Originally posted by: AndrewR
Originally posted by: looker001
Not as much as you will make in corp world.
Guess it depends on what you're doing. If I were still active duty, I'd be making just a bit under $100k right now with about $20k of that tax free (housing and food allowances). Granted, that's for an officer (O-4). Enlisted, particularly junior, make far less. Senior enlisted around retirement age can almost match the high salary.
It gets different with senior officers and senior enlisted, however, because they will generally have military housing and possibly other perks (general [flag] officers get official cars, senior commanders may have assistants and even cooks, etc).
Some of the value of military compensation is not monetary -- free medical care (you get what you pay for), access to the Commissary which is generally cheaper than civilian grocery stores, low cost life insurance, and then the 50% pay in retirement if you stay in 20 years.