Single vs. married pay

[Guest rotorhead]

Don't think of it as extra pay for getting married. Think of it as extra pay for convincing the spouse that the military member's job is worthwhile enough to stay in.

Shack.

Honey, I don't want to have to move jobs to follow you around in your career. I don't want you doing something so dangerous.

Sweetie, I know it will be difficult, but we'll get more money.

It's a retention tool. Pay the 18 year olds a little bit of money. When they are about to get married or expect the first kid, tell them you'll give them a pay raise. If you didn't, retention would suffer. It's more psychological carrot than actual carrot.

Same pay for same work, rank, years, etc. is logical and fair. Marital status is a bogus pay factor, but is here to stay. The dependent wife who is a teacher should ask her school if she can get more money because she's married. I think that answer would be, uh no.

Even if the logical suggestion of keep the married allowance the same, and simply raise the single allowance were implemented, the married folks won't see an extra candy retention carrot, and be mad.

The current system is not logical, but will not change. Single people aren't not joining, but giving everyone the same allowance might cause some of the marrieds (or about to be marrieds) to not stay. These are absolutely the wrong reasons for staying, but they are reasons for some.

Edited February 17, 2008 by rotorhead

[Guest AFwife62406]

Either you knew or you didn't, and if you didn't, it's your own damn fault. And if you did and still went ahead anyway, you gave up the right to bitch to me about it.

Ditto dude. I didn't know much about being a military spouse before I was one, but one thing I DID know was that my husband-to-be would get more BAH. Hopefully you knew before you joined the military that married people got more BAH, but you joined as a single person anyway so quit complaining about it. I don't see it changing any time soon. Sorry you feel jipped. Get married and the situation (well THAT situation) will be solved.

[LJ Driver]

Ditto dude. I didn't know much about being a military spouse before I was one, but one thing I DID know was that my husband-to-be would get more BAH. Hopefully you knew before you joined the military that married people got more BAH, but you joined as a single person anyway so quit complaining about it. I don't see it changing any time soon. Sorry you feel jipped. Get married and the situation (well THAT situation) will be solved.

Dude? I'm sorry do we know each other? I don't recall us ever meeting or becoming friends.

Of course I knew of this complete injustice before I joined the AF, and I obviously still joined. That doesn't mean I think that it's ok. I thought complaining about this particular topic was pretty appropriate here, being a forum about SINGLE VS MARRIED PAY and all...

Get married? Yeah that seems to solve all sorts of problems for people. Great advice, I'll get right on that.

[busdriver]

Allowances and incentive pays only exist to make your retirement cheaper. When you retire you only make pension based on base pay. In the civilian world, if you're worth more they pay you more end of story. The military tacks on these "extra pays" for various reasons, but the end result is that they don't have to pay extra when you retire.

[Guest PilotKD]

BAH is money in my pocket, and I get less of it then Joe Smith who is married only because he convinced a girl to be his wife and/or have his kids. That sucks and isn't fair.

Oh come on now. How ignorant can you be? BAH is not money in your pocket. It's supposed to put a friggen roof over your head and obviously if you're married, you need a bigger roof. Is this a hard concept to understand? You're telling me you should be entitled to money to pay for the same size domicile as a person with a wife and kids at home? So while my 3 bedroom house is bursting at the seems with two kids and all the associated crap that comes with them, you're living it up in your 3 bedroom bachelor pad. How unfair is it for you again? Oh but wait, you want to rent a studio apartment for half the price and pocket the rest of the money that you don't need for living quarters? how unfair is it for you again? You don't make sense. Stop whining.

[Guest Cap-10]

While having only single people in the military would be one way to get rid of with dependent pay, it's not practical. I agree that any other profession in the civlian side does not get paid more just becuase they are married, but a majority of civilian professionals don't move locations every 2yrs and 9 months. Just like stated above, I personally see the BAH as an incentive or retention tool. It gives my wife the peace of mind that no matter where they military sends us, we will be able to afford a descent roof over our head (who said head....) to live in and raise our daughter.

