Oh, I know that well, I was an MP in the Army… paydays were always fun.
started off as a machine gunner with the 101st. a very long time ago now. when you my size, 6’2″ and 190 something
you either get the machine gun or the damn radio.
I had a bit of a speech problem so, I didn’t get the damn radio
which was better/safer really. the radio guy ALWAYS got shot at first. the trick was to shoot for 6-10 seconds and MOVE
your ass. one could always tell when the M60 open up.
and you always got a lot of return fire once you did.
but after a while I was moved over to recon.
seems like all the squirrel hunting I did as a kid paid off.
Those are 100’s; hard to believe that entertainment is worth $3,700.
1st & 15th is most often the case, say 80% or so, but that’s not the rule. It could be the 29th and the 13th. The military figures your daily pay as 1/30 of your monthly pay no matter how many days the month has. It’s strange but not even in the top 20 weird things they do.
I always liked the newbies first couple of paydays. They were once a month in early 1971. By day 2 or 3, they were broke for any of a couple reasons including loose women and violence. Aided by consumption of mass quantities!
And, because in early 1971 they were still paying in cash money, you probably had to stand in line for the privilege of presenting yourself in person before the pay orificer to salute and say “Private Smedley reports for pay, Sir.” Used to piss me off to no end, having to do that.
A bit later on, we got the option to be paid by check instead, which presented the problem of getting a check cashed if you didn’t have a bank account someplace, but still better than having to beg some 2nd Lieutenant to get paid.
Back in 1978 it was once a month. $612 a month for a LCPL over 2 years. Sure didn’t go far in Hawaii! 🤣 Lots of divorced women, lots of 151 Run! Good Times. Drove poor Top nuts. Lol
I got paid twice per month in ’76…
And as an E-3 with under 2 years of service I grossed just a touch over $400/mo plus commrats of about $75.
I do not remember getting much better as an E-5 over 3 in ’78.
The 15th was called “mid month”.
You start out getting paid once a month but can change to mid month later.
When I started as an E1 in the army in June 1974 the base pay was $326.10
Looked it up recently and it is around $3000 a month now.
It has been twice a month, 1st and 15th for quite a while, at least since the mid 90’s. This is for all, not a choice, and direct deposit is the only way you get paid (yes, you have to set up a bank account in Basic now).
Yeah, around 1984 or 1985, The Reagan administration moved pays from the 15th and 30th, to the 1st and 15th. This resulted in 23 paydays in the year. It was an accounting trick, slipping the payday by a day, lop but it showed as a missing pay for the tax year. Was threatened with a captains mast for vocally pointing it out to the payroll officer. “Next time you bring it up, you will be discussing it with the Old Man at your NJP” followed by “Get the hell out of my office”
I was always amazed at the many guys who’d get paid on Friday and be dead broke by Sunday. I grew up pinching pennies, so it was never a problem for me.
The other scam I learned early to watch out for is the guy going around asking to “borrow $20 til next payday”. That’s the guy who’s shipping out in the morning, and you’ll never see him again.
I believe PFCs made $642 per month in 1989-1990, half paid out on the 1st and 15th. No real reason to remember that.
Think of all the crayons you could buy with that cash!
It’s sort of a shame that the navy went to the trouble to invent sex. I’m just glad the marines introduced it to women.
LOL, E-1/E-3, what a time to be alive. Getting your pay (or lack thereof) and trying to budget all the expense for the next couple weeks. I had money going towards savings bonds and a account back home to buy a car when I returned to the States (stationed in W. Berlin). The last few days before payday saw me buying PBR at the BX because I couldn’t afford a mug of good German beer. At the time you could buy a case of PBR for .75 or a care of “Beer” (white can, black lettering) for .25 cents. A mug of local brew was .35 cents and you could never stop at one.
that is when payday is for troops in the service
Oh, I know that well, I was an MP in the Army… paydays were always fun.
started off as a machine gunner with the 101st. a very long time ago now. when you my size, 6’2″ and 190 something
you either get the machine gun or the damn radio.
I had a bit of a speech problem so, I didn’t get the damn radio
which was better/safer really. the radio guy ALWAYS got shot at first. the trick was to shoot for 6-10 seconds and MOVE
your ass. one could always tell when the M60 open up.
and you always got a lot of return fire once you did.
but after a while I was moved over to recon.
seems like all the squirrel hunting I did as a kid paid off.
Those are 100’s; hard to believe that entertainment is worth $3,700.
1st & 15th is most often the case, say 80% or so, but that’s not the rule. It could be the 29th and the 13th. The military figures your daily pay as 1/30 of your monthly pay no matter how many days the month has. It’s strange but not even in the top 20 weird things they do.
I always liked the newbies first couple of paydays. They were once a month in early 1971. By day 2 or 3, they were broke for any of a couple reasons including loose women and violence. Aided by consumption of mass quantities!
And, because in early 1971 they were still paying in cash money, you probably had to stand in line for the privilege of presenting yourself in person before the pay orificer to salute and say “Private Smedley reports for pay, Sir.” Used to piss me off to no end, having to do that.
A bit later on, we got the option to be paid by check instead, which presented the problem of getting a check cashed if you didn’t have a bank account someplace, but still better than having to beg some 2nd Lieutenant to get paid.
Back in 1978 it was once a month. $612 a month for a LCPL over 2 years. Sure didn’t go far in Hawaii! 🤣 Lots of divorced women, lots of 151 Run! Good Times. Drove poor Top nuts. Lol
I got paid twice per month in ’76…
And as an E-3 with under 2 years of service I grossed just a touch over $400/mo plus commrats of about $75.
I do not remember getting much better as an E-5 over 3 in ’78.
The 15th was called “mid month”.
You start out getting paid once a month but can change to mid month later.
When I started as an E1 in the army in June 1974 the base pay was $326.10
Looked it up recently and it is around $3000 a month now.
It has been twice a month, 1st and 15th for quite a while, at least since the mid 90’s. This is for all, not a choice, and direct deposit is the only way you get paid (yes, you have to set up a bank account in Basic now).
Yeah, around 1984 or 1985, The Reagan administration moved pays from the 15th and 30th, to the 1st and 15th. This resulted in 23 paydays in the year. It was an accounting trick, slipping the payday by a day, lop but it showed as a missing pay for the tax year. Was threatened with a captains mast for vocally pointing it out to the payroll officer. “Next time you bring it up, you will be discussing it with the Old Man at your NJP” followed by “Get the hell out of my office”
I was always amazed at the many guys who’d get paid on Friday and be dead broke by Sunday. I grew up pinching pennies, so it was never a problem for me.
The other scam I learned early to watch out for is the guy going around asking to “borrow $20 til next payday”. That’s the guy who’s shipping out in the morning, and you’ll never see him again.
I believe PFCs made $642 per month in 1989-1990, half paid out on the 1st and 15th. No real reason to remember that.
Think of all the crayons you could buy with that cash!
It’s sort of a shame that the navy went to the trouble to invent sex. I’m just glad the marines introduced it to women.
LOL, E-1/E-3, what a time to be alive. Getting your pay (or lack thereof) and trying to budget all the expense for the next couple weeks. I had money going towards savings bonds and a account back home to buy a car when I returned to the States (stationed in W. Berlin). The last few days before payday saw me buying PBR at the BX because I couldn’t afford a mug of good German beer. At the time you could buy a case of PBR for .75 or a care of “Beer” (white can, black lettering) for .25 cents. A mug of local brew was .35 cents and you could never stop at one.