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Comment by nkh | Hacker News Reader

Without numbers this isn't very useful.

This reminds me of when I was at WestPoint (US Military Academy). Everyone would talk about how once you graduated you were "set for life" (after your five year commitment). They would leave it at that, and not mention any numbers to back up the statement. I still remember I asked an officer what "big money" was. And he replied, "Oh, big money!! Like 65,000" Which is less than every single one of my friends and I made after quitting westpoint and getting jobs out of school.

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Is that just a one time amount or yearly? I know of people that have been in the marines for 20 years and then have a retirement that pays him yearly and also has a job that pays well.

The other part nkh didn't mention is you can retire after 20 at half pay. If you make Lt Col by then (not so hard), that'll be about $45k free yearly income at age 42 for the rest of your life.

Plus, it's quite easy to then get a military contracting job. That, with the secret clearance you'll have as an officer, pays pretty nicely.

45k is a good chunk of change to have every year for free. That can pay the mortgage in most places pretty easily even in places that are really expensive you only need to work a little bit to cover the mortgage. Is insurance covered as well?

If you make Lt Col by then (not so hard)

I have a lot of friends who stayed at Westpoint, and served at least two tours in Iraq or Afghanistan. They would argue with you over the "not so hard" part of the argument.

My fiance's brother has done multiple tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan as part of the IED group. From the experiences he's been able to share, "not so hard" could only be written by someone without active duty military experience. I would never want to see the things our soldiers see or have the experiences they do.

They do a great service for our country; and honestly, can end up fairly well off if they manage to survive 20 years + land an additional job after retirement at 38+.

I wonder why you call it "$45k free yearly income", since you would have pissed 20 years of your life away. Not exactly "free".

Pissed away 20 years of your life making great money? Even as enlisted, if you aren't an idiot or an alcoholic, you should be able to sock away far more savings than private sector counterparts at a similar level of education and ability.

This is true. I know a guy who worked his way up the ranks from enlisted to officer who had saved a million by his mid thirties. He was frugal, but not extremely so.

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