As for money in your pocket, as with all things that is military, it depends. We know that BAH is supposed to cover all of your rent/mortgage, but remember BAH is computed based on the AVERAGE cost of housing in that area. If you get $1000 a month BAH, but you choose to live in a 1 room shack for $200 a month, then you have extra cash. If you choose to rent out a crash pad on the beach for 2K a month, then you are paying out of pocket. I don't need anything lavish, just enough room for the wife and kid and dogs.

As for when did I have more excess cash? It was when I was a single Lt, living with 2 other FAIPS, making the full BAH for CBM, but only paying $200 a month in rent (1/3 of the total). Now that I am married and only have my BAH, I have anything but extra cash from my BAH.

Cap-10

[busdriver]

The military doesn't just calculate an average housing cost, they decide what kind of accommodations you should be living in and then average the rental cost for that. So as a single captain they figure you should be renting a two bedroom apartment and a married captain with dependents should be living in a house. Now this example doesn't apply too well for the current housing market as housing costs are inflated, but over history mortgage payments and rental rates should be pretty close. So dependent BAH should pretty much cover the mortgage payments on a house. This allows the married captain to buy a house and build equity, while the single captain is stuck renting. In the long run the dependent BAH pays a lot more than the single rate.

[LJ Driver]

Ignorant? Whining? His point is completely valid.

This conversation is strictly academic since nobody here has the power to change any of this. Getting married and having kids means that you give up your freedom to live in a house with 3 other guys and save your money. This is a choice you consciously make; people don't just suddenly wake up one day married with children. A guy who decides to stay single, have roommates, and pocket his BAH is someone who has decided to be smart with his money. This isn't "unfair", it's called "living within your means" (a foreign concept, yes, I know).

Bursting at the seams with 3br with a family of 4? Come on, give me a break, people do far more with far less -- do you seriously think that you can't make ends meet without that extra money? Maybe you live in a nicer neighborhood than you would otherwise be able to afford. Perhaps you have a bigger house with more rooms. Maybe you have a plasma TV in every room, a nice car, and more creature comforts than you normally would without a subsidy. But these are choices that you make -- having a family, nicer neighborhoods, bigger houses, cooler electronics.

You're saying that you deserve a handout because you chose a more expensive lifestyle. People don't get more money because they decide to drive a more expensive car, or wear expensive clothes. But since you decided to start a family, you should be paid more because of it? Hell, you already get tax breaks for owning a house, filing jointly, and having children.

Take the money, be happy you get it, but don't sit there and f-cking insult the intelligence of single people by saying you're actually entitled to it.

Exactly right. Once again, I'm not advocating that married people get less money, just that single people get the same. I think it's funny to listen to the communists/socialists on this forum tell me that they're "entitled" to more money because they are married. Give me a break. You sound like every democrat I have ever met. You're not "entitled" to any more money than I am. The fact that you get more is the equivalent of food stamps and welfare, the more kids you have, the more you get.

[pawnman]

Exactly right. Once again, I'm not advocating that married people get less money, just that single people get the same. I think it's funny to listen to the communists/socialists on this forum tell me that they're "entitled" to more money because they are married. Give me a break. You sound like every democrat I have ever met. You're not "entitled" to any more money than I am. The fact that you get more is the equivalent of food stamps and welfare, the more kids you have, the more you get.

Eliminate the extra BAH, (or give single guys the same BAH, it's functionally the same thing) and you'll see lots of married guys getting out.

I'll ask again, do you think that a married guy should be forced to live in a dorm room with his family on base? Or that a single guy should have a whole house on base to himself? Because that's the point of BAH...to buy the equivalent of base housing off-base.

[LJ Driver]

Just for the record, this very topic is getting a huge amount of attention right now. The current AF Times touches on it and quotes a study that the gap should be and likely will be narrowed and eliminated over the next few years. Booya.

[Guest KM]

Just for the record, this very topic is getting a huge amount of attention right now. The current AF Times touches on it and quotes a study that the gap should be and likely will be narrowed and eliminated over the next few years. Booya.

Article from AF Times