Dinner with three Lieutenants last night!

Skysoldier

Skysoldier

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I went out to the local Outback for dinner last night. I ended up meeting three young Lieutenants from Fort Campbell and we ended up having dinner together. We had a blast, but I couldn’t get them to believe that I only made $128 a month as a PFC in 1967 (with $55 a month jump pay on top of that.)
They also refused to believe my story about doing a “Duece and Half jump” to qualify for jump pay before we went to Vietnam!
But two of them were nurses at the hospital at Ft Campbell, and laughed their asses of about my stories about the summer of 1968 in the hospital.
They still probably thing I was pulling their leg.
And I got a kick out of calling all three of them “f**king Legs! Because they were![rofl][rofl][rofl][rofl][rofl]
 
I work for a MEPS and tell recruiters as a E5 I was making $320 a month and they think I am lying. I got $60 a month for hazardous duty pay. They think no one made that little.
 
Did they ever raise jump pay? $150 felt slightly low 20 years ago, and it would be a farce now.
 

Section 301(a)(3) Parachute Duty Pay​

For performance of hazardous duty involving jumping, and to attract members to volunteer for, and to continue performing, parachute duty. Payment is flat $150 per month, except for duty involving High Altitude Low Opening (HALO) jumps, which is $225 per month.
Click to expand...

Special and Incentive Pay Index

militarypay.defense.gov
 
Picton said:
Lol. Still 150? Uncle Sam is getting a bargain.
Click to expand...
I was looking at the memoirs of one of my former commanders. When he received an ROTC scholarship in 1965, it came with a $100/month stipend.

That sounded familiar...in 1985, I also received a $100/month stipend.

When he graduated, he received a $300 uniform allowance. Same for me, and I had to purchase about $1,200 worth of uniforms with it.
 
KBCraig said:
I was looking at the memoirs of one of my former commanders. When he received an ROTC scholarship in 1965, it came with a $100/month stipend.

That sounded familiar...in 1985, I also received a $100/month stipend.

When he graduated, he received a $300 uniform allowance. Same for me, and I had to purchase about $1,200 worth of uniforms with it.
Click to expand...

I was ten years after you, and IIRC those amounts were still the same. I distinctly remember that my entire uniform allowance was eaten up by the two service caps I had to buy, plus getting black braid and Sta-Brite buttons added to my old Class A jacket I'd worn while enlisted. Everything else was out of pocket, and those blues did not come cheap, especially when we only wore them once or twice a year. That expensive blue service cap I had to buy? I didn't wear it even one single time.

I always felt for new officers who needed to buy greens as well. Those were nearly as expensive.

Just yesterday I read something about the Brits, whose officers also have to buy their own stuff; if you're in one of the flashier regiments, like the guards or anything with a kilt, you're shelling out 4-5,000 GBP on commissioning. That's like $7-8k.
 
Skysoldier said:
Dude!
You are really out of touch. That was 2 years and three addresses ago.
Click to expand...

Gosh, with your reputation for attracting and wooing the opposite sex, we all figured that you two would maintain a hot long distance relationship!
🤣
 

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