of the less intelligent people that are making bank while some other more intelligent are falling into poverty. Focus+work>intelligence. It's the only reason my sister is doing so well now. If I envy anything, it is only her focus.

The moral of the story is success isn't free. No one will give it to you. It must be taken. It must be earned by your hard work. There is no other way. Vidal Sassoon once said, "The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary." How true.

[Orsyn]

You know, I know Truck drivers at my second job that make 90K a year, just for driving a truck. guess what, they don't have a degree either. maybe you should look into that since you feel you work so much and get paid so little.

[Evil Eye Gouger]

Originally Posted by Lubaolong

It is a very sweet deal, and I have been struggling with this decision the last several months. After being contacted about reenlisting, I actually talked to a recruiter about going back in as an officer. The only problem is the constant restationing and my wife wouldn't be able to mantain a steady job if we moved every few years. After crunching the numbers, even if we both only make the average salaries, I think it will be best for us to both do engineering jobs. I have high hopes of landing a job for a US company in China or Taiwan and making bank. My wife's uncle is a high up in management in IBM, and I think he might be able to help us a little with this. Again, this is a risk. After the hard work, we might end up making less in our career. But after considering the possible gains, less dumbasses, and more freedom, it is a risk I am willing to take.

Wonderful. First you bitch about people earning more than you do, and cry how the world is unfair and you are not getting paid enough, yadda yadda, then you admit that you use family connections to sort you out with good gigs.

This wouldn't be a problem if you hadn't spent weeks here hating on everyone who complained about payment or quality of life and anyone who wanted some support or help from others.

Can you spell "hypocrite"?

Let me tell you how, since your English is lacking too (didn't teach that in your college): It's H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-T-E.

[Evil Eye Gouger]

Originally Posted by RaposaBJJ

Not only is this thread shit, but your post already tells me volumes about you and your unit. COWORKERS? WHO THE FUCK REFERS TO THE FELLOW SOLDIERS IN THEIR UNIT AS "coworkers"?

Hahaha, I love it.

There is only one thing that has managed to unite EVERYBODY in the War Room, from SMEAC, Llama and Gregster to piedra, Das and me, and that's hating this fake whiner.

[Evil Eye Gouger]

Originally Posted by Lubaolong

You don't know how right you are. I'll share something with you. I am seriously going crazy. Honestly. My family has been successful, my parents/grandparents successful business owners, my sister is a very successful physician, her fiance a successful financial advisor, and I feel like the ugly duckling. They are putting away serious money and I know I should be doing something more but I can't figure out what. I was accepted to a medical program, but an embarrassing fact is blood makes me sick. I don't know what I can enjoy that makes big bucks. I'm taking a chance now, dropping a career I hate, going back to school, hoping the wife and I can get picked up after graduation to work for a US company in Taiwan for big bucks, and still do a side business to catch up to my sister. My grandparents just recently died... my grandmother left me a several hour long tape telling me how smart I was but she was so worried about me and about my future success.. and telling me not to disappoint them.. etc. I'm going out of my mind trying to figure out how to make it. I seriously was hearing voices a few weeks ago and thought I was losing my mind.. but it turned out just to be anxiety. Well, fuck me. I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm just going to press on and try my best to make it big. Whether it happens or not, I'm still going to be dead in 60 years, so what does it matter. My children might just blow it all anyway, right? Ugh.

This post just made my christmas holidays better.

It's like reading a good Dostoyevski novel.

[Lubaolong]

Originally Posted by Orsyn

While YOU may feel you have been overpaid, most grunts, feel they don't get paid enough. Let's compare a civi job with a grunt. The guys from Blackwater that provide security in Iraq. They get paid, on average, close to 10 Grand/month ( i wish I had a source for this, other than someone that served over there). So the civillian counterpart gets pais a whole hell of a lot more than soldiers over there.

I agree with you. E-1 grunts that are in Iraq getting shot at are not making near as much for what they risk. I'm not arguing this. I agree many posters on here may have worked very long hours, risked their lives in war, and didn't make as much money at lower enlisted ranks for what they risked. The option still exists though, and it's more or less the same option most have outside of war time, to select a cush job, complete a few weeks of training, work a 9-5 job, sit around BSing, and make more money than an engineer.

Does anyone believe that a guy that doesn't deploy, doesn't have any real responsibilities, doesn't have an education, and only answers a phone in an office for 7 hours a day then goes home should ever earn more than an engineer? No? But this is the standard for these jobs. These people, on average, ARE earning more. Do you not feel these people are being overpaid for their efforts? Am I the only one that thinks redneck Billy Bob that didn't graduate high school and now files papers SHOULD make less than someone with an advanced technical degree?

[d brooks]

Originally Posted by Lubaolong

I agree with you. E-1 grunts that are in Iraq getting shot at are not making near as much for what they risk. I'm not arguing this. I agree many posters on here may have worked very long hours, risked their lives in war, and didn't make as much money at lower enlisted ranks for what they risked. The option still exists though, and it's more or less the same option most have outside of war time, to select a cush job, complete a few weeks of training, work a 9-5 job, sit around BSing, and make more money than an engineer.

Does anyone believe that a guy that doesn't deploy, doesn't have any real responsibilities, doesn't have an education, and only answers a phone in an office for 7 hours a day then goes home should ever earn more than an engineer? No? But this is the standard for these jobs. These people, on average, ARE earning more. Do you not feel these people are being overpaid for their efforts? Am I the only one that thinks redneck Billy Bob that didn't graduate high school and now files papers SHOULD make less than someone with an advanced technical degree?

I do not agree

I believe if Billy Bob applies himself, he should make a livable wage