[animalmutha]

In 1940, an Army buck private's pay was $21 per month, but was soon increased. Was surprised to find the earlier pay rates shown were as high as they were. The hourly civilian wage during WWI must have been very low, so Army pay, plus room and board, wasn't all that bad for a lot of the ranks.

My dad loved to reminisce about the pay difference between his last civilian job before enlisting in the USAF in 1958. He went from making $65 a week at General Tire to earning $72 a month (paid only once a month) as an E-3 (he was given promotion advancement for his prior ARNG time) in the AF. IIRC, my dad told me the military wasn't required to pay FICA until Kennedy became President, which was same time the military rescinded Service Numbers in lieu of SSN's for pay and/or personnel identification.

 

[animalmutha]

Clyde, my first USAF monthly paycheck, as an E-1, was $425 in 1983, and according to a handy Interweb inflation calculator, that amount would equal $1001.83 in 2014 Obammy/Zimbabwe dollars.